What's Bigger Than Rap Music?

Eryka Badu (from top), Music Soulchild, and Jill Scott lead the new soul movement.

What's Bigger than Rap Music?

By Yemi Toure
Special to SeeingBlack.com

Talk about it! To respond to this article, click here.

What's bigger than rap music?

In the streets of the Black community, a growing cultural movement is claiming space. And it has the potential to be bigger than rap. The movement goes by many names. Neo-soul. New Funk. Real Music. This growing movement is one of the most important elements in hip-hop culture today.

Hip-hop culture and rap music are not the same; rap music is just one part of hip-hop culture. This growing cultural movement of Real Music is also a part of hip-hop. Hip-hop is the most powerful, most positive, most creative, most important cultural force in the world today, bar none. It includes not only rap music, but also styles of dress, of language, of dance, spoken word, other forms of art, etc., etc. I believe that out of hip-hop culture will come the next stage of our movement for human rights, our view of the future, etc.

So what differentiates these new singers from some of today's rappers? These new singers tell stories. They can SANG. Their lyrics are about something other than themselves and what they got. Their hip-hop flava combines poetry, blues, and jazz. They have both flavor and substance. Like a hot vegetarian casserole. Or your auntie's banana pudding, fresh out the oven.

They are proud of their African selves, and they say so. Their lyrics are about love and pride and passion. They don't sing about wallowing in the hard times, but struggling through the hard times to something better.

You know Erykah Badu. You know Musiq Soulchild, you know Grammy nominee Jill Scott. They are not alone. One of the greatest up-and-coming practitioners of this Real Music is none other than India Arie. Remember that name. I was blessed to see her live in a concert in Atlanta before her first album dropped, and she is fantastic.

You know how good and honest the music is when you are just hanging out on the corner, or in the park, with your friends, and y'all just playin' it? That's the way India Arie felt, that's the way she played, that was her vibe.

India.Arie's debut CD Acoustic Soul features the hit "Video."

In that Atlanta concert, she sat down in a folding chair at the front edge of the stage and picked up her acoustic guitar. She talked about being on tour, and how glad she was to be back home, in Atlanta. "There's no place like home, y'all."

Some in the young, dreaded audience may have wondered what was going to come out of that guitar. What was this 25-year-old woman doing picking up a live instrument that you have to learn how to play, not just turn on a switch? India didn't take long to show them.

She had more than just a beat, like so much of rap these days. Her voice was rich, flowing, caressing those notes. And quiet notes? How many singers you know these days who can sing quiet? India can.

Her debut album is Acoustic Soul [see our review]. It's in stores now. Her web site is http://www.indiaarie.com.

Right now, I'm listening to her sing "Brown Skin." When she says those two words, you can see that brown. You can feel that skin. "Brown skin / I can't tell where yours begins / I can't tell where mine ends."

Listen to her piece "Video"—"I'm not the average girl from your video / And I ain't built like a supermodel / But I've learned to love myself unconditionally / Because I am a queen." It's not preachy; and you can see young girls not only singing right along with this, but also absorbing this, right through their brown skins. Irie!

That's the thing about our best musical artists: They not only reflect the best within us, but they also have helped refresh and renew us, especially in times of toil and trouble and transformation—like now. Just look at Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit"… Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin On"… Tracy Chapman's "Talkin 'Bout Revolution"… Dead Prez's "It's Bigger Than Hip Hop."

Notice that these songs are not about what the singer got. Not about b-----s and benjamins and 20-inch this and 40-ounce that. That is what separates this from some parts of mainstream rap.

Our best contemporary cultural critics point out that too much of rap music these days has become repetitive and boring. They say that self-hating, woman-hating, violent lyrics show that a major part of rap music has lost its soul.

So true. The last Grammy awards, in which the white Eminem took everything in rap except the toilet seats, should have told us something. Writer Kevin Weston said that as soon as a rapper like Eminem "has taken over the scene, you can bet the movement of Black music will find some new well to tap."

Indeed.

There is nothing wrong with Snoop Dogg's beats. The soundz that his producer, Dr. Dre, lays down are some of the most passionate, moving sounds anywhere today. But Snoop only wants to "keep it gangsta."

This new movement has given new meaning to the phrase, "Keep it Real."

-- May 17, 2001

Yemi Toure is a media critic who edits the web site H|Y|P|E at http://www.afrikan.net/hype. E-mail him at ytoure@hotmail.com.

Advertising | Feedback | Privacy | Legal