Month: January 2018

No one surprised more with their 2017 performance than Cardi B. Essentially unknown prior to that year, she soared to the top of the charts, playing significant roles in multiple songs inside of the top 10 on Billboard. As of today, she has 3 collaborations in the top 10, “Finesse” at #4, “No Limit” at #7, and “Motorsport” at #10, along with her hit songs “Bartier Cardi” at #16, and “Bodak Yellow” at #19. With all this recent success, many are wondering why she has flourished this year and where she has come from. Well, that’s why you’re here.

Cardi B, whose real name is actually Belcalis Almanzar, was born on October 11, 1992 in the Bronx. With a Trini mother and a Dominican father, her childhood was enveloped with her Caribbean culture. Her parents divorced, and this had her constantly traveling between the Bronx and Washington Heights. Even with this separation, she’s extremely close with her family, especially her sister Hennessy. With her mother a cashier and her father a cab driver, they worked long hours to maintain a healthy childhood for their children. Their hard work also helped teach Cardi B the lessons of being self dependent and smart choices.

After finishing high school, Cardi B did not have career plans, but she had high ambitions and wanted to make an impact with her life. She enrolled in Manhattan Community College, also working a part-time job. She started as a marketing expert in college, but after making only $250 per week, she decided that this was not her goal in life. So she dropped out at the age of 18, and trying to make money quick, soon became employed at New York dolls as an exotic dancer. Making $300 per eight hour shift, she received the money she couldn’t get from other jobs. She became a hit with the club-goers, and sustained this success throughout her five year career as a dancer. She quit at the age of 23, then transitioning to social media to call out adultery and domestic violence.

She then transitioned into an entertainer, meeting with personalities such as Patricia Fields and Charlagmagne the God. She ranged in a wide variety of activities, from modeling at New York Fashion Week, to appearing in a music video by Farruko, to co-hosting ‘Uncommon Sense’ a MTV2 show, and also making an appearance on Revolt TV. All this helped spread her name throughout the media, and her career looked to be rising.

In 2016, Cardi B released her first album “Gangsta B***h Vol. 1,” although few songs garnered much attention. The same can be said for “Gangsta B***h Vol. 2” released in January 2017. Foreva, her top song on the first mix tape sparked some interest, and it was enough for Atlantic Records to give her a shot. This could not have worked out better, as her first song with them blew expectations out of the water. “Bodak Yellow” hit #1 on the Billboard chart, the first female rapper to have a song at #1 in 19 years. Her music video for this hit has over 439 million views on YouTube, and This quick success made other stars want to add her to their songs, such as Bruno Mars and G Eazy. Another collaboration featured Nicki Minaj, her long time rival now believed to be friend, and Migos, the group which her Fiance Offset is a part of.

Cardi B may have shocked millions with her ascension to the tops of the chart, but it is easy to see why she has became popular so fast. Her quick lines and unique accent are something that no other female rapper possesses, although at points she sounds familiar to the aforementioned Nicki Minaj.  Her attitude to “be yourself” has been adored by many fans, and they find the now rap star inspirational. Although you may not have known her name a year ago, Cardi B will be a name you constantly here in the future, as she looks to remain atop her throne.

Jeffrey Lamar Williams is a famous rapper, but everyone else knows him as Young Thug. The hip hop star originated from Atlanta, Georgia and was born on August 16th , 1991. The twenty six year old had a rough upbringing, as many of the other rappers discussed have. Thugger, his rap nickname, was raised in the run down portion of the Jonesboro South projects. Not only was the area harsh, but Thugger was one of 11 children to be brought up in that household, him being the second youngest of them all. Surrounded by crime as a young child, his older brother was shot right in front of him. Another brother is currently in jail after being convicted of murder. His brothers weren’t the only ones that ran into trouble, as Young Thug was quite the problem child himself.

Young Thug stayed in school until sixth grade. What was the purpose of him cutting his schooling short? Well, as a sixth grader, Thugger was expelled due to him breaking his teachers arm. Yes, BREAKING HIS TEACHER’S ARM! He was then put into juvenile detention for four years, although this didn’t help his development either. As a teen, he started some bad habits, including gambling, enjoying the adrenaline rush and risk taking. This soon accelerated into drug addiction and violence, and his life started to spiral out of control. Luckily, the thing to get him through it was rap and music, and at the age of 17, the same time he became a father, his life turned around. He quickly realized his talent with rapping, and made this his life goal.

