hiphophistorian-blog1

[hiphophistorian-blog1]

Rappers and Their alter egos You think you may know the full story when it comes to an artist. That is, until you meet their other side, the side that isn’t truly them. Plenty of well known rappers use personas for a number of reasons. It’s usually a very interesting and artistic decision to use one and it’s never really played out if tackled correctly. But why use them at all? And where did the idea come from? Surprisingly, this answer stems from unlikely roots: Classic Rock. That’s right, kiddos. For just a bit, I’ll be the “Classic Rock Historian”. Christ that’s a horrible name. David Robert Jones, better known by his stage name, David Bowie is one of my favorite artists of all time, and is truly one of the most amazing performers ever. But what does the Heroes artist have to do with hip hop? Quite a bit actually. As a brief rundown, David Bowie created an alter ego known as Major Tom for his 1969 song, Space Oddity in which he describes his isolation he feels from the world. Major Tom would later return in Bowie’s song Ashes To Ashes where Bowie sings about his drug habit as the character. After this, his personas almost possessed Bowie as if they had a kind of their own. These characters consisted of such characters like the fascist Thin White Duke where Bowie was under a strict diet of milk, peppers, and cocaine with an unhealthy obsession for Hitler’s ideas and the most popular one, Ziggy Stardust, a half human, half alien hybrid tragically killed off by his fans. Although almost all of these characters met a tragic end, The Thin White Duke lingered in David Bowie’s shadow until his death. Bowie himself was quoted as to say that The Thin White Duke was a nasty character indeed. Anyways, David Bowie was a pioneer of onstage performance. Although he wasn’t the first to use an alter ego on stage, he sure as hell popularized it. Now back to rap. The earliest examples of a rappers using alter egos would probably be Humpty, Slim Shady, and MF Doom. While Eminem had yet to be known as the “sometimes member” of D12, he entered the group of 5 others. However, they wanted a huge, Wu-Tang Clan sized rap group without the numbers to do so. So each member made a persona, making the total number of members in D12 a group of 12. Thus, Eminem’s alter ego, Slim Shady was born. This character would be a loose canon and way more violent than Marshal Mathers, himself. Slim Shady was almost like the American version of A Clockwork Orange lyrically. MF Doom however started out with his persona to the point where Doom admits if he’s not in character, he can’t rap like he can with the persona. In short, MF became his alter ego in the form of a black versioned the Fantastic 4 villain, Dr Doom, allowing MF to sell such incredibly great merchandise such as dolls, cereal bowls, and scratch-‘N-sniff albums. However, along with this persona comes the fact that MF Doom needs to constantly hide his identity under the mask. Fans have even gone as far as accusing Doom of having doppelgängers onstage to perform for him. Our next three examples are Roman Zolanski, Larry Fisherman, and... Childish Gambino? Nicki Minaj is a huge star, there’s no denying that. But most people would be forgiven for not knowing Nicki has an alter ego. You know those weird titles on her albums mentioning someone named “Roman”? She even mentions Roman a few times throughout her discography and videos. To put it simply, can you recall any of the several instances Nicki Minaj has rapped surprised, out of breath, and with a throaty British accent? That’s Roman. Innocently enough, it’s just an imaginary friend Nicki created back when she started out just to add to her quirky aesthetic. This next one isn’t so much a persona as it is an alternative name to Mac Miller. Larry Fisherman is an obvious spin on the name of celebrated actor, Larry Fishburne. In this disguise, Mac just wears either very childish outfits or something nautical themed. Besides the subtle differences, nothing is different between Mac and Larry. Now for the last and biggest one: Childish Gambino. “But wait, Hip Hop Historian! Childish Gambino is his stage name that he got from The Wu-Tang Name generator! It’s not a persona!” And you’d be right if this we’re anywhere between Donald Glover’s first studio album, Camp to his 2014 projects, Kauai and Stn Mtn. Besides that, if you look anywhere explaining who Childish Gambino is, you’d see that he’s described specifically as “Donald Glover’s alter ego”. Well, when Glover first tried his hand at rapping in his mixtapes Poindexter and Sick Boi, he used a voice that was squeaky and sounded as though Gambino had a stuffy nose. Fans dubbed this “The Sick Boi Voice”. In these first few projects, along side “I Am Not A Rapper” 1&2 for the most part, felt separated from what you’ll hear Gambino saying now. It’s not until his mixtape “Culdesac” where we hear Glover change his voice to something more like what we can hear in “Camp” and Childish Gambino begins to rap about things personal to him. Yet, this still isn’t Donald Glover, but Childish Gambino. But around the time of Gambino’s first studio album, Camp is when Glover and Gambino become one in the same. It’s at this point that Glover embraces the persona and all its consequences. More recently in his 2016 album, “Awaken! My Love” however, Glover has again, abandons the moniker of Childish Gambino and only dons the title when he’s making music. I’d like to close things off by saying that alter egos give us something more than just an art piece. It lets us dwell within the mind of the artist. It allows us to feel their emotions and get a better understanding of them. Because who better to tell us about these artists than themselves? Or at least the OTHER versions of them.

