Waka Flocka, Method Man, and the Legacy of Lyricism - allhiphop.com

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Even if it's crap, mind your own business/

They raps ain’t got no gift like a lonely Christmas/

â€"MF Doom, “No Names (Black Debbie),” The Mouse and the Mask (2006).

“I ain't got nothing to do with lyrics. I don't have time for lyrics. That's why I don't trip when ni**as be like, ‘Man, shawty can't rap.’ The ni**a that everyone say is lyricalâ€"they ain't got no shows. I been on tour for the last two years. I didn't get into rap to freestyle. I don't even care about selling records; as long as I get them shows for $15,000 four to five days out the week, I'm happy.” So went the diatribe of Atlanta rapper and Gucci Mane protégé Waka Flocka Flame in a Shade 45 interview roughly three weeks back.

Too bad Waka’s bio sings a different tune. “The surname, Flame,” his record label Mizay Entertainment ensures, “encompasses Waka’s ability to deliver hot lyrics like fiery flames from the mouth of a dragon.” Once a flame-flinging rhyming hybrid, now a detester of everything lyrical. What gives, Waka?  

A couple of days back, Hip-Hop legend Method Man issued an apology to temper his harsh but accurate response leveled at Waka on Sirius Satellite Radio. Meth apologized for swinging “out of context,” but hardly anything in his initial response rubs off inappropriately: “[T]he people that are in the know and know what time it is, know that if you ain’t saying s**t out your mouth, your time is very slim in this motherf**king game.” It is true that the times are a-changing, and the death rattles for the age of Auto-Tune have begun blaring. It is true that fans, as I’ve discussed with several columns on this site, don’t take lightly anymore to the ephemeral, one-hit wonderization of Hip-Hop in recent yearsâ€"engineered by once giant record labels now nursing their knees from forced submission to reality. So, I think, for the good of Hip-Hop, Method Man might want to rescind his apology. Yes, it reopens old wounds of “Old School v. New School” and “Old v. Young,” but certain comments merit harsh blowback, and Waka’s certainly did.

In his follow-up interview, Waka refused to return fire with Method Man (smart choice), acknowledging Method Man’s place in Hip-Hop history, but urging older rappers to “adapt” to the new wave blowing southward. Waka interrogated history to suggest the East Coast elitism we hear so much about unfairly debases certain (Southern) artists while exalting others. Onyx was making Crunk Music with no complaints, Waka protested. And at the incipient of Hip-Hop, the rhyme schemes betrayed a simplistic pattern not unlike the kind Southern rappers currently catch hell and brimstone for, he added. It pains me to write this of another Black man, but Waka’s logic-leaps expose the shallowness from which his initial comments emerged. By this measure, Public Enemy is no different from Lil’ Jon and the Eastside Boyz, and Kool Moe Dee might as well be mistaken for Fabo from D4L.

Today, lyricism is the AIDS of Hip-Hop. Young rappers (and some older ones) want nowhere to be found near a lyrical rapper or MCâ€"for fear of contamination, and subsequent public censure. And those with rhymes like dimes would rather not come forthright; they would rather hide what talent they possess, and only fess up when pushed up against the wall from insurmountable circumstances. But a select few don’t mind standing strong for the slimming minority of rappers and MCs proud to acknowledge their skills. Yes, I know my petty and opportunistic analogy here might offend someâ€"especially those weakened by the deadly fangs of the HIV virusâ€"but a method controls this madness.

Waka says lyrical artists only have zero-less bank statements to show, but he must have missed Lupe Fiasco, a skilled, diligent, super-lyrical MC whose talents only fall short of his ability to border-cross into different worlds and make a desirable living. Waka’s grasp of Hip-Hop must also deliberately ignore the success of his toughest critic, Method Man, who after two decades remains a dominant force in the Hip-Hop world and beyond for building a creatively distinct lyrical legacy that even the late B.I.G. nodded to on Ready to Die. Waka’s thinking, regrettably, marks a paradigm shift, a consciousness drift that, yes, while not limited to the younger Hip-Hop generation, hardly ever finds refuge on the lips of artists over 35.

Scared of a bunch of water, then get out the rain/

Order a rapper for lunch and spit out the chain/

Jay Smooth, host of the popular video blog ill Doctrine, made my day with his three-minute commentary on the capitalism-driven downfall of lyricism. Only a few years back, lamented Smooth, taken for granted was the assumption that rappers “were supposed to be good at rapping.” But in an age when presidency-seeking politicians need hand notes to recall fundamental ideological talking points like “Energy,” “Budget Cuts,” and “Lift American Spirits,” perhaps not even young rappers deserve bags of cements showered upon them for refusing to take the craft ofâ€"!â€"rapping critically.

