The other day I'm just chilling looking at twitter and I see a tweet cross my page. It's from a rapper in the city of Indianapolis. I love supporting rappers from my city. But this guy said he was bigger than my city and I was just like "What?" How is this random rapper I've never heard of going to say he's bigger than my city? That just doesn't make some sense, then I looked at other rappers from other cities and I realized it's a trend for unknown rappers to say they're bigger than their cities.
I'm not sure where rappers are getting this idea that they can be bigger than their cities. Let's look at Indianapolis just because I live there. If you look at the Indianapolis Metropolitan Area the population is over 1.7 million. But let's be precise. The actual city has a population of 829,718 people as of 2013 making it the second largest city in the Midwest and 12th in the United States. There is no way you can literally be bigger than the City of Indianapolis. I know that's not what you meant.
You meant that you're going to transcend the city. You're going to somehow become more important. You're going to mean something to the world unlike this city. I live here. I hear that crap all the time. Everyone wants to leave but they rarely do. Rappers and producers to an extent all seem to believe that they're more important than the city. I'm not sure where this idea came from because majority of rappers rep their city to the fullest.
The same artist who disrespect their cities by saying they're bigger are the same ones who complain that their cities don't show love to their music. You can't expect people to love your music when you don't show love. A city can help you tremendously. Do you think Gary Indiana supported Freddie Gibbs because he was bigger than Gary?
What rappers don't realize is that if you die tomorrow or disappear from the earth the city keeps moving. B.I.G. died, New York cried then threw the crown on the ground and told Nas and Jay Z to fight for it. Rappers come and go, cities don't.
I get it, rappers have to just leave a trail of confidence where they walk but let's be real, you'll never be bigger than a city. The moment you forget where you're from is the moment they forget you. The moment you stop showing love to your city is the moment they stop showing love to you. If you never start showing love to you and your music, you never showed love.
A lot of rappers never make it big time, but they make it in their city. You can never have a number one record and still sell out shows in your city. Back to Indianapolis. You could sell out shows like The Mudkids, you could build a niche like Sir Astro. Nobody outside of Indianapolis knows the name G-Fresh but if you say that "On my momma" dude is doing a show people are going to go. That song was on every radio station in 2010. I was riding to church and I heard a gospel remix on the radio that morning.
So to wrap it up, let's keep it simple. If you don't love your city, we don't love you. If you're too big for your city, we're too big for your music. You can get all the buzz you want on the internet but there has to be actual people behind you to go anywhere and a city is a big group.
You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He's also playing Pokemon Liquid Crystal on YouTube
Follow @OriginalKingD
You meant that you're going to transcend the city. You're going to somehow become more important. You're going to mean something to the world unlike this city. I live here. I hear that crap all the time. Everyone wants to leave but they rarely do. Rappers and producers to an extent all seem to believe that they're more important than the city. I'm not sure where this idea came from because majority of rappers rep their city to the fullest.
The same artist who disrespect their cities by saying they're bigger are the same ones who complain that their cities don't show love to their music. You can't expect people to love your music when you don't show love. A city can help you tremendously. Do you think Gary Indiana supported Freddie Gibbs because he was bigger than Gary?
What rappers don't realize is that if you die tomorrow or disappear from the earth the city keeps moving. B.I.G. died, New York cried then threw the crown on the ground and told Nas and Jay Z to fight for it. Rappers come and go, cities don't.I get it, rappers have to just leave a trail of confidence where they walk but let's be real, you'll never be bigger than a city. The moment you forget where you're from is the moment they forget you. The moment you stop showing love to your city is the moment they stop showing love to you. If you never start showing love to you and your music, you never showed love.
A lot of rappers never make it big time, but they make it in their city. You can never have a number one record and still sell out shows in your city. Back to Indianapolis. You could sell out shows like The Mudkids, you could build a niche like Sir Astro. Nobody outside of Indianapolis knows the name G-Fresh but if you say that "On my momma" dude is doing a show people are going to go. That song was on every radio station in 2010. I was riding to church and I heard a gospel remix on the radio that morning.So to wrap it up, let's keep it simple. If you don't love your city, we don't love you. If you're too big for your city, we're too big for your music. You can get all the buzz you want on the internet but there has to be actual people behind you to go anywhere and a city is a big group.
You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He's also playing Pokemon Liquid Crystal on YouTube
Follow @OriginalKingD