#personas #eminem #marshalmathers #nicki minaj #mac miller #so childish #donald glover #mf doom #david bowie #thin white duke

[hiphophistorian-blog1]

My 10 favorite rap albums of all time: 10: To Pimp a Butterfly (Kendrick Lamar) Some of you out there might get M.A.A.D that I placed this so low on the list or that I picked it over the phenomenal Good Kid, M.A.AD City, but I still believe To Pimp A Butterfly is a funk masterpiece. I remember seeing reviews of it when the record first dropped saying “It sounds like a crazy person broke out of the asylum just to release this album”, but to me, they just don’t get it. The album as a whole, felt so free form and suits Kendrick so much better than what he usually does. Alright is still considered a black pride anthem by many and the single version of “i” is still one of my favorite Kendrick songs today. 9: Lil Uzi Vert Vs. The World (Lil Uzi Vert) Now, before I get hate for this one, I have to go off the record and say that I LOVE Lil Uzi Vert. In a world of Lil Pumps and Lil Yachtys, Lil Uzi is probably the least hated mumble rapper in the game right now. And aside from probably my favorite song of his, “XO Tour Llif3”, Lil Uzi Vert Vs. The World is my favorite thing he’s made. I remember the album catching my attention for the simple fact that the album art was based on the Scott Pilgrim comics’ art style. And this album was actually the first mumble rap album I actually liked. It’s because of it that I anticipated Lil Uzi’s “The Perfect Luv” so much. Though in my opinion, the darker tone that Vs. The World had fit Uzi much better. 8. Free 6lack (6lack) Many respect 6lack for starting out as a rapper and becoming something more. When I first heard Free 6lack and its opening song “Never Know”, I was immediately blown away by 6lack’s flow. It was more than just mumble rap, in fact it was very lyrical. It was more like he was singing. This album showed me and many others just who 6lack was and what he was capable of. 7. The Best of N.W.A (N.W.A) Okay, so this might seem like a cop out, but I was extremely torn between N.W.A’s debut album, Straight Outta Compton and their last studio album, Niggaz4Life mostly because without Ice Cube, Dre, Ren, and Eazy really shine with their word play and DJ Yella gets more time to show off. On the other hand, Straight Outta Compton was great because Ice Cube wrote most of the lyrics masterfully for their first outing. Plus, Express yourself is N.W.A’s best song. Fight me. 6. Coloring Book (Chance The Rapper) I was a huge fan of Chance for reasons that’ll be clear soon. So I was definitely waiting weeks for this album to drop. When it did, I was stunned by the features: Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz, Jeremih, Kanye West, Justin Bieber, D.R.A.M, Lil Yachty. This album is straight up NUTS, but in a Christian way. Within the first hour of this album dropping, people through around the word “masterpiece”. In fact, Coloring Book IS a gospel rap masterpiece. Everyone was going crazy for this mixtape Chance released for free. Not only that, this was the first mixtape ever given out for free to win a Grammy. 5. Acid Rap (Chance The Rapper) “Wow, Hip Hop Historian, you must really like Chance.” Fuck yes I do. Chance is God’s gift to man. This was my first Chance album and it made me fall in love with Chance. The first time I heard the album was browsing SoundCloud and stumbling across “Favorite Song” because of Gambino’s feature. I listened to the rest of the album and now I know the track list by heart. There’s a song here for everyone. Whether you wanna listen to something conscious, you want to vibe, or you just wanna have a good time. And the way Chance starts and ends this album with “Good Ass Intro” and “Good Ass Outro” is simply incredible. IGH! 4. “Awaken! My Love” (Childish Gambino) Putting this on the list was always gonna be controversial. This isn’t exactly a “rap album” but being an album under the genre or hip hop and by a rapper, it qualifies