While bravely defending a particular artist (who completely deserves defending, by the way), the delightfully humble Mike Will inadvertently gives some of the best advice for listening to rap I’ve ever heard.
Mike Will Made It interview on Shade 45
Yes, there is definitely a lot to be gained by listening to a lot of rap line by line, but exclusively using that kind of listening as your only approach is really going to make you miss the larger pictures being painted. Amen Mike.
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I am really glad you posted this. I was at a party the other night and some dudes were listening to a rap album I’ve spent a lot of time getting to know, and analyzing it to the point of desiccating it – I mean, nit picking over the way certain words were pronounced and everything, trying to rank artists in numerical order of level of talent or “good”ness, etc. It was really disheartening for me to hear because, for me, the most moving part of that album was never what was being said or how it was being said – in fact, despite being very familiar with the album I had never given as much attention to the words as to the overall energy of the album. I really like how Mike Will basically says that being a poet can be about more than just being quotable. A friend of mine said, and I agree, that a lot of times people over-analyze or criticize things in order to somehow own or be better than what they are criticizing. But it kind of kills it too, if you make it smaller than you or beneath you how can you learn anything from it?
absolutely.
which album was it?
ab soul control system. I got hooked on it on a long drive down to visit my mom, something about it just fit the moment…
mmm, yeah i listened to that album quite a bit on my trip. i get what you mean about how you approached listening to it too, i think the times i liked that album the best were when i was doing that same thing. hope that dumb debate didn’t ruin it for you.