When did you fall in love with Hip Hop?

Is music at the center of your life?

I grew up in a very religious home. I was not allowed to listen to secular music or watch channels like MTV or BET.  However, I also grew up around a lot of people who were deep into "secular" (read: "hood") lifestyles.  So I received a taste of the "secular" world through my surroundings.

Back in the day I remember listening to The Quiet Storm with Eddie Owens on Power 98 FM or Kiss 102 Jamz...all up under the covers with my little radio...secreted away from the hearing ears of my parents. It's funny I had to do all that, because my parents always talked about the music they listened to back in their day. LOL. And my dad is a SANGER! (In church of course, but he has been approached to do R&B).

I'm a girly-tomboy...I love pink!
So y'all remember when Taye Diggs's character asked Sanaa Lathan's character in the movie Brown Sugar the question: When did you fall in love with hip-hip?"  The truth is...I never fell in love with Hip Hop.  I'm not a Hip Hop head, I don't care enough to know the culture well or anything like that.  But I enjoy good music with a good message.  I'm the chick who has both Bach and Tupac on my iPod. 

I can feel a spirit (that's A spirit not necessarily THE spirit...lol) moving through Anthony Hamilton's Do You Feel Me, The Point of it All and I'm A Mess, as well as Kirk Franklin's Now Behold the Lamb and Oh How I Love the Name Jesus.  Music emits passion and arouses emotion...they can be carnal emotions or spiritual emotions.  My homeboy, Creft and I always say in a joking, but truthful manner..."You know the Devil was over the choir in Heaven!"



I see music as an instrument to provide a message...and I'm all about sending positive messages. Something that shifts the soul in an uplifting, progressive direction.  I firmly believe that you are given talents for that purpose.  So you decide how to use those talents.  Shoot music helped bring me out of depression!  And many use music therapy for people who suffer with different illnesses and disabilities like autism.

My best friend, I call him Redboy, is from Texas and he introduced me to Chopped and Skrewed music in college...now THAT was an experience...lol. I was given music from Kidz in the Hall and Tanya Morgan, Talib Kweli (I named my godson after him) and Mos Def (Black Star),  Dead Prez, and Little Brother by my homeboy from Brooklyn (he's also a hip-hop critic for Examiner.com/Raleigh). 

I have friends in the music industry, like my homeboy who has a radio show in Tulsa, Oklahoma, The Big City Show with Big Ben on KJAMZ 105.3 FM.   He also makes beats.  I am a frequent guest on THE BEST Hip Hop and R&B morning show in the country, The No Limit Larry and The Morning Maddhouse Show on WPEG Power 98 FM. 

But my favorite music is Gospel and Classical.  I listened to The Light 103.9 every day when I lived in the Triangle. Today, when a music group from Arkansas, SawBoyz, reached out to me on Twitter, they weren't the first.  But they were the most respectful.  So I decided to do what I do best...give my critique for them.

One of them sent me two Youtube videos.  The first song was called "Extacy" the second "Kang S***".  Do you want the good critique or the bad critique first? Well...since I like to end on a good note, I'll start with the bad...

What I didn't like about the music
  • The names of the songs. I gave the rundown of who I am for a reason...so you'd understand where I'm coming from.  "Extacy" is a drug, "Ecstacy" is an emotion...I don't promote drug usage at all. I understand "everybody's doing it" but if you want to be different...BE DIFFERENT... Plus...music has become commercial...the likelihood of you dropping a single in the mainstream industry with that title is slim. And the second title "Kang ****" is very reminiscent of T.I. isn't that his whole gimmick? Being the King of the South? So...riding off of someone else's thing isn't very original.
  • Some of the lyrics did not transition well.  There was a part in Kang that went well...actually flowed...rhymed some and then the last part jacked it up. It lost its cadence.
  • The hook for "Extacy".  That singing-rapping thing is very played...and to me it has become annoying.  Rap or sing. Don't do both.
Now what I did like
  • The young lady singing part of the hook has a phenomenal voice. They should use her more in the hook for Extacy...since the song is about the pleasure a woman is receiving. Let her voice prove it.
  • The first bar of Extacy is good. The guy has a great flow and  he delivers his part well.
  • The southern accent. I personally have a thing for country boys. So of course the hint of a drawl caught my attention.  Hip-Hop is hot in the South right now...so that's an advantage.
  • The talent.  The flow from the group is nice. They have talent and it is very present in the lyrics. In Kang, there is a part where he says something like "off with his head"...it caught my attention because it illiterates the whole virtue and power of being an historical king...while playing it with the modern day meaning of being a king. 
Advice for Sawboyz

First, learn the business.  Don't waste all your talents going broke.  Feed your dream, but be smart about it. I like your networking style in social media.

Lupe Fiasco is one of my favorite artists.  He lets you know you don't have to dumb down your music to be appreciated.  So whatever you do, don't dumb it down.  Use your talents to elevate.  I can tell you're smart based on your use and delivery of certain lines. 

Don't give into certain pressures to spread destructive messages just to get put on.  At the end of the day you may gain fame and lose yourself.  Don't do it.  I'm going to take you to my roots for a moment and say... WHAT PROFITS A MAN TO GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD AND LOSE HIS SOUL?  Use your talents to bring life and light, not death and darkness to your people.

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