it. Anyway, this is another album where the word “Masterpiece” was tossed around a lot. I could probably attest to that. Although not my favorite Gambino album, and probably Donald’s least favorite album to make, you can’t argue with the results. This album solidified Gambino as not just a great rapper, but an amazing artist. “Awaken! My Love” is quite simply a funk magnum opus. Songs like “Me and Your Mama”, “Boogieman”, and “Riot” instantly stand out to me. “Baby Boy” is a beautiful track, and anyone who hasn’t listened to the sensation that is “Redbone” has never experienced true joy. 3. The College Dropout (Kanye West) Okay, here we get into some real shit for me. No matter what anyone says, Watch The Throne, 808s and Heartbreak, Graduation, Yeezus, and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy will never compare to Kanye’s first studio release. The College Dropout was the album that got my high school English teacher into rap when he was a teen. Kanye just never released an album more down to Earth than it. In his other albums, it always seems like Kanye’s putting on this persona, while in The College Dropout, we get a side of Kanye that lived a lower class lifestyle for almost 20 years. Because of that, we have songs like “It All Falls Down” and the 10 minute “Last Call” where Kanye just keeps the beat going to tell us all about how much he struggled just for a deal. 2. Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde (Pharcyde) If you asked me what my favorite old school hip hop album was, I’d tell you it’s Bizarre Ride. If you asked me my favorite Pharcyde member, I’d say Fatlip. No, wait! Imani! This album just has so much variety to it. From the funkadelic Soul Flower Remix to the slow and impactful Passin’ Me By. A copy of both Bizarre Ride and LabcabinCalifornia need to be locked away in a vault for safe keeping. Pharcyde in general are essential to the history of hip hop and are one of the most important rap groups ever. I could honestly geek out and quote this album forever until I die. 1. Because The Internet (Childish Gambino) Now, I don’t mean to ride on Donald Glover so much, but not only is he my favorite rapper, but he’s my idol. He does it all. From movies, to tv, to standup. And all of that really shows on this album. Alongside the album came a short film written by Gambino named “Clapping For The Wrong Reasons”, and a companion piece to the album in the form of a screenplay also written by Gambino. The screenplay and all it’s mysteries have to be my favorite part of the story to this borderline rap concept album. I know I said Bizarre Ride had variety, but this album is on a whole ‘nother level. From songs everyone knows like the heartfelt “3005”(which has my favorite music video ever) to the silly “Sweatpants”, there’s so many gems in this gold encrusted diamond of an album. And along with Bizarre Ride, Because The Internet is one of the albums that I know every single lyric to. Plus, this album has my favorite Gambino song ever, “Crawl”. And I’d just like to point out that when Chance had Gambino featured on Acid Rap, he let him rap a whole verse and take over one of the choruses. But when Gambino has Chance featured on “The Worst Guys”, he has Chance repeat the same five words over and over again. I love Gambino to death. Because The Internet isn’t the cleanest album ever, in fact it’s sloppy and seems rushed together in hindsight, but that’s just it. This album represents Childish Gambino’s down to Earth starving artist phase and that’s something I can relate to heavily. I love Because The Internet.

#rapmusic #rapper #rap #hiphop #so childish #awaken my love #because the internet #good kid maad city #kendrick lamar #lil chano from 79th #chance #chance the rapper #lil uzi vert #lil uzi vs the world #nwa #ice cube #dr dre #mc ren #dj yella #eazye #6lack #free 6lack #coloring book #the college dropout #kim and kanye #kanyeezy #kanye west #yeezus #yeezy

[hiphophistorian-blog1]

Why “Brag Rap” doesn’t age well:

