Historically hip-hop has been the voice of those marginalized. Individuals who have experienced life with a lack of economical, political and social power to make changes in their community. There was a time when these issues were the focal point of rhymes, but the mainstream appeal of “thug life” has occupied the mic for the last 20 years, or as long as I have been alive.
You always had your artists who spit more than your average rapper, touching on politics, gender roles, anti-violence and pro-education rhetoric. The Chuck D’s and Talib Kweli’s evoked a sense of hip-hop lost in the array of bullets, drugs and sex of the mid-90s and early 2000s. Then something changed. A confidently insecure college dropout, turned producer, turned rapper pushed the envelope as to what hip-hop could be.
He hadn’t sold drugs and he loved his mama. He spoke out against the atrocities of the government and of our own detrimental behavior as a people. He cried for Jesus to walk with him even in his daily sin. He brought an individuality to an art form that had lost its creativity. He opened the door for hip-hop to explore its horizons, to grow up.
Thus, we have artists like Lupe Fiasco, who’s The Cool was an entire retort to this life of destruction young black males and females are leading in the name of hip-hop. This culture of illiteracy is being challenged. The fact that J. Cole graduated from college speaks volumes to where the future of rap music is headed. And I am sure he isn’t the only one with a Bachelor’s in something other than making it rain. Only now these artists, the Asher Roth’s and Wale’s, have a platform to stand upon, and we the listeners are all ears.
~illist90skd
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