WP1

Hector Nava

Writing 2

De Pierro

Rap: Sex, Drugs, Love, Change

To this day most people still associate rap with drugs, sex, gangs, and violence, but that isn’t always the case—especially now with rappers like Hopsin, Logic and J. Cole; rappers such as these are now revolutionizing the rap genre and sending positive messages through their lyrics. These rappers rap about overcoming something (like an addiction), changing for the better, and growing up.

Hopsin, J. Cole, and Logic all rap in very different styles, but their song all includes lyrics that rhyme, have profanity, and up beat tempo, references that could be considered misogynistic. All of the conventions previously mentioned make these rappers appear like they have the typical lyrical skills I mentioned in the first sentence, but that’s is not the case as will be proven.

“Ill Mind of Hopsin 5” is the name of Hopsin’s song. The lyrics of this song talk about how people of this new generation are being consumed by what they hear in songs. “When I say the word fun, what do you envision? Probably drinking and smoking out with your crew and chilling with clueless women you try and bang, bumping new edition” The first third of the song is a wake-up call directed toward the young adults—millennials—who feel like they are self-entitled people and must do no work to obtain what they desire. This third also functions as a criticism to how we have been influenced by other rap songs depict drugs, alcohol, and women as views of a fun and lavish life. In the second third of the lyrics, Hopsin goes on to discuss the problems with women, more specifically those that make poor decisions in life and have tendencies to try to get into relationships only for the possible benefits it appears to have. Even though these lyrics may seem misogynistic to all women, the listener must reader that they are meant only for women who fool themselves and that their sole purpose is to get them to realize that they have to change if they wish to live better life’s. African Americans are the final kind of people to be acknowledge in this song. Hopsin refers to African Americans as “Neanderthals” for being in gangs and going around killing each other committing crimes. He also asks the question, what a “real ni**a” is, referring to how most people think being a ni**a is someone who is a badass, but Hopsin would define it differently—more like a person who has his life together and doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone, but himself. “Ill Mind of Hopsin 5” is a fighting song trying to address various problems in our society, trying to get the younger members of society to learn that they must work hard if they wish to get anything done. This song is like an assailant to all other rap song that depict the famous, drug, cool, gangster life. Hopsin wrote it to bring awareness to the influence of the rap genre in our society today and to get those have been affected by it in a negative way to get their life in order and change before it’s too late.

Life is important, but deciding whether to give it or end it before it begins is just as important; J. Cole’s song, “Lost Ones,” is literally a debate about the topic of abortions. What makes this rap song unique, besides its message, is its convention of having a back and forth argument—of course giving from two different point-of-views. The premise of this song is a young man gets a young woman pregnant and now they must decide what to do, whether to have the child or for the woman to get an abortion. The lyrics of this song depict that man as scared and lost about having a child; these feeling/emotions help the listener to make a connection between this character and themselves by expressing how most men would actually feel if they were in his situation. The man in this case sides with getting the abortion because he feels as if having a child would be to overwhelming. J Cole’s lyrics, “How we gon' raise a kid by ourself? Handle biz by ourself A nigga barely over twenty, where the hell we gon' live? Where am I gon get that money I refuse to bring my boy or my girl in this world When I ain't got shit to give 'em And I'm not with them niggas who be knocking girls up and skate out Girl, you gotta think bout how the options weigh out. Whats the way out?” capture the man’s insecurity spot on and make the listener want to agree with what he is saying. Now on the other side we have the pregnant woman who is certain that she will have this child because it’s her child and would not want to take a life. She attacks that man by calling him out saying how she anticipated this would happen if she ever got pregnant and even comparing him to his dad who left him as child, putting into question his manhood. The woman even mentions how the man hated that his father left him and how he stated he’d never leave his child. These couple of verses, would get the listener thinking to themselves about who was right, the man or the woman; this is power that the rap genre can have, it can make people think about a situation and analyze it, give them, the audience, a way experience something new and poetic. This song is clearly meant for people who are in the same shoes the couple form this piece or anyone interest in the topic of abortion, a very controversial topic to this day. It is meant to demonstrate that there can be more than one correct view-point and that both sides must always be taken into account when making life changing decisions.

The rap genre can be and effective way to tell a life changing story; Logic’s “Nikki,” is great rap song about overcoming an addiction. What makes this rap song unique is that the song is an analogy to cigarettes and nicotine. Logic does a beautiful job at personifying nicotine and while keeping the lyrics almost as like a goodbye letter. This song is the story of how Logic and his “Nikki” ended. When the song first introduces Nikki, the listener can assume that Logic might have a really deep passion for someone, but as soon as he mentions, “You the only girl I need I gotta have you back even though you turn my lungs black,” the connection can be made that that Nikki represents cigarettes. Through the lyrics the listener gets a glimpse as to how dependent Logic was to cigarettes and how it was not easy for him to end a cycle that he has been doing for some-time now. A great example to prove just how weak he was in the lyric, “What will they write upon my grave A free man born as a king, who died as a slave.” This lyric demonstrates that even he knew he was beginning to have to control over his addiction, giving the song an even more relatable scenario. By referring to cigarettes as a person, Logic manages to appeal to a younger audience and also make it possible for others to identify their addiction as someone rather than something, causing people to be more likely to acknowledge them and take action. This rap song is not only just a song it’s also a promise, because upon the release of this song, Logic promised that he would never smoke ever again, probably inspiring his fans and others to quit too making a big impact on their lives.

Many people may think that the rap genre is definitely not changing and think it will continue to focus mainly of those vices mentioned at the beginning. Most rap songs do still pertain to such group of rap and it is likely that many more similar rap songs will release in the future. One cannot deny that are changes being made in the genre, especially when one of the most influential rappers of this generation, Kendrick Lamar, is an advocate of rap with stronger more positive messages; along with Hopsin, J. Cole, and Logic, the rap genre is surely on its way to changing.

The three songs rap songs mentioned all had positive messages to be heard, but they were all told differently. Upon reading the lyrics its clear to notice that Hopsin is very direct with his message while J. Cole and Logic prefer to tell their messages through a story, either way it is easy for the listener to identify the main-point. The main difference between each of these three songs are the topic each one chooses to address. Hopsin talks about society, J. Cole about love for oneself, and Logic about overcoming obstacles; the main reason for this could be that each of them sees such problem as having a bigger effect on society or themselves—it’s like J Cole’s song, there are various viewpoints, especially when it comes to social problems.

The rap genre is constantly evolving and adapting to newer styles; rap songs with more prominent positive messages are starting gain popularity because they keep the same conventions commonly identified with the genre—cursing, fast tempo, catchy chorus, misogyny, and drugs—but work with them to point them out and address such troublesome topics.