Ok, so we all love to diss rappers and call them talentless hacks and such and it's understandable. I decided to look up the lyrics to this weeks #1 song from Billboards hot 100 chart, an industry standard chart that is the main measurment tool to judge a singles success.
This week the honour of being the #1 song in the country (Something that great songs like Stairway To Heaven, Purple Haze, November Rain etc... failed to achive) is rewarded to Soulja Boy's "Tell 'em." Lets take at the lyrics from this gem.
[Chorus: x2]
Soulja Boy up in This Hoe
Watch Me Crank It
Watch Me Roll
Watch Me Crank dat Soulja Boy
Then Super Man DAT Hoe
Now Watch Me Yua
(Crank dat Soulja Boy)
Now Watch Me Yua
(Crank dat Soulja Boy)
Now Watch Me Yua
(Crank dat Soulja Boy)
Now Watch Me Yua
(Crank dat Soulja Boy)
[Verse 1:]
Soulja Boy up In This Hoe
Watch Me Lean And Watch Me Rock
Super Man dat Hoe
Then Watch Me Crank dat Robocop
Super Fresh, Now Watch Me Jock
Jocking On Them Haterz Man
When I Do dat Soulja Boy
I Lean To The Left And Crank dat Thing
(Now You)
I'm Jocking On Yo Bitch Ass
And If We Get The Fight
Then I'm Cocking On Your Bitch A
You Catch Me At Yo Local Party
Yes I Crank It Everyday
Haters Get Mad Cuz
"I Got Me Some Bathing Apes"
[Chorus x2]
[Verse 2:]
I'm Bouncin On My Toe
Watch Me Super Soak dat Hoe
Ima Pass It To Arab
Then He Gonna pass it to the low (low)
Haters Wanna Be Me
Soulja Boy, I'm The Man
They Be Lookin At My Neck
Sayin Its The Rubberband Man (Man)
Watch Me Do It (Watch Me Do It)
Dance (Dance)
Let Get To It (Let Get To It)
Nope, You Can't Do It Like Me
Hoe, So Don't Do It Like Me
Fo', I See You Try Do It Like Me
Man That Shit was Ugly
[Chorus x4]
Now. This is sad. Very Sad. However this is not a "Hip Hop is crap" thread.
Lets compare these lyrics to one hip hops great songs, "Changes" by Tupac.
Come on come on
I see no changes. Wake up in the morning and I ask myself,
"Is life worth living? Should I blast myself?"
I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black.
My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch.
Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a ni*ga, he's a hero.
Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare.
First ship 'em dope & let 'em deal the brothers.
Give 'em guns, step back, and watch 'em kill each other.
"It's time to fight back", that's what Huey said.
2 shots in the dark now Huey's dead.
I got love for my brother, but we can never go nowhere
unless we share with each other. We gotta start makin' changes.
Learn to see me as a brother 'stead of 2 distant strangers.
And that's how it's supposed to be.
How can the Devil take a brother if he's close to me?
I'd love to go back to when we played as kids,
but things change, and that's the way it is.
[Bridge w/ changing ad libs]
(Come on, come on)
That's just the way it is. Things'll never be the same.
That's just the way it is. aww yeah...
[Repeat]
I see no changes. All I see is racist faces.
Misplaced hate makes disgrace for races we under.
I wonder what it takes to make this one better place...
let's erase the wasted.
Take the evil out the people, they'll be acting right.
'Cause mo' black than white is smokin' crack tonight.
And only time we chill is when we kill each other.
It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other.
And although it seems heaven sent,
we ain't ready to see a black President, uhh.
it ain't a secret don't conceal the fact...
the penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks.
But some things will never change.
Try to show another way, but they stayin' in the dope game.
Now tell me what's a mother to do?
Bein' real don't appeal to the brother in you.
You gotta operate the easy way.
"I made a G today" But you made it in a sleazy way.
Sellin' crack to the kids. "I gotta get paid,"
Well hey, well that's the way it is.
[Bridge]
[Talking:]
We gotta make a change...
It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes.
Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live
and let's change the way we treat each other.
You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do
what we gotta do, to survive.
And still I see no changes. Can't a brother get a little peace?
There's war on the streets & the war in the Middle East.
Instead of war on poverty,
they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me.
And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do.
But now I'm back with the facts givin' 'em back to you.
Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up, crack you up and pimp smack you up.
You gotta learn to hold ya own.
They get jealous when they see ya with ya mobile phone.
But tell the cops they can't touch this.
I don't trust this, when they try to rush I bust this.
That's the sound of my tune. You say it ain't cool, but mama didn't raise no fool.
And as long as I stay black, I gotta stay strapped & I never get to lay back.
'Cause I always got to worry 'bout the pay backs.
Some buck that I roughed up way back... comin' back after all these years.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat. That's the way it is.
[Bridge 'til fade]
Some things never change
Now you can't tell me thats not art. If that wasn't set to a beat and instead published in a prestigeous poetry book then everyone would be praising the author. So although people like to talk shit about rap and hip hop they fail to see that, sure maybe lately it's becoming a joke, there are great artists out there and that just cause the words aren't always sung. They still mean something.
