(ThyBlackMan.com) Drake is the front runner for my unofficial “ Rapper Least Likely To be Arrested ” award as a Hood conservative listener.
While sometimes listening to ( paradoxically ) Rick Ross and others waxing poetic about poison sold to their own people, Drake stands out and apart from this genocidal lyric crowd.
It not that he’s clean cut or speaks Standard English without considerable effort. TI, another personal favorite since ” Rubberband Man “, is also clean 
cut but addicted to incarceration- like too many Hip Hop artists. Some young fans misuse risque content as blueprints for life instead of edgy entertainment.
Drake offers hope to older listenership and community stakeholders who want much more for today’s artists than incarceration; parole/probation and sudden death. I won’t call the roll of dead rappers but fans know the attrition rate is too high, just like on inner city streets.
LL Cool J; Will Smith ( formerly The Fresh Prince )** and conscious rappers from my era like Rakim; Public Enemy; Lakim Shabazz, etc. show you could avoid popularizing genocide and still make money.
I don’t want boring Hip Hop. It must be the eternal voice of the Hood, speaking whatever ” negro ” dialect is vogue at that time. I also don’t want it becoming boring and producing rap versions of Wayne Newton or Lawrence Welk ( lol ).
As some who’s Old School I want these artists to enjoy their fame- without self-destructing! Hip Hop isn’t just spitting death lyrics. Hip Hop is also about life… and even something rarely seen in the Hood- hope.
If being locked inside the ” belly of the beast ” ( translation: jail or prison ) is bad while poor, does being rich improve the experience? Sitting behind bars has long become the thing to do for wealthy urbanites.
Drake hopefully is the first of many non thug rappers to come.
Written By Nadra Enzi
Official website; http://www.captblack.info
