Big Brother

Just discovered I liked girls when Snoop Dogg released “Drop it like it’s hot” I asked my mum for the album and she refused because Gangster and explicit content wasn’t something she wanted to willfully expose me to.

Yet there are times I sit and contemplate, without Hip-hop, rap music to be specific, would I have turned out the same?

I find myself nostalgic and revisiting that question even now as Kendrick Lamar has released Mr Morale & The Big Steppers. It’s been a thrilling reminder of why words excitedly turn me on.

Rap, Rhythm and Poetry, has always been about how well can you balance these two elements on a song. Can’t just have dope rhymes with no story and that is what poetry is for me. It’s a story that is creatively told, flamboyantly painted.

Rap had become my constant all weather older brother who could break down life for me and remind me I’m not alone. I had lost one of my cousins and slaughterhouse had just released a song titled ‘Goodbye’. It felt like Rap put it’s arm round my shoulder as I tried not to cry.

When the pregnancy stages of life arrived I was just finishing formal education. I had nothing but time on my hands so I visited my friend and he was under pressure. His then girlfriend was pranking him with pregnancy scare, so we spent the whole day listening to ‘Lost Ones’ by JCole.

I mean those are some real questions to have asked, I fell madly in love with how raw Cole would be rapping about real life not afraid to cast light on some difficult questions and thoughts we all go through.

I listen to artists like Propaganda and I’m left in a daze because how you gather the courage to be that vulnerable in their musical offering without neglecting the art? How can one write so vividly I see the imagery build with each word.

Now in 2022 where the world is polarised and divided more than ever even though social media makes us feel like we all are neighbors. Kendrick Lamar makes an offering to the world and the major overarching theme I find is ‘Healing’.

If we heal we can leave a legacy that out lives us and regardless of what your human experience maybe. At our core all we want as people is to love and be loved. I want love. You want love. If everyone you saw was a reflection of YOU how would treat yourself everywhere you go?

If for nothing else, heal because your children, your lineage, your family tree deserve an inheritance better than the one you got.

I’m sensitive, I feel everything, I feel everybody
One man standin’ on two words, heal everybody
Transformation, then reciprocation, karma must return

Kendrick Lamar
Mother I Sober
Mr Morale & The Big Steppers

Be patient, it’s a sign of love
Be kind, we all hurting