If You Ain't Talkin' Money I Don't Wanna Talk

What would you do for a million dollars?  Would you slap your mom or kick your dog?  You'd be stupid not to (they'll understand).  What would you do for monetary gain, or perhaps more importantly, what would you do for no money at all?  Often when there is no money to motivate us, we learn our true passions.  Like making music.  Money drives the world of rap music.  It’s no secret.  Almost every rap song you hear either references money or is entirely about money and material wealth (this is one reason my dad still has no respect for the genre).  As Drake puts it in Truffle

Butter, “hard to make a song ‘bout something other than the money.”   So relatable.  Better yet, in the words of Young Dolph, “if you ain’t talkin money I don’t wanna talk.”  Every album that I’ve reviewed thus far has referenced material wealth and gain many times.  2014 Forest Hills Drive is all about the journey from rags to riches.  Good kid M.A.A.D. city focuses on life without money, and how that affects a childhood.  NWTS is introspective about the rise to fame, and how money and wealth can affect relationships and family.  So what is it with all this money talk?  Well, it’s quite simple: greed.  And greed, is an addiction like any other.  When artists, especially rappers, break away from this greed, magic is made.  As psychologist Dr. Leon Seltzer puts it, “nothing tops the greed-laden pursuit of wealth in its audacity, manipulativeness, and gross insensitivity to the

needs and feelings of others.”  Rick Ross says in his song

Rich Off Cocaine, “Vacation to Haiti, it nearly broke my

Soul Boy bathing in my college tuition

heart, seeing kids starve, I thought about my Audemar,” or as Dan Ozzi translates for us “my fat ass was having such a dandy time on vacay in Haiti until I noticed that it’s a festering, disease-ridden third world country. Then I felt slightly guilty for wearing a $150K watch.”  Put it all over a good beat and the public, myself included, eats it up.  I do want to make one thing clear:  there’s nothing wrong with being wealthy.  If Rick Ross can afford to wear a watch that expensive, good for him.  Wealth can be a great thing, and often is the fruits of hard work over many years.  It’s the American Dream, if you will.  But when money becomes an obsession, when greed fuels actions, that’s when problems arise.  This logic applies to music as well.  There are plenty of rap songs that I love that are about money.  Nothing gets me pumped up quite like hearing Lil Wayne blasting through the speakers, “Bitch I'm getting money like I got a money printer.”  This is when the music becomes more shallow.  Rap music shouldn't only be about money.  Sure, Drake songs about "throwing hundreds when I should be throwing ones" are great to blast at parties or in cars, but if you’re looking for some rap without the ever-present money obsession, you’re going to have to look beyond J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and Kanye.  You have to look beyond what the radio plays.

And this brings me to Surf.  Surf is different in many ways, and is a prime example of quality rap music that doesn’t focus solely on wealth.  This is obvious through the music itself, as well as the marketing behind the album.  Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment released Surf in late May of 2015.   It went largely unnoticed by the general public for a few reasons.  First, who the hell is Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment?  Donnie Trumpet is a trumpet player (who woulda guessed) by the name of Nico

Segal.  He graces listeners with his beautiful trumpeting throughout the entire album (yes, trumpeting and rap can coexist).  He is the only one whose name appears anywhere on the album artists, which is interesting, because there are over 20 rappers and singers that appear on this album besides the members of The Social Experiment.  These days, that’s especially rare.  Rappers are always scrambling to get their names on tracks.  It leads to more name recognition but more importantly: more money.  Here’s an example:  Kanye West’s "All Day".  Great song, but the artist is quite a mouthful.  It’s not just Yeezus.  It’s “Kanye West feat. Theophilius London, Allan Kingdon, and Paul McCartney.”  It's a snowball effect:  the more money and fame an rapper gets, the more they want more. It just piles on itself and eventually will knock down anything in its path.  On Surf, no one seemed to care whose name went on the track.  This is telling of the true motives behind the music.  The people who put lots of time into this album, especially the big names like Chance the Rapper (a member of The Social Experiment), seem to all be in it for music’s sake, rather than monetary gain.  This makes for a spectacular album that is deeper and more passionate than most rap albums on the market today.  The music industry could learn a lesson from Surf.

