The Hip Hop Project Page #2

you know, twice, attempted

to just commit suicide.

My writing

is what kept me alive,

because there was so much rage,

so much anger,

and it was like

I didn't know how to get it out.

- What I'm hungry for is just

whatever opportunity there is.

As long as I can do what I love

and survive

and as long

as it's around hip-hop-

I love hip-hop,

you know what I'm saying?

Because this is just-

it's like an outlet

like no other.

I used to just write rhymes

in class or whatever.

I wouldn't do no work.

I wouldn't do nothing

but write rhymes.

I f***ed up in ninth grade,

and I had to really redefine

who I was

and find another path.

My father got incarcerated

probably, like, three weeks ago.

He got arrested for drugs

or whatever, selling drugs.

And, you know,

they raided the house,

and how I felt then,

it was like

they were doing something wrong,

not my father,

you know what I'm saying?

He really put his education

aside when he was younger.

That left my father illiterate

to the point where he barely

can write his name.

I won't settle.

I won't settle for

what my mother settled for.

I won't settle for

what my father settled for.

- 34th Street, Penn Station.

- It's like the price

of my range

Only nigga balls

entertaining on the A train

Feel it

It's NY to Calico

We don't give a f***

Brave niggas

let the Cali blow

You see your head

on your front porch

On your f***in' patio

What the f*** you wanted

for the ravio

Nigga named Cann

From NY, man

BK Brookdale Hospital

where I was born

But I felt the earth shake

- CaNNoN was always

a wordsmith.

He would rap,

but some words,

I wouldn't know

what the hell he said.

It's like he'd just

find a dictionary

and use the biggest words he

could find to rhyme or whatever.

But I could tell

he had crazy skill, you know,

just how he always hitting

the beat.

He had mad rhymes,

just mad rhymes.

- Lookin' for war

The nigga that seek

you shall find

You ain't hurt,

look at your lungs

And you weak and you blind

Y'all niggas is like charcoal

waiting for flames

Get outside of rhyming

and I'm taking my name

Load 20 in the clip

Keep one on the chain

- He had a little hard-core,

selling crack in Manhattan thing

going on, you know.

But that wasn't him,

and it was obvious

it wasn't him,

but he was still trying

to find himself.

I could tell he was searching.

- Different stakes

Became ironic

Do what y'all niggas

predicted

No, I got you redesigning

You infatuated

Besides, they say

they always hate our verse

- Princess, she had some rap.

Oh, man, it was so whack.

And she would kick

that same rhyme everywhere,

but never on the beat.

- Lyrically she telling virgins

F*** you,

said I'll pop your cherry

You got passion and sh*t

Y'all like alcoholics

trying to sober...

- So I had to try to find a way

to get them to a point

of seeing that they got to rap

about something else

and really knowing

why they should do it.

- What we need is more stars,

people who are individuals,

who will write their songs

about whatever is on their mind.

And knowing that people

don't have enough of that social

or political

or uplifting material,

because you make

another gangster record,

or another record about

how many cars you're gonna buy,

it's boring as f***,

and you all know that's boring.

- If you going through stuff

in your life,

that's what you need to put your music

or your art about.

That's what it got

to represent.

And that integrity is going to

come through in the music.

That's what people connect to.

That's soul music.

Every day you turn on the radio,

you got materialism,

you got misogyny,

you got-

- Money, hos, and clothes.

- Money, hos, and clothes.

Violence,

you know what I'm saying,

so I want to challenge y'all

to say something a little different,

you know, to say something

that's going to touch somebody's heart,

move them to change their life,

inspire them in some way.

So I want you all to think back

to a moment in your life

that touched, moved,

or inspired you

and-and share that with us,

because when you share

a little bit of yourself,

you open others to share

a little bit of themselves.

- Yo, what you want?

I just want to know if I could

stay here just for the night.

Don't go thinking you're going

to sleep on a bed or nothing.

Go back, go sleep on a rug

or something,

'cause you see them three boys

back there?

Them are my sons.

Them is my sons.

You ain't my son.

You know, I think it's a shame

That you cringe

when you think of my name

And the reasons you get mad

I'm thinking is lame

Sometimes you say you hate me,

I be feeling the same

It never shows,

but I be feeling pain

We don't get along

because I'm so much like you

Move around, hustle,

just like you

My pops wasn't there for me

just like you

I'm so stressed out

But I'm scared of

what the dust might do

How you think I felt knowing

that no one wanted me

Knowing this man, my father,

commonly referred to as no one

I used to feel no one's pain

Rain for 40 days

and 40 nights

My life is 80 wrongs

and 40 rights

And still beneath the hope,

the single thought you might

Be a part

of your firstborn son's life

But that was

That was just a dream,

You gave up

That's what I take

You know, listen

You know, listen, Pop

I'm not holding back

my words

And the thought

of consequences

Got me holding back my verbs

You got some nerve

talking like you walking sh*t

But when you try to walk,

it's like your talk

It's sounding awkward

It's f***ed up

Yeah

But I stick through it all

14 years

I didn't miss you at all

So let it harbor

in your chest

Until there's peace

in your rest

Or rest in your peace

Whichever comes first

'Cause I ain't wasting

no more words

- Hip-hop is about drums

and bass and tones and power,

you know, "rah. "

I remember when

Grand Master Flash

and Melly Mell

and the Furious Five,

and Run DMC even,

every time they'd end a song,

they'd go, "Aa-ahh!"

You know, because it was about "rah,"

letting that energy,

let that fire out, you know.

So when you hear the drums

and the bass,

that just gets you moving,

and then I get to, like,

say whatever I want,

and I can curse if I want to,

not that you promoting it,

but you just letting me do me.

"Ah!"

You know?

So that's freedom.

It's freedom to just be able

to say whatever I want

and nobody's gonna stop me.

Nobody's gonna check me.

Nobody's gonna tell me

that it's wrong,

because there is

no right or wrong.

And once I do that

and I get all my stuff on the table,

then I can just be myself.

Now I feel safe.

Now I feel like

you know who I am.

I put my stuff out there.

Now I can keep moving forward.

And hip-hop allows us

to do that,

allows our young people

to do that,

because it's the music

of our generation.

- Now, who are some

of your favorite rappers?

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes