The hurt and anger that many of us have been feeling over the past month or so has exposed a serious hole in the music that we enjoy. Sometime after 9/11, the balance between escapist and topically substantial music seemed to shift. This has been extremely apparent in hip-hop, once famously called “the CNN of Black America” by Chuck D. On a mainstream level, it’s seemed like the only emcees spitting rhymes that weren’t wholly about various methods of achieving paper were Common, Nas (holdovers from an earlier era) and Kanye. From 50 and Game to Weezy to Rick Ross & Jeezy, it seemed like the soul had been sucked out of rap music.
Thankfully, newer emcees like Childish Gambino, J. Cole & Kendrick Lamar are stepping up to the plate and mixing healthy doses of introspection, righteousness and topical observations in with more lighthearted topics. Kendrick, specifically, hit it out of the park with “I”, which might be my favorite song of 2014.
The Compton-based emcee has been on a tear since he famously called out every new-school rapper by name and vowed to (lyrically) body them in his now-legendary guest verse on Big Sean’s “Control.” Most recently, K Dot appeared on The Colbert Report (he is the show’s final musical guest) and unleashed an as-yet untitled song with the help of some familiar faces like bassist Thundercat and otherworldly alternative soul vocalist Bilal. I’m still processing the lyrics, but the song feels important, it’s coming from a place of artistry & creativity (as opposed to pure commerce) and I WISH KENDRICK WOULD RELEASE A GOD DAMN NEW ALBUM ALREADY.