Donnie Trumpet teamed up with Chance the Rapper, Peter Cottontale, Greg Landfair Jr. and Nate Fox to form The Social Experiment, and thus, Surf was born.  Perhaps more significant than the lack of specifically named artists, is the fact that Surf is completely free on iTunes.  Yeah that's right, free.  Nowadays there seems to be an assumption of a positive correlation between music’s price and its inherent value.  Remember the good old days when every song was 99 cents on iTunes?  Now only the songs somehow deemed less worthy are priced at 99 cents.  Or even worse:  the 69 cent deals (how insulting!).  Are the $1.29 songs really any better?  Some of my favorite songs currently were purchased for 99 cents on iTunes.  Cheap or even free music has a reputation of not being as good.  This is telling of the rap industry’s (and the music industry in general) obsession with money.  Music used to have no monetary reward; musicians were often very poor.  They did it because they loved it.  Music made without profit shows true passion.  Surf shows true passion.  Although it seems to be customary now to assign music’s worth based on its price, once again, Surf blows this stereotype out of the water.  It has been free since its release, and probably always will be.  In fact, I hope you go download it shortly after reading this.  So no big names, and totally free… sounds like the making of an unpopular, poorly made album.  However, that is far from the truth.

Those who recognize the distinct sound and style of Chance the Rapper will quickly realize that he appears on almost every track.  Chance the Rapper is huge, yet like I said before, his name appears nowhere on the album.  When asked about this, Chance will be the first to tell you that he's not a solo artist anymore, especially not on this album.  Many rappers today would most likely jump on any project that they can bill as completely a solo project, even though it rarely is. Why?  Because that will ultimately lead to more money.  As Dr. Seltzer said, money really is an addiction.  But Chance is different.  He won't even sign to a record label because he feels like that will only limit him.  He sees a new vision for the music industry away from an obsession with money.  As he puts it, "I think a lot of people have the same idea of music and where it’s going and the direction it’s moving and a lot of people understand that music is going to surpass the industry.  It existed before the industry and it’ll exist after."  Perhaps the credit isn’t as important to him as the music.  

Surf begins with a slow and soothing tune with piano and trumpet, and at this point, as well as at many points in the album, the rap aspect is invisible. Then Chance comes in with his signature playful tone and guides us through an unforgettable opening song, and in turn an unforgettable album.  As I said before, the music itself shows more passion than normal, and avoids the cockiness that is prevalent in so much rap.  Adorable lyrics such as "We met in a life where we were both cats, our owners were neighbors, how funny is that" are prevalent throughout the entire album.  Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment isn't trying to be cool.  Don't believe me?  They'll tell you themselves.

 

Some of the songs on Surf are totally wordless, such as "Nothing Came to Me", followed a few tracks later by "Something Came to Me."  Songs like these would never get radio plays or any sort of hip-hop award, yet they enhance the album tremendously.  The creators of Surf seamlessly pull off the integration of trumpeting into a rap album.  It's refreshing, and it keeps the audience guessing.  While 2Chainz was "getting money, where the fuck you been?", or while Meek Mill was spending "a day what you make a year" Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment were writing some fantastic music that comes straight from the soul.  This is unique, and it's what the rap industry needs more of.  Sadly, it's not what often gets radio plays, but music like this makes for a much better experience on both ends. Next, check one of my personal favorite songs, an adorable love song that is hard not to dance to:  "Sunday Candy."

As the music industry and especially the rap industry moves more and more towards an obsession with money, albums like Surf are important.  They break away from the snowball effect that greed has on many artists.  Greed is more prevalent today than ever, and all many artists care about is the money.  Who cares about being cool?  Who cares about who gets all the fame and credit and money?  Why should it matter if you're doing what you love?  This is the logic that drove Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment, and this is logic that should drive the music industry as a whole.



Works Cited:

Hyman, Dan. "Exclusive: Chance the Rapper Reveals New Album 'Surf,' Working With Frank Ocean & J. Cole." Billboard. N.p., 21 Oct. 2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.

