Some people may get frustrated at the formulaic rap that comprises most mainstream Hip Hop. The formula includes mostly songs about weed, women, and money yet as of recent there has been an influx and infiltration of spirituality into mainstream rap. One thinks of songs such as Ab-Soul's "Pineal Gland" and Joey Bada$$'s "Christ Conscious," to name a few. These songs contain content such as dimethyltryptamine (DMT), the third eye (or pineal gland), and sacred geometry.
Initially I was drawn to Hip Hop because of underground artists like Jedi Mind Tricks that rapped about far more than the list above. There's also old school artists like Gangstarr, specifically the song "Above the Clouds" that is teeming with spiritually related themes. "It's like ghetto style proverbs."
I want to take the opportunity on this forum to extract some of the wisdom contained in hip hop songs, for hip hop has become a major force in culture and has great potential to shift the consciousness of youth and people around the world.
The question is why is so much of mainstream popular rap about the same content and limited in scope? Is there some kind of agenda behind with what I would call dumb downed rap music? I think Big K.R.I.T. sums it up well in his song "Vent."
"Who cares about life, and the highs and lows
Maybe I should write another song about pimps and hoes
Cars and clothes, Idol Gods, Golden Calves, Louie Scarfs
I do this for the love, and it's free of charge
I don't need jail to be behind bars
This is purely art, in my Grandma's household this was surely taught
Don't be naive, yea these times is hard. In the midst of all the glamor, hope you find god"
He later goes on to say that all they want to see is shock value which I think answers my question. One thinks of people like Slim Jesus, a shockingly white rapper who makes drill time songs (songs about guns and killing people) and Rich Chigga, an Asian and young drill time rapper who wears a pink polo, short shorts, and a fanny pack in his video. Even I, who consider myself attracted to more conscious lyrics and songs, can't help but take a glimpse at the newest and absurd popular videos that pop up on YouTube.
Like most things, hip hop is a spectrum with the extremes of songs only containing materialistic content and songs only containing spiritually related content such as artists like Atma or MC Yogi. One could say hip-hop is a reflection of the human psyche and the spectrum of absurdity and wisdom that it contains.
For future articles I intend to cover hip hop in relation to spirituality, conspiracy, and social activism. This will include coverage of mainstream and underground artists alike.
Here is a link to some spiritually related Hip Hop.