When you hear the word “rap” what comes to mind? If you’ve never been an avid listener or don’t know much about the genre, then a number of “brag rappers” may come to mind. And I know whenever I think of a brag rapper, I first think of Lil Uzi Vert or Lil Yachty, but if you’d have asked me 6 or so years ago, I would’ve told you Wiz Kalifa or Juicy J were what popped into my head first. Brag rappers are usually a product of each generation and their tastes. They change every few years or so. This generation has mumble rappers like Migos, Desiigner, and Kodak Black. last generation had trap rappers like Fetty Wap, Juicy J, and Wiz Kalifa. Prior to that, we had 50 Cent, E-40, and all those Houston and Dirty South rappers from the early 2000s. While in the late 90s we had Puff Daddy and Mase. Every generation has their brag rappers but they never seem to get with the times. Speaking of Houston Rappers, do you see those album covers at the top of this post? Pretty ridiculous, right? Despite the fact that Big Bear’s “Doin Thangs” has one of my favorite album art of all time, it’s only because of how goofy it is why this is the case. Looking back at it, it amazes me how the most respectable rappers today used to use those (at least if they started out around the year 2000). Why did they think this was a good idea? Well, there’s a reason for this. The trend for hip hop during the dawn of the 21st Century was club bangers. And who knew how to party harder than anyone in the U.S? That’s right. The South. Georgia and Texas to be exact. Well, when all these groups from The Dirty South began to emerge, a Houston Based graphics design firm started taking commissions from these rappers claiming that if they wanted to look professional, their art would pop and make them big. Unfortunately, everything they made was a badly photoshopped ugly caricature of their respective rapper coated in glitter and chains with maybe some guns cars and bikini clad women. Fortunately for us, times change, and with that rap cover art changes too. Today, we have more abstract or artistic album art like Chance The Rapper’s 3 albums symbolizing Chance’s journey through Hell, Earth, and finally Heaven. The songs on the albums match the tone as well. What I was getting at with this was that brag rappers don’t ever change. We may get a new set of them every 5 Years but the artists themselves don’t evolve. They’re big for a short time, then just fall into obscurity. Why is this? Well, unlike emo rappers, conscious rappers or rappers that are constantly switching their styles, brag rappers rap about one thing. Compare a song that gives us an important message with a song that has lyrics we’ve heard a million times together and tell me which ages better. While any other kind of rapper may have a humble rap or a song that can pertain to anyone, brag rappers rap about themselves. Therefore, when the rapper loses popularity, so do their songs. But if that’s true, then why be a brag rapper? Simple. For quick success. While songs like Kanye’s “All of The Lights” or Skee-Lo’s “I Wish” have longevity for rapping about facing adversity, songs like Baby Boy Da Prince’s “This Is The Way I Live” or Wiz Kalifa’s “Black and Yellow” have become stale in my mouth. The same goes for today’s rappers. Lil Uzi Vert’s “XO Tour Llif3” will definitely stand the test of time when compared to his older song “Money Longer” which has lost its luster today. However, record companies don’t want songs that last, they want quick money now. Therefore, cutting ties with old rappers to make room for what’s in makes sense. But it does throw the rappers themselves under the bus and leaves them with very few career opportunities. Even A$AP Rocky, who has notoriously been a brag rapper in the past, has recently made a new music video to his song titled “ASAP FOREVER” and contains very abstract and humble pieces to it. And while we’re on the subject of A$AP Rocky, I’d like to talk about one of my favorite brag raps and show you why not all brag rap songs are cursed to be forgotten. On his track, “Fuckin Problems”, we get something very different from your usual “banger”. The beat is this powerful, infectious bass drum with a woman background singing to compliment the rhythm. The almost rocklike electric guitar is masked with a layer of electronic modernism and we hear rapper, 2 Chainz speak the chorus “I love bad bitches, that’s my fuckin’ problem. And yeah I like to fuck I got a fuckin’ problem.” It’s almost like this is a parody of a brag rap, yet he’s completely serious. The words are so reminiscent of a brag rap that they might as well not be. A$AP Rocky’s verse is so vulgar that if you were to tune into it play for the 15th time that day on the radio when it first came out, half the lyrics would be gone and it could barely be called an A$AP Rocky song. Drake (who at this point was still considered a brag rapper) does the second verse with an air of confidence we don’t see from him anymore, making these bars a gem and one of the few instances of Drake brag rapping. Kendrick Lamar finishes off the song with the third and final verse in which he raps exactly like he did in his incredible album, “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City”. Each one of these rappers finishes their verses with the word “beast”. We also get something in the music that represents each rapper during that generation: A$AP Rocky has that echoing deep voice ad-libbing over his rapping, Kendrick Lamar has that echoing raindrops sound effect we hear so many times in Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, 2 Chainz repeats the same lines over and over in a charming and catchy way, and Drake creates his own rhythm with his voice along with the beat almost as though he’s singing. Although the song is almost comedic in execution, it takes itself seriously and embraces exactly what each rapper has been known for in subtle ways. They literally own their respective criticisms. If that’s not the perfect example of a brag rap, I don’t know what is. Also, even today these rappers are huge names in hip-hop and to have all four of their names connected to this track makes what would otherwise be a forgotten song from the trap music era something different and special. And brag rap can be special. Today, we have brag raps we’ll never forget like Digital Underground’s “The Humpty Dance” or Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby”. If you have a gimmick, embrace it instead of trying to “brush off the haters”. Brag rap isn’t going away anytime soon. And the next wave of brag rappers will come and go, just like the last. But if they understand what their fans love about them and how to create a memorable song, they can survive the harsh music industry and create something truly amazing.

