Cambridge Common

I LOVE RAP MUSIC! I'll be the first to let you know if you didn't already. Rap music is something that I listen to from morning to night, at breakfast, on the way to class, while doing reading for section, during meetings, before I go to sleep, and even in my dreams. This music with roots in disco and reggae created by Blacks and Latinos in the South Bronx sometime during the 1970s is remarkable, personal, popular, commercial, and powerful. I always take note to distinguish between rap and hip-hop. Despite what MTV may say, rap and hip-hop are very different! MTV recognizes this in a much more ambiguous way. MTV feels that Eminem and the Ying Yang Twins create rap while Snoop Dogg and Missy create hip-hop (while Jay-Z made hip-hop in 2003 but rap in 2004). Hip-hop is the overall culture that includes the elements of b-boying (breakdancing or simply "breakin"), graffiti (yeah, disrespecting property rights), and DJing along with speech, stroll, style of dress, and many other cultural markers. Rap is simply the music of this culture.

Seeing as how my love for rap is SO deep and SO pure, I must work to make it better in whatever way(s) possible. For a long time, I felt that this could be achieved through entering the profession as a rapper. This phase of my life lasted about four years (from age 12-16). Next, I felt that I could make it in the rap business as a record producer. This phase lasted about two years (from age 16-18). Finally, I thought that I could run my own record label and thereby put out the best music available anywhere in the world. This phase lasted about one year (17-18). Today I feel as though my contribution to the betterment of rap can come in the form of constructive criticism, each word being of equal import. This will be done through an acknowledgement of what rappers are ACTUALLY (literally) saying these days in their songs, although interpretations of the lyrics may vary. Today I will begin a weekly series of translation on Cambridge Common. Not from Spanish to English or Hindi to Arabic, but from Ebonics to plain English. Hopefully, this illumination will both spark debate as well as the creative juices of future rappers. Also, I hope that this may serve as education to the many individuals who simply rap the lyrics to these songs (or try to) better never really understaned their meaning. Rap music is so immensely powerful these days that it's influence can be one that is either positive or negative on billions of young people the world over. Let's use this power for good.

Song number #1 will be the first part of the #1 song in the country right now: Kanye West's "Gold Digger"... (more in expanded post)