I listen to a lot of rap music nowadays, and have done for the last few years.
I particularly like the grimy, trap type stuff from guys who have transitioned from selling drugs to selling rap records/downloads. One of the things I love about this type of music from guys like Polo G, Lil Baby, Lil Durk is the beat.
But my favourite thing, and what attracts me like a moth to the flame in the first place, is the rhyming and use of words by guys who come from tremendously difficult, deprived backgrounds with little education and less parenting. Guys who have swopped selling drugs on streetcorners for selling their rhymes, beats, poetry on Spotify and in concerts.
I read a lot of classic books from guys like Dickens, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Hardy etc.
And sometimes I wonder is there a valid parallel to be drawn between Tolstoy and Dostoevsky writing and selling their novels and Lil Baby or Lil Durk selling their view of their world using their words in their rhymes.
Both groups selling words.
I think there is, and I do not think the parallel is far-fetched.
When you consider the different backgrounds from which both groups of writers sprang, when you consider the social class and circumstances, the education and opportunity, it’s arguable that these guys are the classic writers for their time and environment.
Just like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.