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  • » Name: Amanda Bassa
  • » Location: VA
  • » Member Since: 09/21/07
  • » Bio: student, future change maker, and everything you wouldn't expect me to be.
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The Undisputed Truth

The Power of the Word


September 25, 2007 | Tags: none


If there’s one thing I learned from high school, it’s that you never want to leave a paper trail. Passing notes during class wasn’t safe because the wrong person could intercept them. Self incriminating yourself on your myspace page and bragging about how you made a bong out of a kumquat or something probably wasn’t the best idea either (word to the high school athletes out there: coaches can and will check your myspace pages, so don’t be stupid). Your words could come back to haunt you. Your words could hurt people. Your words could be your downfall.



The word is one of the most powerful weapons known to mankind.



Now that writing has captured a part of my heart and I’ve been putting a fair amount of time into the craft, my notoriously paranoid side of me has had to lay that “never write things down” concept to rest. But the thing that I’ve realized about writing is that suddenly complete strangers are reading what I have to say. My words are associated with my name and I’m putting them out there for the world to see. People will form perceptions of me based off of my words. People can learn things from me, as I can from them, just through words alone. But knowing this, as intimidating as it can feel sometimes, helps me stay focused and reminds me that spreading nonsense will only cause me to be taken less seriously overall, and will end up wasting the brain cells of anybody who stumbles upon my work. And that wouldn’t be too nice of me, would it?



So why is this concept so hard for most rappers these days to figure out? How do these people sleep at night knowing that they just released an album that was some hot garbage?! Sure, the money might be good, but musicians have such a powerful creative medium at their fingertips and I just don’t understand how one could use that outlet to spread music that’s wasting the listeners’ time. What are we learning from the music that gets the most mainstream attention these days? The ins and outs of slangin’ rocks. Money is everything. Some new dance move.  Yet we have artists like Brother Ali, Blu & Exile, and Talib Kweli dropping knowledge but getting neglected by the radio and TV stations. Part of this is (no) thanks to the record companies and the contracts that the well known mainstream artists end up signing – because in doing that, an artist ends up giving away a little bit of that concept of “freedom of speech” that’s fast becoming obsolete in America and they end up submissive to censorship, editing, and marketing schemes by their tall, semitic superiors.



But we can’t blame everything on the record execs. After all, they’re business men. They do what they do because it sells. Which means only one thing: the consumer is to blame. We buy into the doo-doo stanky (that’s the 3-part word of the week, dammit) shit that the exec-controlled rappers put out. Why does the truth in the form of music not sell records anymore? Seriously. Somebody tell me, because I can never think of an answer. I can’t fathom how somebody would pick up “Hustlenomics”, but then proceed to be devoid of “Lets Get Free” in their musical repertoire.



So, consumers: don’t settle for music that you understand with no effort at all. Demand music to make you think. That makes you learn. Music that will bring you closer to the truth in the world instead of burying you deeper into the illusion of what the industry assumes you’re supposed to be interested in.



And lyricists out there: please remember that people of all ages and all backgrounds might be listening to your words. They could be inadvertently memorizing the lyrics to your songs at this very moment. Are you truly proud of what you’re promoting? When you die, your words will live on through your music. Is what you’re saying really how you want to be remembered? Your words can make positive change. Use them.





The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

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