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Last Updated: May 15th, 2009 - 00:35:36 |
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| Queen Ifrica inspires many with her conscious music. |
After working long hours at a musical theater job last summer, I felt very tired. I wanted to just relax, drive home from the other side of town, and maybe even listen to a lil’ something on the radio that didn’t have a musical theater twang to it.
But on plenty of days, I found myself resisting even touching the volume/power knob. Because I knew I would become frustrated with flipping through the stations to hear something that wasn’t “Touch My Body” by Mariah Carey “Like a Lollipop” by Lil Wayne, “A Milli” by Lil Wayne, “Hi Hater” by Maino, “Looking Boy” by HotStylz, “Ms. Officer” by Lil Wayne and Bobby Valentino, “Get Silly”by Souljah Boy, “Gucci Bandana” by Souljah Boy and Bow Wow or “Freaky Girl” by Gucci Mane.
These songs have nice beats/ rhythms to dance to while cruising with my “girls” but they aren’t what I listen to for lyric content. On many days, I need to hear just one conscious song, something that gives me 1/20th of the inspiration to keep pushing toward the future—or anything positive for that matter. Something that grabs my attention mentally rather than just physically, through an outbreak of dance moves. Popular songs like “Freaky Girl” by Gucci Mane and “Pop Bottles” by Lil’ Wayne actually insult me and my gender with explicit lyrics that can’t even be quoted in a high school newspapers (but can be played on the radio!)
As an artist, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to pull up in my car anywhere with this representing me, and as a writer, I feel that what we write is often a reflection of what we read or take in from any literary source. But I think maybe people fail to realize lyrics are literature too. The only difference is they are accompanied by a rhythm and beat and may come with a rhyme scheme. But let me ask you something, have you even heard of songs with names like “Daddy” or “Rise, Black Youth Rise,” and “I Am Not Afraid.”
Now I know what you might be thinking, “what does this have to do with anything?” To be perfectly honest, I was thinking the same thing the first time I was introduced to these songs through a friend. But then it hit me. I could relate to these songs. They spoke to real-life and important situations. These artists with positive messages don’t receive the financial support that they should while artists such as Lil’ Wayne and Gucci Mane are paid ridiculous amounts of cash to have their music exposed to the public.
The car radio led me to sit back and think open-mindedly about how I could hear the song “Lollipop” a few hundred times a day just flipping through various radio and television stations and web browsers. Yet I had to go through intensive searches to find songs such as “Daddy,” “Wrong Address,” “Star,” and “Rise Black Youth Rise.” Now
I know some may be thinking that the beat on these songs may not be poppin or that’s what happens when you don’t make club bangers. But at a time where the United States is in a recession, I ask you, do we really need club bangers when people are in great struggle just trying to make ends meet? Should we be influenced to go to the club and spend anywhere from $20 to $80 to enter when people can barely keep food on the table and a roof over their head?
R. Zahrah Pelzer is a high school senior in Washington, D.C.
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