Marshall, P. David. Celebrity and Power:  Fame in Contemporary Culture. Minneapolis, MN: U of Minnesota, 1997. Print.

Ozzi, Dan. "10 Ridiculously Unrelatable Rap Lyrics." Noisey: Music by Vice. Vice, 17 June 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.

Seltzer, Leon F., Ph.D. "Greed: The Ultimate Addiction." Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, LLC, 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

The Mom Song

In the incredibly broad genre that is rap music, there is quite a variety of topics ranging from the more common themes of money, fame, and sex, to deeper subjects like relationships or religion.  One rather enjoyable and significant theme that has emerged from the crowd is what I like to call the Mom Song. The Mom Song is simply a rap song dedicated to or discussing one’s mother (or mother figure, in some cases).  Some are apologetic (Eminem’s “Headlights”), some thankful, (Tu Pac’s “Dear Mama”), and some probably give

Drake and his mother, Sandi

out much more information than the mother would appreciate (Drake’s “Look What You’ve Done”).  Lots of rappers have done it, and it’s an important introspective point in the career of any rapper.  Rappers rap about their passions, so surely the Mom Song goes beyond just writing a hit.  They do it for more than the fame.  The relationship between a mother and a son can be so important in the life of a young boy, as well as the life of a grown man.  This is corroborated with empirical evidence and it still transcends into music, specifically rap music.  The science world as well as common sense can tell us that mothers are important.  That’s certainly no secret.  And the Mom Song too, is important.  It reminds us listeners that our beloved rappers were first loved by a woman who never expected fame.  Perhaps more importantly, the Mom Song causes us to appreciate our own mothers even more, and it proves that nothing should stand in the way of having a good relationship with one’s mother.  As J. Cole puts it in his Mom Song (“Apparently”), “I need to treat ya better, wish you could live forever, so we could spend more time together…I love you, mama.”

The psychological side of the mother-son relationship is clear:  a mother being there for her son (and vice versa) during hard times is crucial to the closeness of the relationship, which in turn is important to the life of both mother and son.  In a study by Morman and Whitely, the majority of mothers and sons (unrelated to each other) said that “social support” is what most affected the closeness of the relationship.  Shortly following for both the mother and the sons was “family crisis.”   In You & the 6, Drake opens with "Having conversations with mama, man my life is a mess", which shows both of those points.  He's not afraid to say that he still goes to his mother for support; it's natural.  These themes seem to be popping up again and again in research as well as in rap songs.  But the point of Mom Songs doesn’t have to be so specific.  We can research the mother son relationship with quantifiable data all day, but what will it tell us?  Exactly what we all already know to be true.  What the rappers are all saying is that moms are important.  The data, as well as life itself proves this.  

Kanye West isn't an artist we typically think of as warm and fuzzy.  He's rude, straightforward, and he even interrupted T Swizzle at the '09 Grammys (although somewhere deep down I thoroughly enjoyed that whole catastrophe).  Kanye is one of those artists that you really should hate, but you just can't.  He could probably kill a man and his fans wouldn't stop loving him.  Why is this?  It's simple:  the music.  It speaks to people.  I disagree politically with Yeezy on many levels (West for Prez 2020?), but he's still one of my favorite artists.  No matter how many ass hole-ish things he does, I will probably still love his music.  Everything Ye does seems to shatter expectations, and his Mom Song is no exception (as if you needed another reason to love Kanye).  He even further drives home the point that mothers are so important in the life of a man.  The case of Kanye West and his mother, Donda, is one for the books. 

Ye and Donda

Donda raised Kanye almost entirely by herself, and Ye has always given her the credit she deserves.  He talks about her often in his songs as well as outside the context of music.  The relationship is so special, and it proves that the bond can be so tight it can even transcend death.  That’s right guys, get your tissues ready.

