Ear to the streets

Gambian and Ghanaian UK rapper, J Hus ,has his ear to the streets with his song “must be“. Just by listening to the first verse of the song, you can tell how it reflects current rap culture. With a topic such as someone being an opp, it is very telling of who this song is made for and the artist’s background. If you don’t know, an opp is a person’s opposition, enemy, or snitch. It’s a word that is often used in Black communities for multiple reasons. For example: it can be used for someone in an opposing gang or could be as simple as someone with whom you compete. In the song, J Hus Repeats the lyric if it moves like it opp, smells like an opp, then it must be. Which is a play on the phrase, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it must be a duck. In the song, he’s repeats, if the person has all these qualities, then they must be who you think they are. He also talks about being associated with said opps. Just like you are who you hang with. So if you hang with this person who so happens to be in, off to somebody else, you now game the title by association. The lyrics go hand-in-hand with the UK Rap scene at the moment. Because it’s filled with drill and drill is usually associated with gangs, it is on-brand to have a song talking about apps because it fits in with the music being put out by other artists. The way the lyrics are said also reminds me of other rappers, with the way that he isn’t rapping too fast, but more so at a moderate pace, as to where you can hear what they’re saying. I also feel that if you were to take away the lyrics and just listen to the instrumental of the song, you can see the influence that Afrobeats has on J Hus. Once you strip away the lyrics, the beat is very reminiscent of a song you want to get up and dance to. 

Leave a Reply

%d