First and foremost, this post involves HIP HOP. I’m not referring to just the average, payola-radio-rotation, mindless, ridiculous and foolish rap for dummies. I myself am a poet and a lyricist, so content very much matters to me. Examples of HIP HOP artists whose music helps to sharpen my mental include: Immortal Technique, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, Nas, Damian Marley, Big K.R.I.T., J. Cole, Pharoahe Monch, The Roots, Outkast, Goodie Mob, Ice Cube, Wu Tang Clan and Killer Mike, just to name a few. How exactly does their music help me? Even better, how can their music help to sharpen you and your mind? I’m glad you ask. Shall we proceed? Yes Indeed.
-CONCEPTUALIZATION/IDEATION
Example:
-VOCABULARY EXPANSION
Example:
-CONFIDENCE BOOSTER
Example:
When the Armageddon’s dark and dread
A lot of weak hearted weep and moan
Only the strong will continue, do you have it in you?
Come, we’ve got a journey to goAnd when the battle get sour and dread
A lot of weak hearted wither and moan
Only the strong will continue, I know you have it in you
I know you have it in youHey, the victory’s found in truth
Like innocence found in youth
Self defeat is your own dispute
And man, you put yourself in your own shoesEither you’re winnin’ or losin’
Don’t you get it confused
Play a star and you know your own movie
Playin’ of the role you choose, so
A lot of weak hearted weep and moan
Only the strong will continue, do you have it in you?
Come, we’ve got a journey to goAnd when the battle get sour and dread
A lot of weak hearted wither and moan
Only the strong will continue, I know you have it in you
I know you have it in youHey, the victory’s found in truth
Like innocence found in youth
Self defeat is your own dispute
And man, you put yourself in your own shoesEither you’re winnin’ or losin’
Don’t you get it confused
Play a star and you know your own movie
Playin’ of the role you choose, so
Stand up and fight if you know that you’re right
And know you will never fail
Tippin’ the scale and the wind shall prevail
And the boat shall forever sail
(Nas & Damian Marley – “Strong Will Continue)
-EMPOWERS THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
Example:
He said I write what I see
Write to make it right
Don’t like where I be
I like to make it like
The sights on TV
Quite the great life
So nice and easy
See now you can still die from that
But it’s better than not being alive from straps
Agreed
A mead notebook and a Bic that click
When it’s pushed and a wack ass beat
That’s a track that’s weak
That he got last week
’cause everybody in the stu [NOTE: short for studio]
Was like that’s that heat
A base heavy medly with a sample from the 70s
With a screwed up hook that went
STACK THAT CHEESE
Something something something
STACK THAT CHEESE
Mother sister cousin
STACK THAT CHEESE
He couldn’t think of nothing
STACK THAT CHEESE
He turns down the beat writers block impedes
Crying from the next room a baby in need
Of some pampers and some food and a place to sleep
That plus a black Cadillac on D’s
Is what keep him on track to be a great MC
(Lupe Fiasco – “Hip Hop Saved My Life”)
Write to make it right
Don’t like where I be
I like to make it like
The sights on TV
Quite the great life
So nice and easy
See now you can still die from that
But it’s better than not being alive from straps
Agreed
A mead notebook and a Bic that click
When it’s pushed and a wack ass beat
That’s a track that’s weak
That he got last week
’cause everybody in the stu [NOTE: short for studio]
Was like that’s that heat
A base heavy medly with a sample from the 70s
With a screwed up hook that went
STACK THAT CHEESE
Something something something
STACK THAT CHEESE
Mother sister cousin
STACK THAT CHEESE
He couldn’t think of nothing
STACK THAT CHEESE
He turns down the beat writers block impedes
Crying from the next room a baby in need
Of some pampers and some food and a place to sleep
That plus a black Cadillac on D’s
Is what keep him on track to be a great MC
(Lupe Fiasco – “Hip Hop Saved My Life”)
-RAISES AWARENESS OF VARIOUS ISSUES
Example:
[Verse 4: Immortal Technique]
I survived the cointelpro assassinations.
AIDS epidemic, Crack era, fractured a nation,
The Interpretation of American Democracy,
Is best exemplified in it’s foreign policy dichotomy,
I live a double life of political philosophy,
But revolution follows me, the struggle for equality,
Against the morally bankrupt claiming to be born again,
It’s a civil war again like MS-13s origin
Ban ethnic studies claiming our culture will swallow them,
But you can’t conquer people and build a country on top of them,
And then feel offended that they breathe the same oxygen,
Your family values lack the wisdom of Solomon,
But Operation Condor and Operation Bootstrap are Polisci 101,
Research for the new jack,
It’s hard to reach Communist Utopia tomorrow,
When your hands are in a fuckin glass jar like Che Guevara,
Forget the distorted historical facts you were given,
Slave trade was the capital for capitalism,
Trapped in a prison mentally, dying existentially,
Separated from people you can’t see yourself to be,
Then racially integrated into a burning house colony of an empire,
Economically burning out,
Can’t win a debate so they sponsor every threat to me,
I wonder if agent 800 is standing next to me!
(Immortal Technique – “Young Lords”)
I survived the cointelpro assassinations.
AIDS epidemic, Crack era, fractured a nation,
The Interpretation of American Democracy,
Is best exemplified in it’s foreign policy dichotomy,
I live a double life of political philosophy,
But revolution follows me, the struggle for equality,
Against the morally bankrupt claiming to be born again,
It’s a civil war again like MS-13s origin
Ban ethnic studies claiming our culture will swallow them,
But you can’t conquer people and build a country on top of them,
And then feel offended that they breathe the same oxygen,
Your family values lack the wisdom of Solomon,
But Operation Condor and Operation Bootstrap are Polisci 101,
Research for the new jack,
It’s hard to reach Communist Utopia tomorrow,
When your hands are in a fuckin glass jar like Che Guevara,
Forget the distorted historical facts you were given,
Slave trade was the capital for capitalism,
Trapped in a prison mentally, dying existentially,
Separated from people you can’t see yourself to be,
Then racially integrated into a burning house colony of an empire,
Economically burning out,
Can’t win a debate so they sponsor every threat to me,
I wonder if agent 800 is standing next to me!
(Immortal Technique – “Young Lords”)
-HELPS TO MAINTAIN HUMILITY
Example:
Life is a beautiful struggle
People search through the rubble for a suitable hustle
Some people usin’ the noodle, some people usin’ the muscle
Some people put it all together, make it fit like a puzzle
Come on, say it now
Life is a beautiful struggle
People search through the rubble for a suitable hustle
Some people usin’ the noodle, some people usin’ the muscle
Some people put it all together, yeah
(Talib Kweli – “I Try”)
People search through the rubble for a suitable hustle
Some people usin’ the noodle, some people usin’ the muscle
Some people put it all together, make it fit like a puzzle
Come on, say it now
Life is a beautiful struggle
People search through the rubble for a suitable hustle
Some people usin’ the noodle, some people usin’ the muscle
Some people put it all together, yeah
(Talib Kweli – “I Try”)
Solutions By Lex 
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