My Ambitionz as a Writer - Daunte Henderson

I was listening to 2 Pac’s “Ambitionz Az a Ridah” and I thought rappers have one of the best professions in America. I wish I knew what it was like to party with Puff Daddy at the Hamptons. As a child I would look at rappers and dream about all the riches that they seemed to be living well off because of their craft. The luxurious cars, expensive jewelry, exotic women and money by the boatloads all appealed to my pre-pubescent mind. I wished that I could rap so I could afford all of those luxuries. I never wanted to rap to escape poverty because I lived fairly well already. When I became of mature age to understand the message behind the lyrics I wanted to rap because it motivated people and ultimately kept a lot of my sisters and brethren from snatching a fool up by the collar. As you can see I’m not a rapper. I figured out a long time ago that I didn’t have the persona or swagger to be a KRS-One or even a KRS-Two. My passion for the pen has led me to be a writer. I’m heavily entrenched in the hip-hop culture. While rappers get to spit bars into a microphone, I’m formulating homophones and using active voice in paragraphs. I always dreamed of making the same impact on someone just like a rapper. I’m living this dream as you read and as I write.

I admire rappers because in a lot of cases they speak for the voices that can’t be heard or overlooked. These urban poets have ways of crafting their stories through their bars and hooks. You can learn a lot about the dark side of our society if you listen to these artists. In one whole verse you can see a lot of the ills in our society. A lot of these artists get criticized for their graphic content and lack of social responsibility, yet these same people won’t help clean up these rappers environments. Artists in general depict their realities and portray them via whatever medium they choose. Why is it so different when a rapper voices his reality? Al Pacino is an artist because he’s an actor. He’s killed people ruthlessly in his movies and they call his work a masterpiece. Ice-T releases a cd entitled “Cop Killer” and they ban it from stores. Critics seem to have no problem with the Tarantinos or Scorsese’s depicting their versions of art but as soon as a rapper who happens to be African American does something it’s controversial and wrong.

Analysts and everybody else with an opinion always talk about how hip-hop is the cause of so much wrong in our society, yet they won’t acknowledge the wrong in other mass media. If we lived in a fair society we would accuse Bill O’Reilly of being a bigot just like we say Ice-T’s a cop killer. I’m a communications major so I understand that some clowns like Bill O’Reilly are only there for shock value and have no real worth besides an extreme opinion and media credibility. I know that there are some problems with rap. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that a phrase like “bitch I’ll slap the fuck out you” should be erased from the music BUT I’m also a fan of free speech. I won’t pick on any form of entertainment or artistic expression because I believe the messages speaks volumes about the state of our communities. If I’m an artist and my living situation is decrepit and of a sub-standard nature; I’m not using an Oxford Dictionary and rapping “I come from a low socio-economic background”. NO…I’m rapping something to the tune of “Shits fucked up in my hood”. Why? It’s the language of my surroundings. I would be accurately painting a picture of my environment and its diction by saying such. If you want artists to change their lyrics, change their surroundings.

I loved Nelly’s Tip Drill and have no qualms about liking it. Not because I’m a pervert but because this form of entertainment kept another one of my fellow African American males off the streets. I agree it’s not the most positive thing to portray on television but look at the total package. Nelly does A LOT for his community. I’m also a fan of “if you don’t like it then don’t buy it”. Of course it’s readily available and out there in the open for kids, but if you WATCH YOUR KIDS THAT SHIT WONT HAPPEN. Maybe my mother has a super gene for supervision skills but in my household her word was law. If she didn’t want me to do something it wouldn’t go down. Watch your kids. I know you can’t be there 24/7 but hopefully you’re there 20/7. I don’t like apples, Doritos, Queer as Folk, Seinfeld or country music, but I’m not going to boycott any of those. I won’t support it. Easy! Why waste money and time on talking about some things that I don’t like that I feel you shouldn’t like as well. The easiest way to phase anything out is to not support it. If Gucci Mane’s fans didn’t buy his next cd he wouldn’t rap anymore. Hit em in the pockets and keep it moving.

I’m a writer. I try my best to keep the spirit of Christopher Wallace and Tupac Shakur alive through my writing. Rappers reflect the good, bad and ugly of our society. They’re just like any other artist who portrays their craft. Society needs to respect their vision as rappers but first they need to respect us as a people. We all know they can’t possibly be mad over some four letter words that show up in just about every movie. Maybe it’s our skin that causes the controversy and not the content?