The Radio Rap Experiment

It’s been awhile since I made a blog post (as some of you may have noticed), but a lot has changed since the times I used to post on a regular basis and now. The way I am doing this isn’t orthodox, but it gets the job done and I haven’t gotten in trouble for it. (That should say enough within itself.)

So out here in Georgia, we’ve started the school year about a month ago. I am kind of new to the school, but I knew a few of the people here and there that made the socializing process go a bit quicker. Within the third or fourth week (don’t remember), a friend of mine and myself were joking about some lyrics in radio rap music and how it has subliminal meanings that in the end, weren’t worth deciphering in the first place. So eventually, I made a list of 15 questions concerning terms in radio rap that weren’t easily understood. I lost the paper with the questions, but a few examples are:

• What are yams supposed to be and why are they everywhere?
• Are rappers aware that there are entire religions going against the concept of YOLO?
• I suppose thirsty doesn’t mean she needs a drink, does it?

I made a few lists that have questions similar to this, and we just laugh about it during our free time.

Since I find humor in the abundance of questions developed (some were obvious, but they were still hilarious), I decided to share the questions with classmates in some other classes (giving them the impression that I don’t understand). What I didn’t know was that by doing this, I was able to observe certain people’s opinions and - probably, depending on their reactions - their judgement on myself.

If I had to analyze my results, I would say that the majority of people found it to be funny. I can think of maybe 3 people who thought it was foolish and shook their head or barely looked at it. Out of those 3 people, two of them said, “you’re not supposed to ask so many questions about rap”. I completely agree with that statement, since rap isn't meant to be literal and it involves the use of slang. In this case, slang can be compared to a joke. It isn’t funny anymore if it has to be explained. The one other person, I don’t know what her deal was.

What I got out of the experience is that people may find humor in a person’s lack of understanding in the obvious, while others may judge you entirely. I’m pretty sure a fair majority of people at my school doubt my hip hop capability, but if they are in fact assuming things in the first place, then who’s to say that I didn’t make that list for humor? I understood about 83% of those lists altogether. I am officially through with listening to radio rap and had enough of it for a very long time. I will go back to indie music and backpack rap, and plan to stick with it. Chances are any music I listen to on the radio from now on will be indirect and from another source. -_-