In 2000, Kanye West wrote a song dedicated to his mother, Donda West, that would later appear on his album Late Registration in 2005.  He debuted the song to his mother face to face on an episode of Oprah.  “Hey Mama” is a happy and bubbly song with that early Kanye gospel sound that simply expresses West’s thankfulness for how his mother raised him.  It's a song to sing along to for sure.  It's heartwarming, and it reminds us that Kanye has feelings too.  It's actually kind of adorable (not a word we usually associate with Kanye).  West expresses the idea of wanting to spoil his mother with his fortune, buying her “that mansion we couldn’t afford” (he did end up buying her a mansion).  This Mom Song is uplifting, and it certainly makes listeners see the lighter, more vulnerable and emotional side of Kanye West, who is somewhat notorious for not smiling or easily showing his feelings.  It is evident that Donda West being there for her son through his hard times has shaped him into who is is today, and it is even more evident that Donda played an extremely important role in Kanye’s life.  The chorus expresses how West is so proud of his mom, and he just wants her to be proud of him too.  The song leaves listeners uplifted and happy, and it is obvious that the two have an unbreakable bond.    

Now, here comes the sad part.  On November 9^th, 2007, 58-year-old Donda West had plastic surgery.  Everything went seemingly well, until the next day, Ms. West was hospitalized for chest pain, and died later that day.  It was tragically unexpected, and still remains a mystery to the West family.  Ye partially blames himself for the death, saying “If I had never moved to L.A. she'd be alive.”  The coroner even said that “The final manner of death could not be determined; multiple post-operative factors could have played a role in the death. The exact contribution of each factor could not be determined.”  Suddenly, Kanye’s “little light of mine” was gone.  His beloved mother, who made him “famous homemade chicken soup” when he was sick now existed only in memories.  At Kanye’s next performance, he tried to perform “Hey Mama”, but

Kanye performing "Hey Mama" at the 2008 Grammys

suddenly the song wasn’t so happy and bubbly anymore.  West broke into tears and had to leave the stage, before returning 15 or so minutes later and performing the fitting song, “Stronger” (“That don’t kill me, it only makes me stronger”).   This line rang true, seeing that Kanye has only become more and more popular since that time in his life.  He hasn’t let this tragedy hinder his success.  But his relationship with Donda isn’t over even though he now has a family of his own.  For those of you who live under a rock, he’s now married to Kim Kardashian and has a gorgeous little girl named North.  Despite the death of his mother, and the busyness of starting a family, Kanye has hardly slowed down.  Some (including himself... well, mostly himself) argue that he’s even reached God status. 

Enter: the mother of all Mom Songs.  In December 2014, Kanye released a single, co-produced with Paul McCartney, titled “Only One”.   The first time I heard the song, I noted how bland it was musically.  But this wasn’t an accident.  This causes the listener to truly focus on and contemplate the lyrics, which are from the perspective of the late Donda West (Kanye even credits her as a writer). The music is stripped down and back to basics, unlike the  many musical layers of "Hey Mama".  The transition from “Hey Mama” is clear, and this is a sort of closure for Kanye.  In “Hey Mama”, Ye raps “I just want you to be proud of me.”  In “Only One” we hear Donda say “And if you knew how proud I was, you’d never shed a tear have a fear, no you wouldn’t do that.”  The song is also relevant to the relationship that Kanye has with North.  Kanye was an only child, his mother’s “only one”, and now he has his own “only one” (Kanye literally means “only one” in Swahili).  The song hints at Donda living through North, as the

North West

perspective later in the song switches to Kanye speaking to North, muttering the words he once heard from his own mother.  “There’s only one thing I wish I could change out of everything that’s ever happened”, Ye said at a 2014 show, “I wish that my mother could’ve met my daughter.”  So now this is what you should do, if you think you can handle the feels.  Listen to the song if you haven’t already and watch the video (that’s Kanye’s daughter with him). 

So what exactly does this tell us about the mother-son relationship?  The science tells us that certain events like divorce, family tragedies, and hard times can ruin this connection.  There have been multiple studies done, including Morman and Whitely’s, showing that this relationship is an important one.  But do we really need to be told this through concrete evidence?  In rap, Mom Songs show us this.  Life shows us this.  It’s evident that if a bond is strong enough, not even death can separate mother from son. 

"I talked to God about you.  He said He sent you an angel.  Look at all that He gave you.  You asked for one and you got two."