As someone who loves music, I consume a lot of music across many genres. On several occasions, my mom joked that I know the lyrics to most songs on the radio, based on my ability to go several hours in a carpool karaoke with extensive knowledge of song lyrics to any station she could tune into. As a result of my intense consumption of music from rap to pop and heavy metal, I've been noted by several friends to usually have a recent song suggestion or a new artist that I can't stop listening to. This time, I'd like to introduce you to George Watsky.
George Watsky, who goes by Watsky in the industry, first started with slam poetry when he was young, and continues to write to this day. While Watsky did release his first hip hop album in 2009, he first began to make waves when a video titled "Pale kid raps fast" reached the public eyes in 2011. As you can expect, the video showcases Watsky rapping quickly while petting a cat (the cat was included to prove that Watky did not edit his video to appear to rap faster than he truly can). Since then, Watsky appeared on Ellen, gave a TED Talk titled "Lucky," went on Warped Tour, and has appeared at other functions and shows to highlight his rapping and poetry.
While I cannot recall when or how I first stumbled across a Mr. George Watsky, I do recall that I felt something different from other musical artists. As a writer within my own right, I have a tendency to pay attention to lyrics in songs - to put it frankly, a song without any internalized meaning is probably not a song that I will truly enjoy. I think I was first attracted to Watsky for his lyrics, and stayed for the rest of his content, including his raps, poetry, and funny tweets.
Watsky sets himself apart from other rappers by his style alone. To summarize most of his songs in one word, I would say that they are fast, even more so when compared to many other white artists. However, setting aside the speed of his rapping aside, it is virtually impossible to not be able to pick Watsky out because of his tell-tale lisp that comes through, which he addresses in one poem titled "S for Lisp." His lisp, in my opinion, works for him against any criticism that it takes away from quality of his enunciation in poetry or rap.
As much as I enjoy Watsky raps, however, poetry is his true strength. If I had to choose, my favorite piece from Watsky would be "Letter to My 16 Year Old Self," which can and does reduce me to tears each time I listen to him speak. Despite his sense of humor in many of his songs and poems, this poem touches on serious notes that hit me when I was 16, ad continue to hit home now, four years later.
In one of his newest tracks, "Welcome to the Family," Watsky invites his audience to share those negative feelings and thoughts that might make someone hole up into their own self and lock the rest of the world away. Watsky encourages the sharing of pain because everyone experiences these "demons" that haunt us; therefore, we should share what hurts us with those we trust, so that we do not have to bear our burdens on our own.
Welcome to the family, indeed, I know I'm looking to his upcoming album, and so should you.
