In terms of style and delivery AKA is almost synonymous with Jay Z in that their familiar rap patterns let you know that this track is about to be amazing. Meanwhile Drake has developed his own sound within Young Money under Lil Wayne and with a similar connotation to the naming of the tracks we can see that Thank me Now would be just as effective as Congratulate me. In Congratulate me AKA has to take the time to congratulate himself for how far he’s made since he started, Meanwhile, Drake in thank me now comes of as a little more cocky and prepared, thanking the listener directly and giving them ample opportunity to thank him for a song well done. While the topics are very similar, as previously dictated in the post, the way they give permission to give them thanks and a pat on the back for a job well done, couldn’t be any more different in their delivery. “Hold your applause, this is your song, not mine,” “On the bed, on the floor, now congratulate me.” The songs are also a critical look at self from Drake and AKA analyzing the lives that they lead up to this point in their respective careers. As can be expected of any performance art there are times that an artist can perform in front of 40 people or 400 people either way they need to perform as if they’ve packed out Maddison Square Garden. There is also the process of becoming a household name which takes not only time but proper preparation and relationships. Now that AKA can be heard on the radio as well as Drake, at least in the context of this post, you can feel the similar motif which is simply support and congratulate both artist on a job well done.
Category: Student Projects
These are posts that were written by students
Ghana’s Native Son a review of Blitz the Ambassador’s Make you No Forget
Bearing a upbeat boom-bap style Make you No Forget starts with an infectious, head-bopping beat and a hard hitting rhythm. Shortly after the song begins Blitz brings us in with the chorus, “Police Corruption, they steal the election, brutality my brothers don’t get no option, thats why you don’t forget where you come from.” The verse then expands on the concepts of police corruption and how the kids of Ghana back in the 1990’s were worried if they were going to grow up or not. Also, what made it hard to forget where you’re from were the myriad of 90’s references to tv shows, and consequently ended up referring to Roger Milla, famous Cameroonian soccer player, bringing where he was from to the 1990 World cup with his signature celebratory dance, or better yet referring to Ivory Coast goalkeeper Alain Gouaméné stopping Ghana from winning the 1992 African cup of Nations with an amazing save, which Ghanaians attributed to the use of JuJu. Starting the next part of the chorus Blitz says that “As the weather gets hot, and the cops get hungry for busting people, we still harbor resentment towards them, whether they like it or not. Next verse brings you in with the kids from the first verse all grown up. They reminisce about the Motown, where they went to school, Gari and Shito, which was a snack spread that was popular in the 90s that got them through, Night clubs for Osu, where they went to party with the wrong attire and subsequently wasted time going back home to change to get in, only to realize that they should have just stayed home because of the rich kids hanging around getting the attention of the party’s female populous. In short, the song won’t let you forget where your from because neither will the world, and in the song he is nostalgically reminiscing over the days of his youth.
Candy For Your Eyes
Blitz the Ambassador. Just from the name you can get the feeling that this man is a well travelled, well versed rapper. Coming from Accra, Ghana he has been in the game since 2000 and has only grown deeper into his craft. Blitz the Ambassador’s videos are some of the most visual creative I’ve seen. I love them because they tend to tell a story. In his music video “Running” Blitz uses his video to speak on the topic of spirituality. The concept of the video is that you can run from spirituality but you can’t hide from it. The video reflect this message in the story it tells
Get Your Body Moving
“Tonight” by African American and Ghanaian artist Prince Kofi is the perfect club bop. As the song came on and the beat dropped, I could not fight the urge to want to dance. The beat rose and fell in all the right places to make your hips move with it, and the way Kofi’s melodic voice danced over the track only made me want to dance more. The song describes an amusing, eventful night that is centered around a tale of cat and mouse. Kofi asserts that he is in need of a particular someone, a need he plans to satisfy by the end of the night. While listening to this song I couldn’t help but picture a man and a woman in a club, both distantly lusting over each other while seemingly having the time of their lives. It made me feel like I was in the club, staring my lover in the eye, daintily asking him to save me from whoever it is I’m “enjoying” at the moment. The song is fun, lively, and describes the perfect weekend experience. It is the song you turn on when it’s Friday and your finally off work or out of school and are ready for for the surprises the night will bring. “Tonight” is not a “woke,” conscious song that speaks about social injustices, which is not outside the norm for Ghanaian artist. But, one thing I could not help but notice was the similarity to U.S. artist, which probably can be attributed to the fact that Prince Kofi is African American. Kofi’s song sounded like an everyday tune, something you hear playing on the radio or as you are browsing through department stores. It’s that feel good, get out of the slumps, and sing to the top of you lungs type of song.
Nigerian, South African/Kenyan connection. The battle of the “Koolest”
Today on The Hip-Hop African Blog we analyze the comparison between Nigerian rapper Davido’s song “Coolest kid in Africa” featuring, awesome, South African rapper Nasty C and Kenyan pop singer/rapper Stella Mwangi’s song “Koolio.” Both songs are exciting and begin with catchy beats, however, where Davido’s “Coolest kid in Africa” starts low and slow, with heavy bass and a sick trap beat drop, Stella’s “Koolio” picks up the pace with a faster electro-hop beat that is reminiscent of Pitbull’s I” I Know You Want Me.”
