For today’s post I analyzed “Roll Up” by Emtee and “Kid Cudi” by Blac Youngsta. Because South African hip hop is mainly focused on politics and activism, Emtee’s video was unexpected. He performed completely outside the norm. His video began with him smoking a blunt then arguing with what I am assuming is his girlfriend. The remainder of the video consisted of idle lyrics with no substance. Emtee’s message was very artificial. All he spoke about were materialistic things, like weed and money. As a fan of “conscious music,” I was a tad disappointed. Now, Emtee’s song wasn’t bad, but I was expecting a invigorating message on activism, not a song about money and drugs. Emtee’s video was much like a U.S. artist. Many U.S artist focus on artificial things like fame, cars, money, jewelry, etc. This similarity is shown in Blac Youngsta’s “Kid Cudi.” Blac Youngsta’s song is centered around having sex. His video began with him discussing with his friend how they engage in sexual intercourse with a woman. He goes on to bashing what he calls “f****k n****as,” at bragging about his money and cars. Black Youngster and Emtee both had videos that didn’t necessarily contain a pertinent message. Both were focused on “stunting” on others and glorifying themselves. Neither one of them focused on youth influence, politics, or activism. The only difference between the two is that Black Youngsta’s video was much more graphic. It seemed like almost every other word was a curse word. But, the vulgarity of it makes this an underground track. “Kid Cudi” probably would never get played on the radio. I feel the same for Emtee’s “roll Up.” Because his message is not the normal politics driven message of South African hip hop, Emtee’s song probably isn’t played on the radio.