When I was little, I remember listening to Eminem’s ‘Mockingbird’ song, and it hit me hard though I didn’t know what exactly he was saying. The only thing I knew about the song was that, a little girl’s mama had left her. As I grew up, at the age of 14 I developed a taste for hip-hop and started listening to rap songs, writing lyrics and making beats. Along with a lot of inspiring and motivating songs, I found that a lot of ‘wanna-be’ rappers evolving to eat the industry.
First of all what I want to say is that, a lot of newly evolving artists and fame fallen artists are craving for top ranks, well, that should happen, but the problem is that they’re not doing it in the right way. Why? Because, they use the topics like sex, drugs, booty etc. to come up through the competition. And, you can see rappers like Tyga boasting about how much money he’s got while Iggy Azalea keeps cashing her booty. A talented rapper does not need drugs, sex and music videos with half dressed girls to reach a top rank and gain fame. What he needs is just his talent in rapping and writing lyrics.
Marshal Mathers or simply Eminem is an aggressive person sometimes using strong language, but his words are inspiring and are still pleasant to keep listening. This is a part from his rap “Mockingbird”,
Hailie I know you miss your mom and I know you miss your dad
When I'm gone but I'm trying to give you the life that I never had
I can see you're sad, even when you smile, even when you laugh
I can see it in your eyes, deep inside you want to cry
'Cause you're scared, I ain't there?
Daddy's with you in your prayers
No more crying, wipe them tears
Daddy's here, no more nightmares
In this rap he talks to his little daughter to comfort her during the time where their mother had left them.
It's funny
I remember back one year when daddy had no money
Mommy wrapped the Christmas presents up
And stuck 'em under the tree and said some of 'em were from me
'Cause daddy couldn't buy 'em
I'll never forget that Christmas I sat up the whole night crying
'Cause daddy felt like a bum, see daddy had a job
But his job was to keep the food on the table for you and mom
And at the time every house that we lived in
Either kept getting broke into and robbed
Or shot up on the block and your mom was saving money for you in a jar
Tryin' to start a piggy bank for you so you could go to college
Almost had a thousand dollars till someone broke in and stole it
And I know it hurt so bad it broke your momma's heart
Here, Eminem talks about the hard times when he was poor. In this rap he tells his story to his daughter and says that he’ll be there for her and will take care of her.
Hip-hop has ties to guns, gangs and street life that’s true, but, that doesn’t mean hip-hop is a disastrous genre, hip-hop is there to show what’s life is like. A good example is Tupac Shakur’s “Dear Mama”.
You are appreciated
When I was young me and my mama had beef
Seventeen years old kicked out on the streets
Though back at the time, I never thought I'd see her face
Ain't a woman alive that could take my mama's place
Suspended from school, and scared to go home, I was a fool
With the big boys, breaking all the rules
I shed tears with my baby sister
Over the years we was poorer than the other little kids
And even though we had different daddy's, the same drama
When things went wrong we'd blame mama
I reminisce on the stress I caused, it was hell
Hugging on my mama from a jail cell
And who'd think in elementary?
Hey! I see the penitentiary…..
In this rap he talks about all the struggles he and his family had to face. His mama was a single mother on drugs having to take care of two kids, Tupac and his sister. But still this lady gave heaps of love to her two kids. He talks about his growing up with thugs and how he never thought he would be locked up in the state pen in the line “and hey who think in elementary, one day i'd see the penitentiary”. So, this is a very inspiring rap you can listen to. At the end he says,
Dear mama
Don't you know I love you?
Dear mama
Place no one above you
Oh mama, I appreciate you
Although my shadow's gone
I will never leave you
I appreciate you
I love you
I need you
Oh mama
See, Tupac was also a thug but how emotional his words are? This is what real rap songs are like. Real hip-hop also includes Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Wiz Khalifa, NF, Wu Tang Clan and many more. Sorry, I’m not going to add more lyrics for I’ve got to show you how this industry is getting messed up.