His first mix tape dropped in 2011, with the title “I Came From Nothing”, which caught the attention of fellow rapper Gucci Mane. Gucci soon signed Thugger onto his label, citing his unique work. This was followed by his second mix tape in 2013, “1017 Thug”, which received great reviews from Complex, a top rap opinion website. “Pichacho” was voted as the best song on the album, making its way into the “Rolling Stone” and also listed as one of the best songs of the year. He released a few other songs later that year, all of which also gained success. In 2014, Thugger’s career really took off, collaborating with Kanye West, Rich Homie and Chief Keef. Not only this, but his first album was released in March of that year, with the title “Carter 6.” This was based off of his admiration Lil Wayne and his hit album “Tha Carter.” In 2015, he released my favorite song of his, “Best Friend” on his album Slime Season.

It was 2016, when the world really started to hear about Young Thug. This was because of his album “Jeffrey”, which garnered attention from songs “Wyclef Jean”, “Guwop” and “Pick up the Phone.” One year later, he released another album called “Beautiful Thugger Girls,” which is when Young Thug caught people’s attention with his popular song, “Relationship.” His smooth flowing of his lyrics in this song truly represent the greatness of his music ability.

Like last week when mentioning Quavo, Thugger uses auto tune at a high rate as well. During his hit “Relationship,” Young Thug almost sounds like a robot at points. Yet, Thugger uses auto tune to transform his music into a masterpiece, rather than where some artists misuse auto tune. Personally, my favorite song of Young Thug’s career is Wyclef Jean, as although it is easily noticeable that a large amount of auto tune is being used, it really represents Young Thug as an artist. He truly has a unique, lackadaisical style that just works so well with his lyrics and melodies that he chooses. Interestingly, Thugger doesn’t even write his lyrics, but rather he draws shapes and designs to “write” his songs. Now the talented artist who came from nothing is worth $3 million, and hopefully his success keeps on coming.

Just like the name of one of their members, Migos used 2017 to take off and launch perhaps the most successful year since they established the group. Migos is an extremely interesting group to examine, as they not only perform together, but all three of them have also performed separately and collaborated with other rappers, showing the versatility they have. They released their new album Culture this past year on January 27th, and the success they received from that album has caused them to work on their next album, cleverly named Culture II, which will supposedly be released later this month.

It was not always easy for the now successful trio though, as they had a rough upbringing. In a surprising twist, all three are relatives, which is unknown to many. Quavo (Quavious Marshall) is actually the uncle of fellow member, Takeoff (Kirshnik Bell), even though Quavo is only four years older than his nephew. Offset (Kiari Cephus) is also the cousin of Quavo. Quavo is the oldest of the group at 26 years old, with Offset at 25 and Takeoff at 22. Quavo’s father passed away when he was just four years old, while Offset and Takeoff where also left without a father after their father’s left when they were young. This left the boys spending a lot of time together, with Quavo’s mother raising the three boys on her own much of the time. As children they all had different hobbies, as Takeoff loved wrestling, even having a ring in his backyard. Meanwhile, Quavo loved playing football and also watching marine documentaries, whereas Offset also enjoyed football, but his attitude ultimately caused him to stop, eventually being put in military school for an amount of time. Quavo began rapping in 8th grade, often made fun of by his fellow students. Offset came to the defense of his cousin, and with this, he soon also became interested in rapping. With Takeoff also participating in rap, they soon formed their first group in 2009, called Polo Club. Unfortunately, they enjoyed doing more than just rapping, becoming involved in the drug trade. Needing money for clothes and equipment, selling drugs seemed like the easiest way to make money fast. This was seen when their first song dropped as Bando, a word known as a house where drugs are sold.

While  Bando did catch the attention of some big name rappers such as Gucci Mane, it wasn’t until 2013 when they released their first top 100 song, Versace (#99 to be exact). With the collaboration involving superstar Drake, they soon also caught the attention of the world. Two years later, in July 2015, they released their first album, Yung Rich Nation. Sadly, when they released it, they were involved in plenty of trouble and drama. In March 2014, they exchanged gunfire with another vehicle. Just over a year later, Quavo, Offset and fellow rapper Rich the Kid were arrested with drug and gun charges. Quavo and Rich the Kid just received community service, but Offset received an eight month jail sentence due to a prior crime, not being released until December later that year.

Just a year after their run with the law, the group was experiencing their finest success. On October 28, 2016, their hit single “Bad and Boujee” was released, and with that, Migos climbed to the top of the charts. As earlier stated, Culture was released on January 27th of 2017, debuting as the #1 album, and going platinum just three months after the release. Now, although they have experienced lots of success, Migos music is not for everyone. Their heavy use of bass and “trap” music many times leads to aggressive sounding, sometimes head-banging music. Yet, many people love their music, me included. Some even call them, “the Beatles of this generation.”

