Rap State of Mind

I sat by these 2 humans the other day at a boutique. The first human was vibing to "Landstrip ft. Lil Baby - Thumb", the song. Like 30 seconds into the song, the other human said, "This wuna thing weh wuna di pretend for like American Song them so eh..".

Pause, a little intro, I am a rap-head, been loyal to the genre since I stumbled upon Lil Wayne & M.I songs. It's been more therapeutic for me since I came across NF, Hopsin stuff. Back to the story...

I didn't like the said human's comment because I'm never been the type to judge anyone by their choice of music. We are different, so are the emotions, moods, but that thing stuck with me for days, I thought about it and came to the conclusion that 'People are not conscious of their environment'. Lemme explain.

In the late 1970s, Hip-hop was born which grew to be the most loved & popular genre among-st blacks in America and today is the POP genre. In the midst of political and racial wars, what better way was there to share messages, teachings, and stories than hip-hop. Then came rapping, a musical style in which rhythmic and/or rhyming speech/messages are chanted (“rapped”) to musical accompaniment (Hip-hop Beats). More here

Rap became the "The black Internet". You could count a rapper's death count, children, baby mamas, views on politics from their verses. Also, it became therapeutic for some (especially 2000+ rappers), from their music you could listen to their fears, mental health issues, fantasies. I mean from a Cardi Verse you can know Offset D*ck Size... Rappers grew in their numbers and so did that fan base which was predominantly people that shared the views.

That's America in the 90s and 80s, fast forward Africa or to be precise Cameroon, 2010+. I think you'll agree with me with what is going on in our society, we've become the new 'American 90s' society. Lemme explain. Where do I start? 🤔 Fvck. This is hard.

This might belong if I have to paint every bad thing happening in our space right now. We have political problems, we have people feeling they are superior to others (Crisis in N/W & S/W), Police Brutality (EndSars, Bamenda Fiver), Gangs & Cultism. You name it. It's a long list.

Now imagine anyone living in these situations, how won't they relate to Rap Lyrics. For Example.

  1. How can you not resonate with the J.Cole line "Glad I made it past my 30s and no one murdered me" (Pride is the Devil ft. Lil Baby - The off Season) if you are in Bamenda. Thinkam oh.
  2. We've all lost people in the crisis in the English part of the country, imagine the thoughts of any Amba Boy or Military men that wake up to the uncertainty of being killed today. Checkam nah. The first verse on Kendrick's Sing About me song - (Sing About me - Good kid, mad city...)
  3. Same song, verse 2 - imagine a girl being forced to move to Douala and has to prostitute and depend on a pimp because society is full of pride.
  4. Or maybe if everyone listened to Lil Baby - Bigger Picture, the solution for this thing fit comot.

The list long sha, but I think you get the gist.