Limitations And Boundaries

I’m a writer. I am very good with words. When given the opportunity I bend them to my will and make magic with every syllable. And when I say I write I pretty much write everything. Poems, articles, papers, songs, books, etc. All this is said to say this: I stay in my wheelhouse. That’s not to say I won’t try to do anything new but I know my limitations. You’ll never catch me trying to juggle, sing opera (despite the fact that I actually can sing), or even try to paint a masterpiece. That’s usually the safest bet you can make, honestly.

But what happens when someone steps outside their wheelhouse?

Sometimes you get interesting results.

Sometimes good, sometimes bad.

For example when Cee Lo Green stretched out and started singing it turned out really well. It gave us Gnarls Barkley and great songs like the most famous Gnarls Barkley effort “Crazy” or his solo hit “Fool For You”. That song just goes in every time you hear it. Really and truly.

Then there are times where it goes completely sideways.

Case in point, singers rapping.

It’s a novel idea, at best. I mean, I could maybe see the thought process that they are working under here. Singing can’t be as difficult as rapping, can it? So they venture out to try it. As with anything you have highs and lows.

Chris Brown scores points for his rhymes on “Look At Me Now”. But on the other side of it I feel like he had no place amongst the rest of the rappers on the BET Hip-Hop Awards Cypher. Kudos for trying and an E for effort but it didn’t do it for me.

The same can be said of Trey Songz. I fell in love with a few tracks that he rapped on, one being “Top Of The World”. As of yet I cannot see a downside because he seems to keep to the subject matter he knows as opposed to being tough like Mr. Brown does. So maybe he’s the exception to the rule here.

Then there’s Justin Beiber. I can halfway accept his sway over young girls. But I cannot believe him as a rapper. I think the fact that Asher Roth is a close friend has him believing that rapping is something for him to be doing. I’m not saying he can’t rap but he should stick to his day job. Listen to a track from Chris Brown’s Boy In Detention mixtape if you don’t believe me. (The track is called “Ladies Love Me”)

The thing is everyone should know their limitations. As such rapping should (in most cases) be left to real rappers.