Have you ever listened to a hip-hop song (or any other genre) without knowing what they are saying at all? But a part of you can feel the context without knowing the context. The bounce of every syllable and the auditory massage you get from a soothing melody, sometimes the wordplay, double entendres and the meaning behind every verse doesn’t matter. But just the sound of the words along with the melody of the music resonates with your emotions so well you feel like you know the song by heart.

You know that moment a song plays at a party, you hear the first few seconds of the song and your heart leaps into excitement? Because you know this is your jam and you’re ready to display that to your peers by singing every lyric in it. And as soon as you jump in to rap along: gibberish.

The only thing you are reciting is the syllables that moved you, the alliterations you remember hearing, and those quick catch phrases that engrave themselves into your musical muscle-memory.

But one of the most hilarious moments one can have is the overestimation of that memory -- when as soon as you vocalize the lyrics, out comes a discharge of verbal mesh. I have been there numerous times, where the musically induced verbal diarrhea is followed by being laughed at by peers. Not knowing how to recite the lyrics shows that you don’t know the song, therefore, you shouldn’t act like you do. So many of us music listeners have fallen victim to this phenomena, resulting in accusations of being shallow about our music.

Growing up in Japan, I did not learn English until I moved to the states in 2004. But my love for hip-hop (a mostly american rooted genre) had already bloomed within me. I watched MTV religously as a child, and I recall how much excitement artists like Eminem and 50 cent brought me. I remember watching the music video to "Without Me" by Eminem, having no idea what he was saying, but understanding that his flow and his utilization of wordplay was unmatched. I knew that he spoke English like I have never heard of before. As he rapped, his flow sounded as if he was drumming with his words along to the beat. I saw and heard his flow as another instrument, and not as real words. I have felt ashamed at times because of that very reason. The fact that these songwriters have put in countless hours to tell a story through song, but the catchiness of the songs overpowered the meaning behind the words.

Language without semantics is just a complex pattern of different sounds manipulated by our vocal chords. And sometimes, the sounds themselves are pleasant to listen to. English to a non-English speaking individual sounds like this:

And how many times have you heard, “French is the sexiest language,” from someone who doesn’t know one word of french?

In hip-hop with heavy auto-tune, the use of a talk box, and verses predominantly conveyed through slang, it is sometimes difficult to understand a song unless you look up the lyrics on rap genius. Unless you are well versed in your slang terms and can comprehend the language the song is being sung in, it’s hard to pick up what artists are saying just by listening to the song once. Which yes, it is unfortunate when lyrical geniuses such as MF Doom are overlooked because of their monotonous sound. But artists with simple punch lines and not much depth within their lyricism (for example, many of these up and coming trap artists) get global recognition through fans all over the world.

In a nutshell, I always hear negative criticism against not knowing a song lyrically and contextually. But I personally believe that is OK. Music and art no matter how direct and strong the message is, will always be open for interpretation as long as it has an audience. It is unfortunate that people listened to Kendrick’s "Swimming Pools" as a drinking song, when it’s actually about the struggle of alcoholism and addiction. But maybe it’s interpretation as a drinking song caused many positive things to occur. You just never know

The dynamics of how words and music moves us has been researched and studied for generations. But at the end of the day, to me, it is as simple as this: you hear it, you like it, you feel it. Whether that is the complex context of the words making political statements or the flow of words or both, it does something magical to us, individually and as a society. Deep or shallow, music will always impact the world in a drastic way.

As the great Bob Marley said, “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”