Back from a little break – Random Rant Ep. 2

Alright, so in my last post, I was ranting about how much I hated Verizon and such. I called them up and got my internet back, so yay. I won’t go into detail, but what’s important is that I have internet. So, now that I find myself with some time, I think I’ll do another post. Perhaps I’ll talk about my senior prom and how I can’t go. Meh. I’m sure you all have your own personal drama that’s going on, so I won’t be putting my drama on my blog for the whole internet to see. Instead, I’ll talk about some music.

So, I found randomly on youtube some Nujabes vs. Jay-Z (and some other artists) mash-ups (only thing I didn’t like about this mix was the ending…). When I told one of my friend’s this (who loves Nujabes) he told me to look up Nujabes and Shing02 which I did. I was not disappointed. From there, he recommended “Feather” which also did not disappoint. After listening to these songs, I was like… man… I need to listen to more of this. What amazes me is not that his music flows with rap, but that the artists that he manages to get, are all capable of writing smart, witty raps that rhyme. Now, maybe they aren’t smart or witty, but they all flow so much better, at least in my opinion, than the mainstream rap played on the radio.

Now, if you ever meet me in person, you’ll realize that I like poking fun at American culture, exclusively the whole gangster fad. Like, dropping the ‘-er’ in some words and placing ‘-a’ at the end. Or like, instead of saying ‘the’ they say ‘da’ or instead of ‘that’ they say ‘dat’. What’s fun is poking fun at the phrases that they come up with, or speaking like them in normal English. Keep in mind, I’m the furthest from being “gangster,” so I think it adds to the humor. I don’t really talk about how they dress because I’m too busy poking fun at the music and the things they say. Seriously, ‘This is Why I’m Hot.’ THIS IS WHY I’M HOT. THIS IS WHY I’M HOT. THIS IS WHY THIS IS WHY THIS IS WHY I’M HOT. I’M HOT… oh shut up. Please. Yes, sometimes I’ll quote this song, but only for humorous purposes.

Now, I have SOME respect for rappers. It takes some kind of talent to write a rap about absolutely nothing (’Apple Bottom Jeans’ anyone?). But, instead of writing lyrics about things that aren’t so important, why not write lyrics about things that mean something. I guess rappers had to dumb themselves down to make more money. The moment they start writing lyrics that have absolutely no substance, is the moment I start losing respect. For me, when I was listening to some songs from Nujabes’ albums, I realized that the lyrics are so poetic that if you took away the music and just left the lyrics, you could have a poem there. So I thought, “This is what real rap is. Writing lyrics that not only work for a song, but if you are able to take away the music, you have a poem with substance, a poem that will make you think.”

So, when I listen to Nujabes and his collaborations, the music just fits and the lyrics work. These are songs that I can listen to over and over again. They might not be club hits, but some of them make you wanna get up and dance a bit. I suppose to each their own though, right? If you wanna listen to Lil’ Jon, Soulja Boy, or whoever, then by all means, do so. I’m not here to tell you what to listen to, I’m just telling you that I’m not a fan of their lyrics. I mean, if all you’re looking for is a song about is getting high, being drunk, getting ‘crunk’, getting laid, going to parties, or even about how hot you are, then by all means, listen to the stuff on the radio. Yeah, I realize that I pretty much just attacked some people’s musical tastes, and I apologize. That is not my intention. It’s just that, when I listen to this music, it kinda disappoints me. I feel like the music industry could do much better, but I guess the listens and the fans are partly to blame for that.