Fresno, CA rapper Fashawn’s solo debut, Boy Meets World, dropped a day after his 21st birthday. He already had several mixtapes under his belt, toured Europe and appeared on tracks with super producer The Alchemist (who produced Fashawn’s latest mixtape, The Antidote). A fatherless group home kid with a drug addict mother, he could have easily been led astray. Instead, Fashawn tempers his gritty lyrics with uplifting and hopeful messages.
Though he does refer to his past hustling in the streets, he doesn’t glorify it, or glamorize hood life like others in his situation. Instead he kicks facts with an honesty not often heard in mainstream hip-hop. On his single “Life as a Shorty,” he raps: “didn’t know how broke we was ’til I got older / never knew I had a father until he showed up.”
True, we’ve heard Fashawn’s something-from-nothing story a million times over, but ghetto youth vocalizing their stories is what made hip-hop meaningful in the first place. Turn on the radio and you won’t find that voice anymore.
Instead, you’ll hear Drake or Lil’ Wayne, or Drake and Lil’ Wayne together — whatever the case, they’re rapping about sex.
Understandably, it’s 2009 and we have enough takes on Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy” and Tupac’s “Keep Ya Head Up.” But with an increase in poverty, a dose of reality next to your ” Boom Boom Pow” isn’t such a bad thing.
There’s no better waste of time than arguing about the state of hip-hop, but when the most celebrated new rapper is 23-year-old Drake, things aren’t right. There’s no denying Drake’s skill. He’s a talented rapper and singer with an infinite arsenal of witty punchlines, metaphors and similes, even at his most crass (”are any of y’all into girls like I am? Les-bi-honest“). He’s the new Kanye for a generation for whom Kanye is old-school. The kid’s got next and will certainly have more longevity than the “Ice Cream Paint Job” guy, which is why I’m singling Drake out.
In fact, I’m a fan. His latest and most praised mixtape, So Far Gone, was the soundtrack to my last Vegas vacation. Boozed up in a city of sin, singing along to the words “I want the money, money and the cars, cars and the clothes, the hoes” is only fitting. But real life isn’t a strip club, unless your name is Diamond and you have a closet full of clear-heeled platforms.
Everyday folks don’t live the rap life. Escapism is cool and all, but at the end of the day, Drake and his Young Money cohorts rapping about sleeping with every girl in the world does nothing for us, nor do lines like “I exchange V-cards with the retards” (a line from “Every Girl” by one of the guys on the song who isn’t Drake or Wayne).
Not that Drake is one-dimensional; he gets introspective on songs like “The Calm” and “Fear” and has some really solid R&B cuts. My beef isn’t with Drake, but with the platform that artists like him are given and the neglect of artists like Fashawn.
A star on Canadian teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation, Drake already had the industry access that so many struggling artists don’t. He raps because he can; Fashawn raps because it’s his only ticket out of the hood. Drake could do much more with his position, but has yet to add anything of value to the public discourse. Maybe that will change when his official debut, Thank Me Later, drops.
Fashawn is the complete opposite. He raps about overcoming poverty’s pitfalls. He’s hard and optimistic where Drake is smooth and boastful, the Nas to Drake’s Jay-Z. It’s not to say that everything that Fashawn raps about is “conscious” (listen to “Bo Jackson”); it’s just that we’d do right by adding a little Fashawn and similar voices into the public sphere, better yet to the Clear Channel-dominated airwaves.
Full of poignant lyricism, Boy Meets World opens with a skit where Fashawn turns down hustling in the streets for making music. Among its highlights are an examination of street life on “The Ecology,” a channeling of Slick Rick and Nas on “Hey Young World,” some Jadakiss-like thinking out loud on “Why?” and reflection on the title track.
It’s not a flawless record, but Fashawn shows the potential to be one of the greats, as does Drake. But if we’re going to place someone on a pedestal, he should have something meaningful to say. I hear a lot of substance from Fashawn, not so much from Drake.
Zoneil Maharaj is a Nathan Cummings Arts and Culture Journalism Fellow at WireTap. He’s also editor-in-chief of Oh Dang! Magazine.
