In my mid-term report, I discussed crude and inappropriate
rap lyrics and artists and how it related to genre and audience. However, for
my final topic I’d like to evaluate another aspect of rap - conscious rap.
Conscious rap is a hip-hop subgenre “that focuses on creating awareness and
imparting knowledge” (Adaso). It is often used in tandem with “political rap”,
or, lyrics based around critiquing current politics. Rappers such as J. Cole,
Chance the Rapper, and Macklemore use these categories to share their
philosophies, call attention to social problems, and inspire change.
Jermaine “J” Cole is no stranger to conscious rap - he’s
touched on different social problems throughout all of his albums. On his 2011
album Cole World: The Sideline Story, J. Cole talked about teen pregnancy in
his song “Lost One’s” where he used both a guy and girl perspective to discuss
the issue. With lyrics like “me and you we still kids ourself//How we gon'
raise a kid by ourself?” and conversely “you got some nerve//To come up to me
talkin' about abortion//This my body, n****, so don't think you finna force
shit!” Cole is able to discuss both sides of teen pregnancy and abortion. Cole
also touches on racial profiling in his 2016 song “Neighbors”. He describes an
incident where police broke into his suburban home based on false complaints of
drug activity. He describes the issue by saying “Some things you can't // escape: // Death, taxes, and a ra-//-cist
society” and “Cops bust in with the army guns// No evidence of the harm we
done”. He describes himself moving to the suburbs as “Black in a white man’s
territory”. He used his platform to call out the unfair treatment he was
receiving based on racial profiling, and broadcast the problem to the public.
On a happier tone, Cole has also written about appreciating the life you are
given in his song “Love Yours”. The song’s hook is “No such thing as a life
that’s better than yours,” and the song has a message that even though you
struggle, your life is meaningful. He preaches, “For what’s money without
happiness? // or hard times without the people you love?” Cole goes on to
describe how other people will have bigger homes and nicer things, but “you
ain’t never gon’ be happy til you love yours”. Cole inspires his fans to not
only speak out against injustice, but also live a happy meaningful life.
Here is J. Cole's socially conscious attitude in action outside of his lyrics, as he responds to the Ferguson Riots:
Another
socially aware artist is Chancelor Bennett, better known as Chance the
Rapper. Like J. Cole, Chance has also
rapped about racial issues on his verse in Macklemore's song “Need to Know”. In
a heartfelt verse about his daughter, chance says “I'm already afraid of tight
clothes // Want all her best friends to be white folks,” to describe how he
thinks her life would be easier if her friends were white. He goes on to add “I
scratched out this line so many times, I can't forget it // It's fucked up, I
almost say it every time that I edit,” to call out how ludicrous the situation
his. However, Chance’s main objective with his music is to praise his religion.
His 2016 album Coloring Book is nothing short of a gospel album. Throughout the
album he mentions his firm beliefs by saying “I speak to god in public”, “I’m
goin’ praise him, praise him ‘til I’m gone”, and “When the praises go up, the
blessings come down”. His song “Finish Line” is even about making it into
heaven when he dies. Gospel choirs and trumpets are used in the background of
most of the songs to add a church feel to the music. Chance has won three
Grammys for his unique style, and his gospel Coloring Book album won a Grammy
for best rap album in 2017.
Chance the Rapper's Grammy Performance:
Good! "Woke" rap needs a better press agent, at least among those of us who aren't steeped in the genre. This nicely addresses some of my concerns, as expressed in comments on an earlier post on this subject.
ReplyDeleteBut I do have to comment on this: “When the praises go up, the blessings come down” - that sounds like a quid pro quo, as though the point of piety is personal reward. Am I getting it wrong, though, taking the line out of context? That's always a danger of this kind of commentary. In any event, it's nice to see artists expressing ANY form of spirituality, even if it's borderline-crass.