Recently I listened to this rap “Gucci Gang” from an artist called “Lil-Pump” and I was like “So that was a rap?” This man with colorful hair was just rapping out some dumb words,
Gucci Gang, ooh, yeah, little Pump, yeah, Gucci Gang, ooh
Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang
Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang (Gucci gang!)
Spend ten racks on a new chain
My b*tch love do cocaine, ooh
I f*ck a b*tch, I forgot her name
I can't buy a b*tch no wedding ring
Rather go and buy Balmains
Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang (Gucci gang!)
Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang
Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang (Gucci gang!)
In this rap, there’s a line saying “My lean cost more than your rent, ooh
Your mama still live in a tent, yeah” . Why would one even care about how rich he is?
“Gucci Gang” peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and currently has over 522 million streams on YouTube.- Genius.com
So this is what we hear today! Majority of the people enjoy meaningless crap, not meaningful rap.
The next related rapper I found was a guy called “6ix9ine” and this guy’s words are just trash, you know why I say this? Take a look at his lyrics from “Gummo”,
N*ggas iffy, uh, Blicky got the stiffy, uh
Got the blicky, uh, drum it holds fifty, uh
Move milli, all my n*ggas on fifty, uh
Talk down, pew pew pew, you silly, uh
Hit a stain, fifty bands, all hunnids
Spinning through ya block like a pop shove it
Shoot at me I'm shooting back, I'm getting buckets
I ain't wanna take his life but n*gga, f*ck it
Most of his lyrics are just filled with vulgar. This is what we find about his “Gummo”
Controversial rapper 6ix9ine took over most of the North East with “Gummo,” especially in his native home of New York City where he raked in over five million streams.-Genius.com
In Hip-hop or any other genre, the lyrics must have some sense; it must have some emotional words that hit the listener. It must not be written with the same words repeating overtimes to lengthen the lyrics, like in “Desiigner’s” Panda rap. Almost half of the song is filled with the word “Panda”, and Trrr.. drrr… Iggy Azalea and Niki Minaj became famous just by using their body shape and sexy videos. In a way, Iggy is a disgrace to the hip-hop culture.
I’m not going to make a list of the worst rappers, but must not forget Tyga. Tyga is not one of the worst when compared to others, but is someone who’s stepping to their crew. Tyga has a good talent which he doesn’t use to do some good work and has a big desire to boast about his wealth; he enjoy doing things like melting gold chairs and turning it to toilets and exhibiting his gold and money. Tyga’s “Rack City” almost gives no sense to me,
Rack city, b*tch, rack rack city, b*tch
Ten, ten, ten, twenty on yo t*tt*es, b*tch
100 deep VIP, no guest list
T-T-Raw, you don't know who you f**kin' with
Got my other b*tch f**kin' with my other b*tch
F*ckin' all night, n*gga we ain't celibate
N*ggas say I'm too dope, I ain't sellin' it
But I'm fresher than a mo*****ckin' peppermint
Gold Lettermans, last king killin' sh*t
Y-Young Money, Young Money yeah, we gettin' rich
Got ya grandma on my d**k (haha)
Girl you know what it is
Rack city b*tch, rack rack city b*tch
Rack city b*tch, rack rack city b*tch
Rack city b*tch, rack rack city b*tch
Ten, ten, ten, twenties and them fifties b*tch
So, does it give a good message to the society? No.
And do you see the difference between real hip-hop and fake hip-hop? yes.
As you see, most rappers, their lyrics and their music videos are misleading the youth. The most tragic part of all of these is many young guys admire these kinds of rappers and say “That was on fire!” “That’s so cool!” Is it because they want to join the wave? Or, is it because they haven’t heard real hip-hop? Today, these kinds of rappers have lead many minds into sex and drugs. It’s pathetic!
Conclusion
What I want to show through this myTake is that, hip-hop needs some cleansing. People love Tupac for his valuable words; can little Pump, 6ix9ine or Tyga be loved the same as Tupac? We need artists who can give some inspiring words to the society; we don’t need rainbow mops, rainbow teeth and big booties to inspire the society. We need artists who can give good words and motivate the society to build up harmony, respect each other and to show what life is. Today, mostly we need artists who can lead the youth to a better future. Hip-hop needs a better community.
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