However, there’s a huge difference between the Beatles and Migos, and it’s easy to spot. Perhaps no group takes more advantage of auto tune, using it in every song, every verse, every line. While every member uses it, Quavo is essentially popular due to his artificially toned voice, starring in many hit songs while collaborating with numerous different artists. Sometimes sounding robotic, Migos shows that talent may not be the biggest measure of popularity (I mean, how did Gucci Gang get popular?), but rather the beat and production of the music.

Although Migos has many hit songs, I think one of their most recent collaborations represents their music the best. “Motorsport”, featuring Migos, Cardi B and Nicki Minaj, spotlight the reasons why Migos is popular. Using a very simple background beat, they focus on the rhythm and flow of the song. Quavo starts it off strong, using auto tune to change the sound of his voice multiple times, with Offset then appearing, using his deep voice to change the mood. After Cardi B and Nicki Minaj, Takeoff wraps it up, perfectly setting up the last chorus by Quavo. Listening to their music, it is easy to tell that although as a group they are extremely talented, they do need each other to prosper. Their voices are fairly monotone, but together, they create something that surprisingly comes together quite well, and this is something that should continue for the A-Migos.

Throughout this blog, ten of the top current rappers or rap groups will be analyzed, also adding information about their background and the meaning of their music. This list will include:

1. Kendrick Lamar
2. Migos (and more specifically Quavo)
3. Young Thug
4. Cardi B
5. Future
6. Post Malone
7. Lil Uzi Vert
8. Chance the Rapper
9. Travis Scott
10. 21 Savage

This list is not listing the best 10 rappers today, although they are some of the most popular. Some others that could be included are Logic, XXXtentacion, Lil Pump, Frank Ocean, Kodak Black, Swae Lee, Vince Staples, Big Sean or ASAP Rocky, or even some slightly older rap legends like Drake, Kanye or Jay-Z. For now though, these 10 rappers will be the ones analyzed.

So let’s start with the rapper who had probably the most successful 2017, Kendrick Lamar. He’s starting off 2018 right too, headlining the first ever college football championship halftime show. Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born in Compton, California on June 17th, 1987, celebrating his 30th birthday in 2017. As a child, Kendrick was a great student in school, writing many stories and poems, which eventually led to him writing his own song lyrics. While transitioning into his rap career, he took over the name K-dot, releasing his first viral mix tape at 16 years old. He continued to collaborate with other young rappers, most notably Schoolboy Q.

It wasn’t until Kendrick met the legendary rap producer Dr. Dre that his career finally took off. Dre signed Kendrick to his record label, and within a few years Kendrick released his first album, “good kid, M.A.A.D city”.  The top songs included Backseat Freestyle, M.A.A.D City, Swimming Pools and Poetic Justice. His provoking and inspiring lyrics quickly caught the attentions of millions, and Kendrick was soon mentioned along such names as Lil Wayne and Kanye West. With Kendrick’s lyrics bringing up topics about street violence and harsh realities of the rough neighborhoods, he was soon loved for bringing out the truth that many others are unable to see, or even imagine.

Kendrick continued to add to his impressive music with the album “To Pimp a Butterfly”. This included such hits as Alright, King Kunta, and The Blacker the Berry. Kendrick was nominated for an insane 11 Grammys from this record, including winning the best rap album of the year. Recently, Kendrick released DAMN., yet another impressive showing of his talents. Top hits included Humble, DNA and Loyalty, although they were not the only ones that caught the attention of listeners.

Kendrick is so successful not only because of his creative lyrics and enlightening topics, but also because of his smooth vocals. With his childhood of writing poetry, Kendrick infuses the lyrics, melody and his vocals perfectly to always incorporate a heavenly flow into his music. While nowadays many rappers use an insane amount of auto tune, Kendrick relies more on his natural voice and inflections to be able to incorporate his vocals into almost any beat. With mumble rappers becoming a larger trend in rap, Kendrick uses his strong words and pronunciation to empower individuals and his fans. And while some rappers use an excessive amount of relative English (the use of uh, oh, ah) to rhyme, Kendrick again relies on his creative style and lyrics to write his incredibly powerful songs.

With all of this taken into account, it is not maybe his most popular song, and not one of his more recent ones, but no song resembles Kendrick Lamar better than Backseat Freestyle. His ability to shift to different sounding voices shows off his versatility, being able to sync into any beat and different melodies. He smoothly transitions into these while yet still keeping a flow of music, never sounding out of rhythm. The one line in the chorus states, “All my life I want money and power, respect my mind or die from lead shower.” While some correlate this to a shower of bullets, it also stands for the lead coming from his pencil while writing his lyrics, killing the other rappers as Kendrick dominates the rap game. If all he wanted in life was money and power, Kendrick has certainly accomplished his dream.