I Love Rap

God help me, I love me some rap. So many my age don't listen to it or like it. I get that, I do, but I love words. I love to listen to what the rappers have to say. I find myself engulfed in the fire of their passion, the rhyme of their words, their need to push out the hate, torment, the undeniable feelings of oppression. When I listen to rap, I am enthralled by their experiences, their freedom of expression. Much like jazz, or the blues I find myself going with their flow.
Being a writer takes real bravery. Some see it as a way of expressing self importance, but great writers throw their life and life's experiences out for all to see, judge and ultimately twist into whatever they want through the perspective of their own lens. Writers don't get to pick and choose what the readers, or in this case listeners, take away from their work. They are merely outside observers to their own work. Great writers don't sensor themselves; they write the raw feelings, thoughts and images they are carrying around in their minds. I picture writing like pushing pasta through a pasta machine. We all have the same raw materials, but depending on the percentages of influence is what the dough looks like. Once the initial dough is made, it is then pushed out through whatever shape the writer intends, leaving the outcome to how the readers decide to cook it, in thoughtful process. Look, I have made a lot of spaghetti in my day, so this is why I see it like this. It isn't as much profound as it is an easy way for me to process my own skills.
I am not a fan of all rap. Some I find gratuitous, insipid, sort of like reality TV. I listen to it once and if it doesn't hit me, provoke me, make me think, then I am out. For me that is how all music leads to making my list of hits and misses. It can be as complex as Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie", a brilliant song in story telling about a toxic relationship where both parties are equally guilty in destroying each other, to as simple as Neyo's "Closer" which for me has a good beat and is easy to dance to, leading me to throw my own dance party in my house.
I got Eminem's latest CD for Christmas. He is not for the faint of heart. His lyrics will reach in and rip your guts out. He has the ability to say things most only think and spend the rest of their lives trying to forget. He is fearless, writing and rapping words that can disembowel. His latest CD has me completely engaged, enraptured, and appalled. I love this idea of listening to something that talks about his life and transposes itself into my own life, shaking me to my core. For me this what music, or art of any kind should do. It should make you feel something, whether happy, energetic, sad or angry. It should suck you into it's vortex making you rethink what you had been certain you knew.
Whenever I hear misogynistic lyrics or songs with the "N" word, I bristle. Nothing for me makes the "N" word OK. I am a product of the 60's where I saw first hand racism at it's most despicable. The beauty of someone like Jay-Z using that word is the difference in the way he views it, his experiences, his take on what is acceptable. He is in fact a poet, saying things that stop us in our tracks getting us to see things in a new way. That is why I believe he is a genius. The "bitches and ho's" thing also makes my blood run cold. Women are still fighting to be equal all of the world, including this country. It is offensive to me to hear women referenced as things rather than equals. But, I listen to the lyrics, the anger that comes from some of these young men and the point of the rap is the infuriated broken heart they are left with due to love gone wrong. I relate to that, the fury of being deceived, used up, left behind. I get the bravery it takes to express oneself in a way not politically correct, but authentic to the speaker, and their background. These are stories of the great un-washed, un-sterilized feelings of men who have been hurt. I dig that.
I don't think every expression is a good thing. I like being governed by laws that protect me from being harmed because someone else felt the need to express their anger with dangerous actions. I don't think every rapper should be listened to by minds that are too young to distinguish the difference between self expression and public action. However, I think the history of rap, it's influence of art from the places left too often without a voice is an important one to recognize and respect. Rap has lessened the racial divide in our young. It has opened up the world for ever race to come together as a community, experiencing the artist together. That is no small matter.
Eminem got called out for his song about domestic violence, the video showing the graphic nature of a love grown poisonous. For me, it is obvious they didn't listen to the lyrics. Trying to listen to Em, catching the lyrics is a little like trying to catch bullets from a machine gun. But if you keep at it, make the effort, you can see why the critics were wrong. At no time in the song does he ever point out the merits of being in a toxic relationship, but all the critics saw were the imagery of the video, the artistic license taken in film.
What I would like to see is everyone who dismisses rap as if it were not a viable art form to stop, open their mind and have another listen. I would love for them to view it like abstract art, where they don't have to fall in love with the imagery, but appreciate the story it is trying to convey. If more people my age could that, I think it would move us all one step closer toward closing the generation gap.