Three times my iPhone vibrated as I drove beneath three green traffic lights. As I approached the fourth light, Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All” began.
“I believe the children are our future,” Whitney sang as I mashed the breaks, ceasing all motion. The stillness is what I remember. Sitting there, on the road without another, reading the three texts sent from three friends that all relayed the same message:
Chadwick Boseman died.
“Despacito Too,” the penultimate track on Atlanta rapper JID’s sophomore 2018 mixtape, DiCaprio 2, has three verses. At the end of each, JID, born Destin Route, can be heard in conversation with a child.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” JID asked. “Black Panther,” the child responds, “But he’s not real.”
He repeats, “not real,” as the song ends.
“Despacito Too” communicates with vulgar aggression the uplifting sentiment of Nas’ 2002 single, “I Can.” But JID isn’t a sugar coater. Every word he raps has a sinister undertone.
As he states in “Ambassel,” his latest song released on the Madden NFL 22 soundtrack: “I was a bad kid, bad city, you see the duality.”
Not quite an ideal role model to encourage the babies, but that bad kid has grown into a budding rap star who knows the children are listening.
JID’s 2018 single, “Rum 151,” sounds like evil things are transpiring in the beat. Within that chaotic soundscape, he swiftly gives a vivid depiction of his bad city.
“I'm full of tension, full of spirit, but full of shit
Standing next to Lil Tay when that bullet hit him
Shit, I miss him, I wish that that bullet missed him, but it didn't
And since I been living with it like a sickness”
Realistic lyricism in rap carries a hefty gravity. It’s heavier than fictionalized storytelling. Yet, Chadwick Boseman immortalized himself in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by humanizing a fictitious character. Black Panther wasn’t real, but he was.
The royal prestige he brought to the role of T'Challa left an impression on children most actors will never accomplish. Someone realistic yet unreal.
Rappers are always in pursuit of being factual and unbelievable all at once. It’s what makes them the best storytellers. They make you believe in the impossible.
Rap and acting aren’t that different. And although Chadwick Boseman never played a rapper, he always took on roles to represent Black men of honor, legends. Hip Hop will always admire such a man.
Earlier this year, I went to New Orleans. While inside a Hex shop, I saw a shrine of famous people who transitioned to the other side. Each photo had an inspirational quote typed upon it.
“Your body is not a temple: It’s an amusement park. Enjoy the ride” was under a picture of Anthony Bourdain.
Chadwick’s quote had more gravity to it: “The struggles along the way are meant to shape your purpose.”
I hope that quote does for someone what it did for me.
Let this post remind the kids, you can be whatever you want to be. A rapper, a football player, a king, even the Black Panther.
by Yoh