In Davido’s song “ Coolest kid in Africa” he describes that the reasons that he is the coolest are that he is both rich and connected, has enough money to change your life, if you let him, and because of the amount of women who choose to accompany him wherever he goes. Whereas, Stella in “Koolio” describes her “Koolness” as a product of her awesome life, which you should already know about, because of her gangsta style, though she does profess to not be a gangsta. Additionally, she suggests that you should not try to hinder her style or movements, because she keeps her Kool cooler that Coolio, which is not only a metaphor for being the pinnacle of coolness, but also a reference to famous 90’s Hip Hop Artist Coolio, who was known for not only his Coolness but his gangsta lifestyle, point of reference “Gangsta’s Paradise.”
The biggest comparison between the two can be found in Nasty C’s verse on the “Coolest kid in Africa” which connects the party vibe of knowing how cool he is, much like how Stella professes her coolness as a fact before the song, to the concept of finding out how cool he is like Davido suggests throughout the song. Two braggadocio songs professing to how cool the other is based on previous memory of their exploits.
Student Project: Hip-Hop Elements: Street Art
Student project looks at street art in Washington, DC
The Love for music Boxed Up
The song I selected for this assignment was Studio in the Cemetery by UG Boyko. Boyko music was unique and well put together. The music had some sort of techno beat along with a trap feel to it. Throughout the song, he talks about not being put inside of a studio. Boyko is saying that if he enters the studio he will drop incredible lyrics. He has a great amount of confidence in his music, and one can notice that from his lyrics. He does not care about anything in the world if he has his microphone and studio. Boyko claims that he can teach other artist a couple of things. According to this track, Boyko cares about the studio more than he did attending school. One can tell after listening to the studio in the Cemetery, that Boyko has several women and haters. He describes one of the women that he is dating to have a butt that is as a big as Hippopotamus. He was very descriptive through his lyrics, painting a picture of events for anyone that was not there to witness the events themselves. He also explains through his lyrics that the studio is down in the cemetery. Boyko is at great distress, and smokes to help deal with all issues he has faced in the past with his father. His dad caused him a great amount of pain as a child. In Boyko’s younger years he was timid, and did not make clear life decisions. He has also had to deal with the death of people close to him, which caused him to gain a great amount of pain. Overall, one can really enjoy the song, because it has a great amount of life lessons that are expressed throughout it.
We Must Hustle as a Society!!!
The song I selected for this assignment was Hustle by Justeez Leauge of Riches. He is a South African artist. I enjoyed how the song started off with the long instrumental in the beginning, just to gain the attention of the audience. One must respect the message of the song which is hustle. This song can fall in the motivational category, with the way he advocates his music throughout the song. He questions why individuals would not want to hustle to achieve their goals. He talks about how people must hustle every second of the day, to achieve things such money, cars, and houses. Justeez says you must hustle if you want to eat and truly be successful. Through Justeez’s track one can learn they may not want to hustle but they must understand it. He also goes in to them talking about why people would want to hustle all their life, then to be controlled. He ties this in with individuals going to college who still must follow certain imaginary rules after they earn their bachelor’s degree. This can relate to a job not hiring someone because they have tattoos or dreads, when they are clearly qualified for the job. An event like this happened to my football coach because he had his whole neck and arm covered in tattoos. This resulted in him losing out on a 400,00 thousand-dollar coaching job, just because he had tattoos. We should be able to hustle and achieve anything we want if we truly deserve it. Justeez desires to work for himself, so he can make his money. From listening to Justeez song, one can see that he is educated and knows what to do when it comes to being successful.
Gender Roles of Women Around the Globe
The two videos I selected for my fourth blog was Kisses by Fifi Cooper and Skwod by Nadia Rose. Fifi Cooper was born in South Africa and Nadia Rose was born in London, England. I selected these two artists for very specific reasons. They were chosen as the focus of my post because of the ways differences in the ways in which they express their womanhood. Fifi Cooper upholds the roles of what many would expect from women throughout the world. Cooper constantly sings about love. However, Nadia Rose, on the other hand, in the song Skwod displays a very hardened and masculine image, often frowned upon in many societies. In the videography, Rose wears a jump suit, as she raps about her crew. In her lyrics she states that she has the capacity to kill anyone with her flows, and that her rap verses are like punch lines. Rose was not afraid to tell people that she was their worst nightmare.
Society often forces people into particular boxes. Those who do not agree with or are unable to fit within these categories can become ostracized and judged for their decisions. Women all around the globe often find themselves considering the impact of their decisions on their friends, family, and society. This same pressure is often not placed on men, who are frequently encouraged to act on their impulses and enjoy the wonders of life. Rose strays very far from traditional ideologies of womanhood, but comfortable in her aggression and independence. The artist, Cooper, differed entirely from Nadia. as deemed for women. Even her style differs from Rose, she spends time to ensure she appears beautiful and even wears clothing to show her body; this differed significantly from Rose who style of choice was loose clothing and sneakers. Even in Rose’s musical lyrics she discusses hanging with her crew and getting into fights, this is behavior Cooper would never agree with. On the alternative, Cooper discusses love and kisses, throughout her entire song.. In the opening seen of Cooper song Kisses, she is applying lip stick and constantly looking at herself in the mirror. They even emphasize her vanity by showing her with a telephone shapes as a pair of lips. When comparing the two women, Cooper seems to comply to societies typical gender norms, which describe women as being emotional creatures, unable to separate their emotions from their normal day to day activities. These two videos were both very interesting to compare, as they showed differences in gender roles within society.
Student Project: Feminism and The Battle of the Sexes
*This is a student podcast that was done as a final project on the topic of feminism in hip hop.
A Podcast from Reese Hood and Joseph Wilson.
