Today I've finished writing another song for my newest mixtape, Bloody Hardcore Battle Rhymes, and in retrospection, I compared the lyrics to this recently finished battle rap to one of my songs in my first mixtape, Music From and Inspired by Classic Literature. There's a really big contrast between the two songs; the battle rap has lots of profanities and hostility, as well as ridiculous hyperboles and punchlines designed to humiliate. In contrast, the song based on classic literature has nay an F-word in it, and it actually tells a coherent story compared to the nihilistic barrages of verbal attacks of the battle rap song.
It's almost like they were written by two different persons (though the rhyme scheme is similar), and in my opinion, that is actually good. It shows that I'm not a typecast rapper. Now you're asking what the hell is typecasting? Read on.
Typecasting is defined in Wikipedia as is the process by which a film, TV, or stage actor is strongly identified with a specific character. For example, an actor with menacing physical features may find himself acting as the villain in every movie he starred in, even though he is talented enough to play other kinds of characters. Or a lady with a sultry disposition may be assigned to play a seductress in every drama she's in. Think Christopher Reeves, Bela Lugosi and Jalaluddin Hassan. Now think Superman, Dracula and some rich Malay CEO in prime-time Malaysian TV soap operas. You get my drift, aye?
Typecasting is not desirable in the acting profession, coz that signals to the public that you ain't talented enough to play other characters (even though you do have the talent). Also the role you're typecast in might be too closely related to you as a person, and people gonna identify you with that role even though you're playing another unrelated character in a different production. For example, a dude heavily typecasted as a hero might find himself in a difficult position when he's playing the villain in a production, coz in all probability the audience's gonna cheer for the villain because they remembered him from his previous heroic appearances, rather than appropriately responding to the villainous nature of his character. That sort of thing can really damage a production and takes away the spotlight from the real hero.
Therefore all actors actively try to avoid typecasting by playing other kinds of characters, like Tom Hanks who played a gangster in Road to Perdition and a criminal in The Ladykillers, even though he's known as the 'nice guy' from his appearance in Forrest Gump. Most of typecast actors got trapped in such situations coz of their brilliant portrayal of their roles or for their physical features. An albino actor seldom gets the chance to portray a businessman; more likely he or she will get to play a villain or a mutant.
So based on all these information, the same thing can be applied to rappers, more or less. Rappers should not be typecast nor should they typecast themselves; instead they should diversify their rhyming skills and spit about things other than their usual repertoire. For instance, a gangsta rapper should rap about love once in a while, and a battle rapper should take time to write some serious real-world-problem shit. Conversely, a backpacker rapper should try his hand on writing a gritty street piece, and a club rapper should try doing a storytelling track. The ways of diversifying is literally infinite.
I stopped listening to Necro because he has typecast himself into his horrorcore death rap persona so much that his newest album Death Rap has nothing new to offer. But I still listen to his old stuff like The Prefix for Death and Gory Days, coz I think Necro was brilliant on those. But what's the worth of having fans fondly listening to your prior materials when they won't buy your new stuff, thinking 'ah this gonna be the same ol' shit'? You need the money, so you release new stuff. But fans won't buy your new stuff coz it's the same shit as your previous five albums. So you have no money. In the end, you might as well release your new stuff for free.
As I said above, typecasting will make people think an actor don't have enough talent to play other characters. Similarly, a rapper typecasting himself will find his fans thinking he don't have enough rhyming skills to do other kinds of raps. That, in my opinion, is a serious blow to your reputation as a talented rapper. The newest Jedi Mind Tricks' album, A History of Violence, has two dope tracks about emotions and the evil of television. In both tracks, Vinnie Paz raps solo without Jus Allah; the latter only appears in battle rap tracks (which forms the majority of the songs in the album). After listening to those two tracks, I seriously think Jus Allah sucks compared to Paz (it was the other way round prior to this), coz Paz has displayed his ability to rap about emotional and thought-provoking stuff as well as aggressive battle rhymes; something that Jus cannot do. Fuck it, Jus might be able to do emotional stuff after all, but it seems like he has chosen to typecast himself as a battle rapper (no emo stuff!), thus I naturally think that Paz is the better rapper compared to him now.
So what I'm doing now with Bloody Hardcore Battle Rhymes is trying to run away from typecasting and diversifying my rhyming skills; I was known as a storyteller in Music From and Inspired by Classic Literature, so in Battle Rhymes I want to be known as a dope punchline maker dan aggressive battle rapper. By the end of The Mixtape Series, I want to be known as a rapper who can do it all, and above all, not a typecast.
Cheers and diversify
The Rhymeweaver
Malaysian hip hop for the intelligent listener
More interesting posts HERE
0 comments for this post:
Post a Comment