I Want To Be A Rapper Too!

Rap has transformed into an ever-expansive forum that expresses every side of life. No longer is rap contained to its prehistoric theme of sex, money, and drugs. In fact, one “rapper” who breaks the mold is Asher Roth. His lyrics are the expression of all the college students in the world. For example:

I can't tell you what I learned from school but
I could tell you a story or two, um,
Yeah, of course I learned some rules
Like don't pass out with your shoes on
And don't have sex if she's too gone
When it comes to condoms put two on
(Trust me)
Then tomorrow night find a new jawn

Man, I love college.”

Roth reveals the other side of college. In fact, he portrays the other side of the college student: free willed, street smart(the book smarts kicks in for class time), promiscuous, and down-right careless. Furthermore, not only is his song “I Love College” just catchy, it fits perfectly with popular culture. It is a song that seems to be loved, if not liked, by the masses. It’s YouTube ratings says it all: about 8 million viewers have watched Roth’s video. Yet, Roth’s music mean more than just relating to the masses. It relates to the genre of rap. There are a great number of critics of Roth’s style of so-called rap. From one perspective, Roth is not a rapper. Not because his music doesn’t revolve around money, sex, and drugs. It’s because Roth began musical career breaking into a competitive, egocentric genre, where you have to prove yourself as a rapper. Anybody can come into the game of rap and become popular with the general public. Their music will be played and replayed in clubs, get millions of hits on YouTube, and that artist will perform on different award shows and TV shows as well.

Yet, to become a legitimate and respected rapper, your music and lyrics must earn your status. This may seem like a close-minded and limited kind of definition for rap. Yet, rap emerged and took on great popularity because it expressed the individual and collective experiences of the working class African Americans. Hip-hop and rap emerged as the alternative identity in comparison to other types of music. The criticized theme of sex, money, and drugs is not iatrogenic. This was the experience of many individuals who were in working to lower class society and the rappers and hip-hop artists as well. Through their music, these artists produced a dialogue to relate and express these experiences. Yet, rap itself has changed. It hasn’t stuck to the theme of sex, money, and drugs. It has transformed to involve other genres of music, from pop, to rock, to Indie, to classical music. It has expressed experiences such as falling in love, having conflicts with the people in one’s life, working for success, or becoming successful. It’s also utilized itself to make those popular club songs. It has expanded its meaning by addressing many social issues such as poverty, politics, social norms, etc. Rap has changed and will continue to be ever changing. In addition, it will encounter different artists who want to come into the game. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you came from. Asher Roth can’t be completely discredited. Another song of Roth’s called “G.R.I.N.D.(Get Ready it’s a New Day)” is about the experiences of homeless people. I guess the question becomes, why didn’t Roth begin his rap career with this song, instead of a song about always getting fucked up in college? Well, no one will ever know.