Shoguns don’t show guns. They wield
razor sharp swords and tactile words to slay bums.
The first rap song that I ever heard was
“AJ Scratch” by Kurtis Blow. It was playing
on the radio over my parents’ living room sound system. I’ll never forget it,
because I thought that the music, and the hook in between the verses, were so
UGLY.
At about 5 years old, I was
introduced to a sound that was far more base, and far more primitive, than the
melodic tones of Gregory Isaacs, Jacob Miller, Dennis Brown and other reggae
artists I was raised on. Although I grew to appreciate it in my teens, I didn’t
like the rap music of the early 1980s. It sounded like cave man music to me
with its drum machines and minimalist approach with stripped down beats.
Big Daddy Kane got my attention in the
late 1980s with songs like “Set It Off,” and “Smooth Operator.” I also liked “Fight
the Power,” by Public Enemy.
However I wasn’t actively checking
for music, much less anything that resembled hip hop, until 1990 when Bell Biv
Devoe’s “Poison” and MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This” ruled my summer. I was
11-years-old.
From there my older cousin, who used
to crack on me for listening to MC Hammer, introduced me to a universe of bona
fide artists like Special Ed, EPMD, Ice Cube, Brand Nubians, Lord Finesse and
countless others.
Within a few years of my Great
Awakening, I started to see the music lay siege to the Billboard Music charts
through acts like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Naughty by Nature, Nas, Tupac, and
Wu-Tang Clan. The shoguns had arrived to silence the critics who had long
argued that rap music was a passing fad that would inevitably disappear into
the dark night of public indifference.
Some people feel that rap music,
which is the defining art form of hip hop culture for so many, is on life support because those who are
currently identified as its most popular acts are not lyrical shoguns like Kool
G. Rap, KRS One, or Rakim. What I honestly find most amusing about this
critique is the fact that none of these younger artists, to my knowledge, have
ever claimed to be rappers, much less be the reincarnation of any of the
aforementioned lyrical greats.
They’re ASSUMED to be rappers because
they are generally young Black men from urban areas who wear jewelry, display
the same mannerisms, use similar slang, and favor forms of fashion comparable
to your classic rapper.
My question to you, the reader, is do
these elements necessarily make these young brothers rappers? Is curry chicken
the same as curry goat because both are made with curry powder, salt, peppers
and onions? Yeah, these new guys you
hear teenagers listening to are rhyming over music, but so was Bob Dylan back
in the 1960s. He isn’t a rapper though. Neither were The Last Poets.
The INTENT behind Dylan and the Poets’
music is different from Jay-Z’s or Mobb Deep’s. I’m not talking about the
subject matter, either. I’m talking about the very markers that allow us to
determine, beyond reasonable doubt, that the artist is highly efficient at what
they do. In order to objectively determine whether or not someone is effective
at what they do the INTENT behind their actions must be crystal clear to you.
You must know their established goal.
If I’m frying some whitings and you assume
that I’m trying to make broiled salmon, you’ll say that I’m a wack cook despite
the fact that my fish are tasty and came out perfect for the people I’m frying
them for. I wasn’t trying to make you broiled salmon.
What are Desiigner’s intentions when
he goes into the studio? You said to sound like Future? Haha. You’re too
funny!!! All jokes aside, The Last Poets
said some fly shit, but they weren’t trying to RIDE THE BEAT with their rhymes.
A rapper is one who RIDES THE BEAT WITH THEIR SPOKEN WORDS AND TONAL
INFLECTIONS.
But what do you call a recording
artist who fluidly rides the beat with
vocalizations that are not exactly words? Is he still a rapper solely because
his performance involves the use of skills that are applicable to rapping (such as bioglyphics, which are the hand gestures used as a guide to help get the lyrics out on beat), or
is he something entirely new based on his intentions which clearly differs from
a rapper’s?
Is jazz great Al Jarreau wack because
he didn’t “make sense” when he was scatting? Please watch the educational video
below before you dis Kid Kudi or Young Thug about their preferred style of
vocal delivery. The African mind sees similarities before differences.
Guys like Future, Fetty Wap, Young Thug,
Desiigner and others boast about getting high, increasing their finances, and
living lives of luxury as many rappers have. However, they’ve never directly
aligned themselves with the code of the rap samurai who lives for the thrill of
the battle while brooding over the wordplay in their verbose poetry.
When I listen to Future on “Maybach,”
which is a great song, I hear an African American artist with a heavy southern
drawl doing an incredible job of composing Jamaican dancehall music, which is
the most unapologetically African of all the contemporary music genres of the
western hemisphere. “Fuck Up Some Commas,” is African American dancehall with a
dirty south slant on it. I like it.
The Jamaican dancehall deejay places
a greater emphasis on feeling and vocal flow than cerebral wordplay. This is
why when you look at all of the great rappers who are of Jamaican descent
(Heavy D, Busta Rhymes, Notorious B.I.G., Slick Rick), they all have impeccable
cadence. They grew up on classic dancehall. As a writer, I prefer rap music to
dancehall in most instances. It gives me more inspiration for what I love to
do.
No one in the history of dancehall is
fucking with Nas or Ghostface Killah when it comes to utilizing the power of vivid
words. At the same token, none of those classic rappers can shut down a dance
or get women excited and moving like Shabba Ranks or Beenie Man can. I love
what all of these artists bring to my ears. Variety is the spice of life.
The astrology Nazis keep telling us
that we’re entering the Age of Aquarius, the age of the water bearer. Some of
them will even crucify the young recording artists of today for plotting their
own path and not trying to be the next Chuck D in skinny jeans. But what does
the Age of Aquarius mean for the imminent future of Black popular music?
The self-righteous astrologers can’t
tell you because they don’t really know. It means that your power as a recording
artist to connect with millions of people will be based on your ability to
touch their EMOTIONS before stimulating their intellect. The majority of the
human body is made of water. Your vocalizations must sacrifice some of the
fiery verbiage of the cerebral cortex in order
to stir the water body of the masses through windshield wiper flows and
melodic cadences.
If yo’re talking about straight bars,
Notorious B.I.G. was FAR more talented than Tupac ever was. He had an
assortment of flows (“Notorious Thugs” doesn’t sound like “Who Shot Ya?”) and
his wordplay was far more nuanced and intricate than Pac’s. Big is a rap god!!!
His legacy is undeniable!!! However Tupac is a bigger cultural icon, and in my
opinion, made more powerful MUSIC than B.I.G!!! There’s a reason why Tupac is
more powerful and the reason has already been explained.
Liquid fire is the future. The
musical greats who have yet to emerge will burn you while making you wet.