https://youtu.be/liZm1im2erU

#rapmusic #rap #rapper #gucci mane #hiphop #album art #albumcover

[hiphophistorian-blog1]

Kevin Abstract and “Fag Rap”:

This is a subject very near and dear to my heart. A few months ago, HipHopDX released a video on the subject of gay rap and the negative stigma given to the sub genre by the hyper masculine thoughts of many rappers. The video not only discussed several homosexual and lesbian rappers and why most of them didn’t have the impact that the lgbt community would like in the culture that is hip hop, but also introduced me to one of my new favorite rappers, Kevin Abstract. Kevin has been part of a self proclaimed “boy band” called Brockhampton for a number of years now and has been known as the gay one of the group ever since he came out of the closet sometime in 2016. Kevin has also made a few solo albums with songs that are of a flavor all his own that are very reminiscent of either indie rock bands, 90s R&B, or rap groups such as The Beastie Boys and Run DMC. Kevin is arguably the most popular member of Brockhampton, but despite this, he doesn’t ever steal the show like you would expect. Rather, all members of the group each get their moment to shine on their respective tracks. What I love most about Kevin Abstract is how he reminds me of 2013-2014 Childish Gambino. In his earlier videos, he rapped very aggressively and added in some soothing vocals. Some would argue that his filmmaking skills in his earlier videos were even a bit rocky. But with his latest solo album, “American Boyfriend”, there is very much an improvement with his camera setup, as well as his understanding of camera angles and filmmaking, much like Childish Gambino. American Boyfriend’s music videos even have a clear narrative and dark story, much like Gambino’s “Because The Internet”. The only difference is, while Childish Gambino focuses on the complexity of his feelings on being a rapper and depression, Kevin Abstract focuses on his struggle as both a gay man in America and a black man in America. Probably his most popular video and the song that introduced me to Kevin was the short film for his track “Empty”. In it, we see Kevin’s character, Helmet Boy receiving oral sex from the star football player at his school, Summer. In the middle of the act, Summer’s girlfriend pulls up to Summer’s house and walks in on Summer and a Helmet boy. She leaves, visibly upset and the last shot we see of her is her sitting in her parked car crying. Summer gets on Helmet Boy’s Quad as they ride around the suburbs thinking about what happened. We then cut to the two as they sit by Summer’s backyard pool while Helmet boy tries to comfort him. Unfortunately, Helmet Boy gets a call from his mother telling him it’s getting late and he needs to get home, leaving Summer all by himself. Knowing how fast rumors will spread about him and how his reputation will be destroyed, Summer jumps into his pool and drowns himself. Now, the video does have an important message behind it and a very powerful one at that, but I never really focused on the video as much as I focused on the lyrics to the song. The song opens up with Kevin/Helmet Boy’s describing his everyday school life then breaks to tell us his distaste for his high school life pretending that he’s your run of the mill straight high school boy:

“I hate my yearbook photo I hate my passport I hate my last name I hate everything it stands for I should probably fucking transfer Blue and brown JanSport Tired of public transport I never went to prom now I’m stuck on the dance floor just holding your hand Just holding your hand”

