Along the Via Lucis: Lupe Fiasco ~ Hip Hop Saved My Life

There is something about folk art - particularly  music that is indigenous to a culture or community - that connects at so much of a deeper level for me.  In the past few years, my oldest daughter has helped me to get deeper into understanding Hip-Hop.  In the book Hip-hop America, Nelson George writes this about the culture of hip-hop and its influence:

"Now we know that rap music, and hip-hop style as a whole, has utterly broken through from its ghetto roots to assert a lasting influence on American clothing, magazine publishing, television, language, sexuality, and social policy as well as its obvious presence in records and movies…advertisers, magazines, MTV, fashion companies, beer and soft drink manufacturers, and multimedia conglomerates like Time-Warner have embraced hip-hop as a way to reach not just black young people, but all young people."

Rising from the inner cities of LA and New York, hip hop has given birth to an entire generation of charismatic street poets.  One of those poets is Lupe Fiasco - his new song Hip Hop Saved My Life is a really powerful work that resonates with the power and urgency I sense coming up in so many places during this season of resurrection:

One you never heard of I,
Push it hard to further the
Grind, I feel like murder but,
Hip Hop just saved me
One you never heard of I,
Push it hard to further the
Grind, I feel like murder but,
Hip Hop just saved my life

Comments

[Brian Hill]

that's awesome. i just wrote a post a few days back about lupe. his music is awesome and often overlooked because of the hip hop label it falls under. i'll have to check out that book. peace.