Hip-hop. It started out in the parks of NYC.
And ever since then, place has been an essential element of the music. Artists usually rep where they’re from — early and often. Think Kendrick’s Compton-infused good kid, m.A.A.d city or Nas’ Illmatic, a 20-year-old journey through his native Queens.
But rising rapper Iggy hasn’t made her native Australia a major part of her music. And on Friday (October 17), she was emphatic in saying her Aussie roots won’t ever be a topic for musical discussion, saying that she felt left out as a teen hearing MCs rap about their stories.
I have no doubt your feelings were true to your experience, Iggy. But for me, as a kid growing up in Boston, hearing those authentic tales about an upbringing is part of what drew me to rap; it’s what makes it such a unique and powerful art form. Listening to rap was both my portal to everywhere else and a way for me to better contextualize my own surroundings. And it still is today.
Nas brought me to Queensbridge. I saw similarities to places I knew in Boston in his music, and I heard plenty of differences that allowed me, through his words, to build pictures in my mind and learn about a place I otherwise knew little about.
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Big L took me to “The Danger Zone,” of his native 139th Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem. It wasn’t any place I had ever been, but through his vivid descriptions of the block that raised him, I felt a deeper understanding of L and his music. I saw that street corner in my mind’s eye, and when I visited years later and eventually actually moved just a few blocks away, I felt like I had a grasp — however small — on what the area had been like when he grew up there.
I never went to Atlanta as a kid, but thanks to groups like Outkast, and albums like Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik and ATLiens, I got a taste of Southern culture. I didn’t just marvel at their beats and rhymes; I learned about slang, customs and sentiments that made me want to one day go to ATL.
There are few better ways to succinctly describe Jay Z’s ascent than how he does on “Encore,” where he raps, “From Marcy to Madison Square,” reveling in his come-up from the Brooklyn projects where he grew up to sold-out shows at the World’s Most Famous Arena. Hov’s Brooklyn pride knows no bounds, and fans have gotten a taste of Marcy through his music since the mid-’90s.
Of course, these are just a few simple examples of artists whose origins have continuously been a point of reference in their work. There are plenty of others: Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city doesn’t even exist without Compton; Wiz Khalifa has taken great pride in helping to put Pittsburgh on the rap map; Toronto remains a central character in Drake’s music; J. Cole has shown “Fayettenam” to the world; Big K.R.I.T. is Mississippi to his core.
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Rappers rhyming frequently and descriptively about where they’re from simultaneously makes the world smaller for the listener and broadens our horizons.
And it’s not just about the places themselves. It’s about the artists’s willingness to open up to us, as listeners and fans, and bring us into their world. Into their lives.
I’ve never been to Australia. But I’m ready for you to take me there.
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