I can relate heavily with what Kevin is saying here like a lot of people in high school can. I also hated the negativity of high school drama and the idea that my religious parents thought my bisexuality would tarnish the family name (also see Childish Gambino’s line “I don’t give fuck about my family name” from his song, “Sweatpants”.) Kevin then spends the chorus singing about the lengths he would go to be with his loved one in these hard times, his “American Boyfriend”. In the second verse, Helmet Boy specifically explains how his mom calls him to go home then proceeds to tell us that this is the same mother that constantly burns the idea that you should love your parents while also hating homosexuals. The following video is titled “Runner” and starts with no music, just a group of high school boys in a parked van talking about Summer’s suicide and how they feel about him being gay. Helmet Boy gets in the van saying nothing. The boys talk about how nobody knows who Summer cheated on his girlfriend with then spend the next few minutes listening to music and making jokes when one of the boys pulls out a revolver and flaunts it around when the driver tries to pull the gun away and they accidentally shoot and kill Helmet Boy. They freak out and put him in the trunk while Kevin raps. The rest of the videos for the album are (for lack of a better word) abstract. They feature Kevin either hanging upside down or crawling in this purgatory-like world. One of the lyrics that stands out the most is from his song “Miserable America” where Kevin says such lines as:

“My best friend’s racist My mother’s homophobic I’m stuck in the closet I’m so claustrophobic”

and

“They love gays but they hate niggas”

These lyrics perfectly represent how Kevin himself feels about the way both black men and gay men are treated. Being both makes him feel such a disconnect from society as well as rap. But it’s because of his hard work with his music that Kevin Abstract has become a gay icon and is now very well respected in the hip hop community. Brockhampton is currently on tour and I strongly urge you to either go see them or give them a listen if you have a chance. Kevin Abstract and Brockhampton are two of my favorite up and coming Underground artists today and they definitely deserve to be heard by a wider audience.

https://youtu.be/1RSQaVG7_QI

#brockhampton #lgbtq #gay #rap #rapmusic #hiphop #kevin abstract

[hiphophistorian-blog1]

Childish Gambino rant:

Donald Glover grew up with a good family and attended an arts school where he found his love for rapping. At the age of 25, he became the youngest writer for Tina Fey’s critically acclaimed tv sitcom: 30 Rock. Fey expresses her praise of Glover and says that she’d tell anyone with as much ambition as him not to quit their day job, however, with as much charisma and talent as Donald has, she just expected good things from him. Glover even goes as far as to say this line from his song, “The Last”: “”And this next part, sounds like nonsense But I swear to God, Tina Fey gave me confidence Taught me everything that is good comes from honesty Everybody’s got a voice, you just gotta follow it She on a role model, shit From the day that I shook her hand I knew that I’d never die a broke man” I first discovered Childish Gambino after my 10th grade English teacher with similar tastes in rap introduced me to him and I’ve been obsessed ever since. When I first listened to Childish Gambino, it RUINED me. What once was a purist for early 80s and 90s rap with the occasional Kanye break, became this person who had the doors of this new world of 2010s rap opened to me. Childish Gambino’s 2013 album, Because The Internet is still my favorite album to this day. For me, being a Gambino fan was tough. On one hand, we have over 10 years of Childish Gambino mixtapes and studio albums, but on the other hand, he never seems to stick to one genre, much to the upset of his older and even newer fans. Also, his latest album, “Awaken! My love” has been his only album to receive this much recognition, with his most popular song, “Redbone” being spread through the airwaves like wildfire. Despite this, I love “Awaken! My love” even though it isn’t even a rap album. It awakened the “new soul era” of rap that has recently sprung up in hip hop. Also, Redbone is a very solid song and I can see it earned its popularity. By far the hardest news ‘Bino fans have had to endure is the statement Glover made shortly after the release of “Awaken! My Love” saying that nothing is ever good if it keeps going on forever, so endings are important. Childish Gambino’s next album will be his last. To me, this is a crushing blow. Gambino got me through a rough time in high school. He got me through depression and breakups and whatever the moment called for. I never felt quite as connected to an artist as I do with ‘Bino. He explicitly states that his music has always been for the little ghetto kids like he was once and for any kid that would’ve liked the music he has. But also, Glover was that nerdy brown kid in school that got picked on. Glover was a POC in a school filled with white children. Childish Gambino was me. Every single punchline in his music was for me. Basically, Childish Gambino touched my heart and opened the door to more rappers that I can relate with as well, such as Tyler The Creator and Kevin Abstract. Childish Gambino made me truly love hip hop and cherish it. Essentially, Childish Gambino ruined me. He ruined me with his personal lyrics that resonate with me like very few artists can do. And who knows? Maybe his music career ending won’t be so bad. Donald has his plate full with other things, his award winning TV show, Atlanta, his portrayal of Lando Calrission in the upcoming Star Wars movie, Solo, and his role as Simba in the live action Lion King Movie. Maybe this is the end for Childish Gambino, but is sure isn’t the end for Donald Glover.

