Don't know if anyone is familiar with "Soul Position" but they're a semi underground hip-hop duo (Blueprint and RJD2) from Columbus, Ohio that I've enjoyed for quite some time.
Groups like Soul Position give me hope for the hip-hop genre. They're great music with great lyrics. I was half paying attention doing some homework and I realized that the song "Hand-me-downs" really kind of applies to a lot of what's wrong with rap culture. Sorry if this is off topic, but I felt like with the latest nationwide debate that has stirred up, blueprint sheds a little clarity onto the situation.
Just thought I'd share the good words, and to anyone that is close minded to hip hop, check them out. (
www.myspace.com/soulposition)
verse. 1 from (Hand-Me-Downs)
"Amidst The Positivity, I want to bring it back
But Rap now-a-days is by a bunch of ignorant cats
No young gifted and black
Just guns bitches and crack
I react by turning off BET and Sambo's telling me what blackness is supposed to be
Used to give us world news now it's all videos, replaced Tavis Smiley with reality shows
If you let the TV define what black is
you think ice and violence is all we think that matters
I guess this is what happens when rappers look up to thugs
And kids look up to rappers
To some of y'all if I don't talk about the gat enough
Or sell crack enough
I ain't black enough
But I rather be a pro at being myself
Than be an idiot trying to be somebody else, what"
vs. 2
" I'm at the bus stop with my bike
Been there for awhile
Mom's taught me how to catch this route when I was a child
-Another kid walks up freakin a black and mild
Fifteen same age, I learn shits wild
An older lady walks up greets us with a smile
Asks how we both doing and sits down
She knows what's it's like to grow up in the south
Civil Rights when the white's was hosing us down
I started thinking to myself that even though the time's were tougher
They still took timeout to speak to one another
But look at us, me and this young brother
Acting to proud to break down and speak to each other
So inside I felt ashamed
Not sure of how to but I wanna change
And as long as I'm alive than the fact remains
That it's never too late for us to break the chains"