Materialism - AKA Thug Motivation

The next time you hear Lil Wayne spit the lyric "I'm a young money millionaire" I suggest you really think about what that represents. I spend a fair amount of time thinking about it these days primarily because Wayne and I are both 26. The difference is that Wayne was signed as a rapper at age 11. He is now an executive at Cash Money records. He walks around with a ring on his index finger that costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $128,000. That's one piece of jewelry, I won't get into the chains, bracelets and other accoutrements. In the words of rapper Young Jeezy this is the very definition of "Thug Motivation."

The rap industry takes constant flack for its materialism. People who don't enjoy the genre or seek to discredit it or both frequently point to the fact that all rap carries the same image. The argument goes something like this "All rap is the same. All rappers talk about is how much money they have, how many women they sleep with, and how many drugs they devour." A foolish counter-argument would claim that this is not the case.

The truth is that most rap, especially any that receives mainstream attention spends the bulk of its time preaching the good life. Like anything else though, this needs some context. How many people do you know personally that can claim to have earned millions of dollars before they could drink legally? OK, scratch that, how many of your friends can afford to and actually do wear half a million dollars worth of jewelery at all times? I'm assuming the list is starting to dwindle at this point, but I'll go one more. From that now short (read non-existent for most) list of friends separate those that have all of that money and came from absolutely nothing? Exactly. Now ask yourself a question, if all of the above applied to you specifically and your job was to make music, what would you write about?

The next series of questions gets a little bit more to the heart of the issue. When you see all that money flying around, smoke in the air, and expensive imports every other screen shot, what is your reaction? Most people are desensitized to it, in that they're so used to seeing the obligatory Ferrari's and Lamborghini's that they stop thinking about what they signify. The same goes for the women. You see models on screen and most guys think of the unattainable. But think for just a second, there is a reason that you see what you do in music videos and that purpose is dual-fold. Yes, these rappers are indeed flaunting their way of life but the fact that they can means that this life EXISTS in the first place. This is how they actually live (that's right, they wake up and there are beautiful women around, and money, and sweet clothes, and dope cars, it's not just for the shoot) but more importantly, this is your wake-up call go grab your own happiness. Now that may sound simple enough, but dig in deeper.

If you could you would get rid of me
What you gon' do when a nigga' gotta go hard?
But I won't let you get to me
You should already figure I'mma go hard
If you were as real as me you would never let another nigga step in your yard
Making money ain't shit to me
This is in my veins and it gets to my heart
So I am, I will I've gots to go
You got another way to live? You've got to go hard
I am getting it in until the end I've gotta go, go, go, go hard

I flow sick\Nigga how sick?\Sea sick
Got your hand out? \ Don't look at me bitch.
You lookin' at who made me rich.
You lookin' at who made me rich.

The above is the full hook and a portion of the first verse of DJ Khaled's song Go Hard featuring Kanye West and T-Pain. If you're willing to sift through the profanity, and cut to the core message in these lyrics the message is as clear as it is inspiring. The hook from T-Pain is all about doing what it takes to earn, and how important it is that nobody can stop him from doing so. This rings especially clear because T-Pain has the money to prove it, it's not like he can't show you that he's willing to do what it takes. Look at what he has and in him see what it is that you lack, because he's already at the summit and this is the knowledge that he brings back. Kanye's verse is more personal and floored me the first time I listened to it. In the face of those looking for handouts instead of going after their dreams for themselves West puts it all on the table with his words: "You lookin' at who made me rich." And the fact that the line is repeated is not an accident. Nobody else can claim his success for themself, nor can anyone else deny his success in and of itself. I believe that words are powerful and the above is just a solitary example.

There is a two-fold reason why I don't condemn, and in fact support the rap industry on several fronts. The first is that maybe using any means available to get people off their couches and out trying to make something of themselves isn't the worst thing in the world. The second is that as the saying goes, the realer you spit, the less air-time you'll receive. If you want rap to be about substance go out and start spending some money on Dead Prez, Talib Kweli, Reflection Eternal and Black Star albums or at least find out who those artists are. This is not a secret. Dave Chappelle went on record with this statement in his Block Party film. Jay-Z even dropped a taste of the truth on the Black Album: "If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be / lyrically, Talib Kweli / Truthfully, I wanna rhyme like Common Sense / But I did five mil/ I ain't been rhymin' like Common since." If you want music with substance, give people a reason to make it. If backpack rappers made more money then the world would probably be a different place, and I probably wouldn't have much to write about.

Do I believe that money, women, and drugs are all there is to life? No, but neither do rappers. Let's get it.