https://youtu.be/uGGIrvWIFKw

#so childish

[hiphophistorian-blog1]

The Most Inspirational lyric I’ve ever heard:

When most people get asked about the most “inspirational” lyric in a rap song, most people will probably turn to something from Eminem’s “Not Afraid”, Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” and “I” or Tupac’s “Keep Ya Head Up”. But I think of something that hits home in so many different ways with nine simple words. Chance The Rapper gained MASSIVE popularity in 2016 when he dropped his mixtape “Coloring Book”, which, to many in the hip hop community is highly regarded as an “electric-gospel masterpiece”. Chancellor Bennet grew up on the streets of Chicago listening to many of his rap heroes like Kanye West or OutKast. When he started his career near the beginning of the 2010s, he only released his mixtapes for free with a dedicated cult following. Fast forward to Summer of 2016 and nothing has really changed, save for his new worldwide fame. He continues releasing his mixtapes for free. It’s always been a staple of Chance’s music. Now, I’ve never been a fan of Christian Music, even rap. But artists like Kanye West and Chance have pushed the boundaries of what Christian Music can be with tracks such as Kanye’s song, “Jesus Walks” and almost the entirety of Chance’s “Coloring Book”, and this shows. Since the release of “Coloring Book”, Chance has been the only artist to win a Grammy for a mixtape. The fact that it fits into the often ignored genre of Christian Music speaks volumes. However, it’s not “Coloring Book” I want to talk about. It’s not even technically a Chance The Rapper song for that matter. Later that same year, Hip Hop superstar, Kanye West released his much anticipated album “Life of Pablo” much to his fans’ delight. And the beautiful and powerful opening song was to set the mood for the rest of the album: “Ultralight Beam”. The track starts out with a child praising Jesus as if he were a priest giving a sermon then continues very gospel-like with a choir singing and religious lyrics such as “We on an ultralight beam, we on an ultralight beam, This is a God Dream, This is a God Dream, This is everything.” expressing Kanye’s feelings as though he’s blessed by God to be in the music industry and to have the fame he currently has. The track continues with more Kanye and some incredibly deep gospel singing. Then comes Chance’s part… “You can feel the lyrics, the spirit coming in braille Tubman of the underground, come and follow the trail I made Sunday Candy, I’m never going to hell I met Kanye West, I’m never going to fail” That last line gave me chills and almost made me break down in tears the first time I heard it. First off, Chance The Rapper grew up listening to Kanye as a young ghetto kid for Chicago. He was one of Chance’s idols and someone he looked up to. Keep in mind, Chance personally knows both Jay-Z and Beyoncé, so for him to be on a Kanye song definitely means the world to him. On a personal level, this resonates with me as both a Hip Hop fan and an individual in general. As a fan, I love seeing these inspirational success stories of artists blowing up and being star struck by their role models whom they later perform with, but as a person, it’s much more than that. Those simple nine words “I met Kanye West, I’m never going to fail” fill me with nothing but faith and determination. As a person living with depression, never believing I’m good enough or that I’ll never amount to anything, it’s Chance The Rapper that puts so much hope in the future that I can’t help but smile with tears rushing down my face. And if you don’t know Chance, he has two voices: one is a high pitched voice he uses for fast, comedic punchlines and the other is deep and filled with so much soul. Him switching his verse up by using the latter in that line further cements his message. Also, the overall tone of the song is expanded upon by Kirk Franklin: “Father, this prayer is for everyone that feels they’re not good enough This prayer’s for everybody that feels like they’re too messed up For everyone that feels they’ve said “I’m sorry” too many times You can never go too far when you can’t come back home again That’s why I need… Faith” All of that combined with Chance’s simple nine words are the thing that give me the drive I need everyday I wake up hoping it’s my last day. I smile knowing Chance The Rapper exists in the same world as me as well as what’s probably my favorite Christian Song ever made.