“Nowadays, talking about a rapper having skills is like calling a refrigerator an ice boxâ€"just one of those cute little things that old people say.” Behind this sentiment is the fearâ€"however unfoundedâ€"that lyrical virtuosity might “hold you back.” No kidding. And for all the rocks purists and neo-purists alike have already palmed to hurl at Waka and those with whom he finds commonality, recent trends in the Hip-Hop marketplaceâ€"the popularization of ringtones; the flourishing of Auto-Tune; the tumbledown of album salesâ€"give ring to those calls. “But if you look at Hip-Hop’s past and present,” contends Smooth, “it’s the rappers who bring a swagger that’s grounded in virtuosityâ€"the ones who combine technical skills and style; the ones whose lyrical construction has some thought to it and some swing to itâ€"that usually make the most money for the longest.” This “free-market Hip-Hop” operation, as I’ve termed it in past times, certainly benefits a few bottom feeders temporarily, but, in due time, the foundations would shake and surrender, and the ground beneath would swallow up everything in sight. It is, to borrow Jay Smooth’s words, the “subprime mortgage of Hip-Hop.” It’s the old replaceable, expendable, disposable deal.

One hit wonders get a little shine like flashlights/

But when I drop the bomb and explode like gas pipes/

But even if water did turn into wine, and some younger artists who have better chances at technical schools than music studios successfully stretch out their 15 minutes to 15 years (and find out their usefulness weighs more than a mannequin’s), nothing steals one’s pride more than knowing you made it not for merit but the gullibility of young, White fans lacking any reference point to the history of the music they listen to. Very little worth celebrating knowing you convinced pre-teen White fans raised on Britney Spears your music is dope. There’s a certain something separating vain voyeurism from critical listenership. And if 90% of Hip-Hop fans between 9 and 18 practiced the latter more often, many-a-rapper today would have to relearn how to fill out employment applications and apply for government subsidies.

One from a thousand speaks in his own voice/

The other 999 imitate without choice/

Once upon a time, Black artists could buy sympathy with the public for their ignorance by passing the buck onto the easiest target invented by Black Americans. The cracker made me do it, they cried. If it was up to me, I would drop science and ancient math on how our history was stolen, our music hijacked, and our labor capitalized upon to build a prosperous nation. I would make the heavens sing and hell’s angels wail from the fury of my political rage. But, you see, the bald, White middle-aged college dropout in the green T-shirt tucked into his blue khaki jeans threatened last week to abandon me on “the shelf” if I failed to come up with a jingle and an accompanying crypto-minstrel dance routine. And the rent’s due; babies need food. So, don’t blame me, blame the White man. It worked for a while; we lapped up the tales of exploitation, and threatened to march the troops over the red sea into freedom land. But, suddenly, some of us began taking closer looks at the antics of some of our beloved rappers, after which we concluded more was at stake than mere coercion. We discovered some rappers find the titillating thrill of stupidity irresistibleâ€"that they would rather throw some d’s, make it rain, and superman dat hoe than craft serious rhymes to address the complex problems staring us down. And with artists like these, who needs rapacious record label executives?

Most of these artists come, and I don’t mind saying it, from the South. Pardon me, but Political Correctness would have to go hunting with d**k Cheney on this one. Yes, the South is no monolith. Yes, not all Southern rappers have made an art-form of illiteracy. Yes, the diversity, complexity, and novelty of the whole region must be brought to bear, lest we feast on the carcasses of our own credibility. But no other region in Hip-Hop history harbors a concentrated collection of artists who proudly brag of lyrical laziness and laissez-faire wacknessâ€"Andre 3000, Little Brother, Scarface, Devin the Dude, Z-Ro, Bun B, T.I., Jay Electronica notwithstanding. If East Coast elitism exists, so does Southern sterility.

From the South, we see a broader portrait of the world todayâ€"where instancy rules, and a speed-drive toward social death looms large. This concept, that braininess and hard work pays little off, certainly finds expression in venues other than Hip-Hop. And Waka didn’t blaze the trail. Since 2007, President Obama has faced his share of Right-wing thuggery for sounding too professorialâ€"essentially for enunciating with eloquence, for actually recognizing consonants and vowels for what they are. His harebrained antagonists desire more the hopelessly unintelligible “Joe the Plumber” than a “professor of law standing at the lectern.”

But the battle for the soul of Hip-Hop rages on. And perhaps Waka Flocka is but a mere angel dispatched to keep fans, critics, and artists abreast of the plentiful army descending over the horizonâ€"an army of new-age rappers whose fascination with lyricism would squeeze out blood from a penny.

Tolu Olorunda is a cultural critic whose work regularly appears on AllHipHop.com, TheDailyVoice.com and other online journals. He can be reached at: Tolu.Olorunda@gmail.com.

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