Qwerty said:
I'm listening to him and his songs don't get to me and I most of the time have no idea what message he's trying to give, since he's a conscious rapper.
are you serious?
since when did concious=having a message?
first off, "concious" jujst means that a dude raps with a level of social awareness.
its not necessarily a "message", but the whole album, heck commons career, every song has a purpose and direction... dude dont spit just to spit. do i have to break it down?
the corner- its about, well, the corners! its not about the hood, but, just, the corner. the average cat thats struggling. dont really have money, how these cats may envy those that have things they dont, and hoping for that break to get of this part of life...
faithful- metaphor of god as a woman. describing his relationship with god and the way treats god and teh importance god has in his life-using a woman as a metaphor, which is appropriate.
testify- old fashioned story telling. its about a woman who s pleading for her husband but turns out to be the one who commited the crime he got locked up for.
the city- on the surface its an ode to chicago, but more to the point the city is hip hop...talking about the state of hip hop in some places, just raw, fierce, and HUNGRY- this rivals that song, hungry, lyrically.
the food-a man has to eat! essentially an extension of the corners.
they say- dude addresses things people have said about him, about erica, abuot electric circus, etc.
need i go on? do these songs have "messages"? not really.... but they have something called "substance". THAT is what being a "concious" mc is REALLY about. can they still talk about sex, the hood, violence, and the like? well.... yeah tehy can, the difference is it isnt the pervading theme of tehir career as it is with so many others.
i got a review forthcoming soon.