https://youtu.be/KE2o5AZclaQ

#chance #lil chano from 79th #beyonce #yoncé #kanye west #jayz #hiphop #rap #lyrics #inspiration

[hiphophistorian-blog1]

The Importance of Kanye West in Music:

I was probably in Kindergarten when I first heard Kanye come on the radio on the bus and “Gold Digger” started playing. I didn’t think much of it at the time, yet this was before my love for hip hop became clear. Little did I know, since the very beginning of the early 2000s, a young, 20 something year old kid from Chicago was making a name for himself and rapping alongside some of the most influential artists of that era; Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Ludacris, Jaime Fox, and Jay-Z to name a few. In fact, in 2003 alone, he released 3 albums. The phrase “5 beats a day for 3 Summers” was never more true with any other person in the genre. In one of my favorite albums, “The College Dropout”(2004), Kanye presents us with his most down to Earth album ever where he explains his insecurities and why he makes up for it by flaunting his money and wearing fancy clothes. I feel as though everyone judges Kanye without knowing this side of him firsthand. Kanye of course, continued pumping out music, and released his album “Graduation”(2007), which is still regarded as his “best album” by many in the rap community. Unfortunately by the time Kanye released his “808s and Heartbreak”(2008), Kanye fell into obscurity. This, however was around the time I found him. Funny enough, Kanye made an explosive comeback with the masterpiece that was 2010’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”. In this, arguably, the strongest track on the album, “Power” comes off as a brag rap; something we hadn’t heard from Kanye in years. This track was different though. We got a very strong and hard hitting sound with provocative lyrics to top it off. Along with this album came a more artist and ambiguous approach Kanye was going for, cementing him as an influential figure in hip-hop. But it was also around this time that Kanye let it known to the media about his relationship with model, Kim Kardashian. With this came a drastically different Kanye. He became less humble and more egotistical. It’s almost artistic that the aforementioned track “Power” ends with one of the most hauntingly beautiful and melodic switch-ups Kanye has ever produced. “Now this would be a beautiful death; Jumping out the window. Letting everything go” The words linger and repeat before laughter and Kanye ad libbing the words “You got the power to let power go” At this point, it becomes clear: Kanye is putting on an act. He’s not simply as cocky as he’d have you perceive, he’s showing off his power and wealth to make up for his past, struggling to make a name for himself when only ten years prior, he was a nobody in Chicago. He’s emulating the egos as if he were a Carnegie or Rockefeller of his time. Funny enough, Kanye was originally signed onto Rockefeller Records when he got his first major deal. Now, when it comes to how important West is, you have to think for a minute. His wife, Kim Kardashian is arguably the most famous celebrity in today’s pop culture, making Kanye West now at the very top of the A-list as well. Many in hip-hop will argue that Kanye may be what represents millennials and today’s youth the most. The same goes for Kim. Meaning, what Kim and Kanye do, their fans and most of society will mimic. A rapper known as Murs says it best in his song “God Bless Kanye West”(2017). His song explains how Hip-hop is probably the biggest genre in music right now and arguably, the biggest face in hip-hop is Kanye West; not just as a rapper, but as a pop star. He isn’t afraid to speak his mind, so both his most inspiring words and egotistical blunders get simulcast as a representation of black men to a wider audience. Black men see themselves in Kanye, affecting the way they see themselves and see each other, as well as the way the rest of the world sees the stereotypical “Kanye nature” all millennials; specifically, young black men. This then makes it Kanye’s responsibility for how black men are to be seen. However, if Kanye does represent them in such a drastic way, then black Americans can see themselves even more so I’m Kanye and his success to inspire them to succeed. So no matter what your thoughts on Kanye are, he is one of the most influential rappers of the last 20 or so years.

https://youtu.be/-sExGQ-4gBQ

#kanye west #kanyeezy #yeezy #yeezus #kim and kanye