Who got Connections?

Any art form is about connecting. We go to the museum, and see a dot and a triangle, and they tell us it’s art, and worth millions, and we don’t get it. Rappers talk about guns, drugs, violence, and folks consider it a negative Influence on the children, but really they don’t get it. When folks listen to Rihanna sing ‘We gon run this town tonight’, they’re not listening to Rihanna brag, they’re putting themselves in her shoes. She’s singing an anthem of their desires and dreams. 50 cent rapping ‘go shawty, it’s your birthday’ will always be timeless, because at any given moment, in any given part of the world, someone is celebrating a birthday, and playing that track.

When 50 raps about the money and women, the listener is living vicariously through the rap, and relating it to themselves. Material wealth, status, and sex are very easy ways to reach the masses, because all of us have those urges and desires. To start discussing topics on social issues like genocide, poverty, racism… people aren’t going to immediately connect. I had people telling me they couldn’t watch my MILLI video, because it was too depressing. That’s a fair comment. People turn to media for entertainment, and if they’re not entertained, they’ll change the channel.

As members of the hip hop community, we all have our own personal line, of what we’re willing to and not do to get the peoples attention. I try to create content that I feel is underrepresented in the genre, and sometimes I get the reality check that it’s underrepresented for a reason.

There’s a certain level of pretentiousness that comes with being an artist who creates art and expects the crowd to receive it, rather than trying to work with the crowd to create art they want to receive. That’s where I tip my hat to the party music makers; they have the people in mind when they make their tracks. Outkast, I feel, has perfected the balance; beautiful music, and relevance, when you decide to take in the lyrics.