With new rappers being added to the already over saturated rap game, artists need to take on a unique persona, or characteristic to maintain relevancy. Presenting the question, is this legit or attention seeking?
The 10-year veteran Yung Joc is making himself relevant with an African American rendition of Zach Morris’ hairdo from Saved by the Bell. The trend doesn’t stop at seasoned MCs. New wave rappers like Young Thug are noted for wearing women’s clothing.
In the latest episode of The Grey Area, Slink Johnson and Soren Baker discuss wether or not Yung Joc’s hair and Young Thug’s blue dress are legit or attention seeking.
“There’s a definite difference between pushing the envelope and being a dick,” Slink Johnson says. “Some shit people do for shock value I understand it. It’s entertaining. Pushing the envelop is when you are doing things that have not been done before, or have very rarely been done before. Shit that’s played out like wearing dresses has been happening forever. Milton Berle wore dresses. You don’t even know who Milton Berle is. What you are you saying? Are you wearing the dress to express you inner femininity, to say you are a women inside? Or are you wearing a dress to say, ‘I think it’s cool and people are going to trip out because I’m wearing a dress?’”
With more male rappers showcasing their interest in women’s clothing and distinctive attire, like Jaden Smith’s skirts and Batman costume, it begs the question, will we see an era where men are the video girls? According to Slink, that time is already upon us.
“I think we are already there,” the Black Jesus star says. “If you look at some of these rapper’s studio sessions and entourage, they have a bunch of niggas fighting for camera space. They want to hug and shit, with no shirt on. They have no bitches around. I think niggas are the new video bitches. I just don’t understand it.”
As the new wave sets critics and fans are presented with another question, is this something genuine or are rappers doing this for the buzz and notoriety?
“I think it’s being done for the buzz and notoriety because there’s nothing new under the sun,” Slink responds. “When I say there’s nothing new under the sun I mean lifestyles, attitudes, and ways of thinking. It’s one thing to do things and be comfortable with who you are, or even if that’s who you are not and you are portraying something, like a character. At some point you need to say it. I think rappers need to come with disclaimers.”
On the flip side, rappers do not limit their personas to taking on feminine characteristics. Rappers personify gangsters but in reality have no affiliation with that lifestyle. Is it all for entertainment? It it acceptable to lie or play a role? Slink explains where the line should be drawn.
“Politically correctness made it cool,” he says. “All the gangsters I know don’t want to be gangsters. All the real gangsters I know, and when I say gangster I mean, dudes in the street who are active in the urban lifestyle and warfare, come to a point in their life where they didn’t want to do that anymore. I don’t understand how young dudes come out of these places on the east coast like Virginia and want to be a Blood. I don’t understand it. That’s not what you had to do. You may have friends that are Bloods, but that’s not what you had to do. Some of these rappers been celebrities all they life and now all of a sudden they gangsters. You’re not that.”