And the verse that changed my life was the second verse of Yasiin Bey, formerly known as Mos Def's, "Mathematics" from his album "Black On Both Sides." I'm one of the co-hosts of NPR's Code Switch podcast. GENE DEMBY, BYLINE: My name is Gene Demby. But once you learned those lyrics and you was able to recite them in front of your friends at the next party - worth every stop, record and play (laughter). You know, it was so hard 'cause she was so dope at it. And I just remember pressing stop and pause and stop and pause, trying to memorize the rap and write it down from the radio. You always wanted to write words that was that dope. Check your vernacular.īALL: Just to be young and to see someone so verbose and so cool, modern and above their years and their time with us - it was incredible to see it. Satisfy my appetite with something spectacular. You as clear as DVD on digital TV screens. Can't forget the focus on the picture in front of me. TLC: (Rapping) Let me give you something to think out, inundate your mind with intentions to turn you out. So let me give you something to think about. I don't find it surprising (inaudible) coast of overseas. And she was like, (rapping) if you can't spatially expand my horizons, then that leave you in the class with scrubs, never rising. And Left Eye - you just saw everything slow down, and she had her praying hands. A scrub is a guy that can't get no love from me, hanging out the passenger side.īALL: TLC had on the intergalactic clothes. TLC: (Singing) No, I don't want no scrub. TARRIONA BALL: I am Tank from Tank and the Bangas, and one verse in hip-hop that has changed me was - I think it was "No Scrubs." LAMAR: (Rapping) Crazy, product of the late '80s. And he going to make you run back the track a few times every single time. They play musical chairs, and once I'm on that pedestal - he's a master builder of turns of phrases, of syllables, similes. And I want everybody to view my autopsy so you can see exactly where the government has shot me. Last time I checked, we was racing with Marcus Garvey on the freeway to Africa till I wreck my Audi. LAMAR: (Rapping) Who said a Black man in the Illuminati? Last time I checked, that was the biggest racist party. And he just plants the image of your head and said, who said a Black man was in the Illuminati? So in the third verse, after the bridge, after Alori Joh says, every day we fight the system to make our way we've been down, too, he comes through. It felt personal, and it felt like it was really speaking directly to me in a way that other conscious rap albums or conscious rap songs hadn't quite felt before. When I heard "HiiiPoWeR," it felt hymnal. It's Kendrick speaking from the bottom of his soul, like the soles of his shoes and the soul within his heart, you know? "HiiiPoWeR" was just that constant, consistent soundtrack for that, and it floats in so beautifully. For me personally, it was my college-age years where you're literally learning to unlearn a lot of things. And on "Section.80," "HiiiPoWer" is really the song that turned me on and activated me to what it means to struggle with all these complicated emotions as a Black person living in America. So "Section.80" is definitely the album that sparked something in me. MADDEN: "Section.80" is Kendrick Lamar's debut album before his major, the mixtape off TDE. But I went right back to college, and I went right back to "Section.80." So many hip-hop songs, so many hip-hop verses have changed my life. SIDNEY MADDEN, BYLINE: I'm Sidney Madden, one of the co-hosts of Louder Than A Riot podcast. We reached out to some NPR colleagues and a few hip-hop luminaries and got some illuminating responses. So today on NPR’s POP CULTURE HAPPY HOUR, we’re reflecting on the hip-hop verses that changed our lives. What makes for an unshakable rap verse, the kind that shifts your world view and sticks around years after the first time you encountered it? I’m Aisha Harris, and this month marks fifty years since the birth of hip-hop. HARRIS: Hip-hop is a global phenomenon, but it’s also deeply personal, which got us wondering. A warning - this podcast includes explicit language, and the N-word can be heard multiple times.
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