It’s always interesting to read things like this. There’s a way you’d like the world to be and generally believe their a single way to reach that place. The “next kid” should be someone who raps about a rags to riches story? Really? It should be someone more “conscious?” Really? The flaw here is that the author here is just as flawed as the world he/she is arguing against. The author’s flaw is evident in their lack of understanding behind the appeal of Drake, the success of his music and the redefinition of topic/content it presents.
This is the time we live in. You listened to So Far Gone while on a trip to Las Vegas and it became your theme music. Fine. I listened to So Far Gone while boxing up my life the day before being evicted from my apartment. 2 weeks after my start-up company folded and 1 week after I spent my last dollar. So Far Gone still gets burn today as I struggle to make a place for myself. The appeal of Drake for me and for many is his progress, his crawl, his honesty, his wit, and his success. Just as it will be for Fashawn when he makes it bigger than he is now. Drake’s story represents a common denominator in all of our lives, as a whole it represents more of the median than the extreme and at this current moment it represents a dream realized since he’s been aspiring for this sort of stardom since Comeback Season.
Fashawn is rapping about real stories from a perspective true to him. Drake is rapping about real stories and real emotions from a perspective true to him. But for me and many who prefer Drake over Fashawn it’s it a matter of timing. Drake’s time is now because of the freshness of execution in So Far Gone , his alomst 3-4 year steady grind and underdog rise, his false start, his fanbase in Degrassi and then the conversion of that fanbase to his rap skills and his growth.
Fashawn’s time will come but like the trend of today suggests, he’ll do us all the best of service by continuing his writing, sharing more of his stories, learning more about himself and the world around him. There’s an honesty and clarity about Drake at this moment, something that I’m sure Fashawn will reach when it’s his time. The only thing that I can hope is that Fashawn continues to grind, continues to grow, develop, network and expose himself to world one fan at a time, devout hip hop head and all.
I think this article is very well put together, and the author has some really good points.I don’t know how well I can agree with the criticism of Drake though. It almost seems like the author is suggesting that Drake had it easy. Mainstream hip-hop and his almost “overnight” emergence may make it seem like that, but I’ve been following Drake’s music since 2007 and seems like the dude works hard. I’m not saying that Wayne’s guidance didn’t ease the journey, but I find it hard to suggest that someone could make it to where Drake is at without determination and hard work. All said and done, I can’t agree more that Hip-Hop needs more of Fashawn. Fashawn is one of the dopest MC’s I’ve heard in awhile! This guy is incredible. He’s coming from one of the worst citites in California, and he’s speaking about stuff any that anyone facing challenge in life can relate to. He makes its easy for a suburban kid like myself to connect and feel his pain, understand his stories and relate to his struggles, regardless of how different his life is compared to mine. Hip-Hop needs to see more of Fashawn. Fashawn’s album: Boy Meets World is a must buy. I find it easier and easier to relate to every time I play it. Such an easy listen, and the productionl is incredbile. Both Drake and Fashawn are talented artists respectively, but there is no doubt in my mind that Fashawn needs to heard by more! Get that album.
J
Zoneil, this is a great article but I think it was redundant to come out with a headline in which you took SUCH a stance on something, and then your content offer more perspective on the opposite thing that you mentioned in the the headline: i.e. Drake.
YES. We do need more FaShawn, now more than ever…so you should have talked more about him in this article and less about Drake. It was pretty confusing really following what you were trying to get at by boasting all of Drake’s credit in the past year then waiting until the last couple paragraphs to really let readers know about how you enjoy Fashawn’s level of ‘consciousness’. Talk more about his project. If you want more of this in our world, do all you can to get it out.
are you guys fucken kidding me?? you guys are trying to compare this wack midget no talent rapper aka FAGSHAWN to DRIZZY DRAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA DRAKE WILL TEAR THAT NIGGA A NEW ASSHOLE LYRICALLY!
I definitely couldn’t have said it any better. The fact the Drake gets all the press is yet another punch in the eye to alot of my favorite acts Crown City Rockers being at the top of that list! Good piece!
Homie keep reping Fresno till death