My primary attraction to rap music is the clever wordplay the emcees use to describe situations, emotions tell stories. Unfortunately I find a lot of today’s rappers really lack in this discipline. I can’t recommend enough a rapper named KA from Brownsville, Brooklyn. A lot older than his peers, KA had anything but a good life growing up but he managed to work his way through all of the pain, loss, struggle and strife to concentrate on his passion for words and the way they helped express his emotions and share his knowledge with the listener. An independent artist publishing, producing and promoting his work, KA is not seeking a wide audience but rather the select few who scratch beneath the surface of mediocrity in search of something pure, original and great. KA’s brutal honesty and stark depictions of living day to day in the face of adversity is a real inspiration and motivation for listeners like myself to keep pushing and writing rhymes about the things that have influenced us both positively and negatively. My life has definitely been a lot rosier that KA’s, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t experienced loss of loved ones, struggles with self esteem and other obstacles life threw in my path. Thankfully I’m focused on seeing things through and know that there is always an upside to everything getting me down.

I drink too much and I know that it sucks

Wasting my bucks on bottles when I could of struck the lotto

Shout out to Illmatic Nas for dropping that motto

And thank God for the birth of my son Max

He’s the one that’s got me running the track

Trying to stay healthy and avoid getting fat

Before it was all about me and “What I need?”

Now everyday I seek to provide for my seed

Stand tall and provide shelter like an old tree

But what’s it worth if I can’t seem to take root in the Earth

It hurts so I self-medicate with words

Expressing the pain of thoughts nobody heard

Elaine taught me not to hate and never hold a grudge

You can push me and pull me but my patience won’t budge

People wonder why I act so tense

It boils down to the sentence served to my mother

Before her I lost my sister and my brother

So excuse me for not giving a fuck

Or believing in much

Close my mind to it all I’m blind drunk

I drink too much and I know that it sucks

———-

As long as the Sun shines every day

I’ll keep looking for ways to remain in a positive mind state

The rhyme play helps a lot

With all this baggage that I brought

Now I’ve emptied the bag onto the bed

Empty my head with pencil lead

Scratching the pages of my notepad

This is the record of all the emotions I ever had

Good or bad

Happy or sad

Keeping calm or going mad

I’ve gone from selfish self-destruction

Relying blindly on a bottle just to function

Now I give as much and more to my family and friends

Taking time to write to them

Letters letting them know things get better in the end

My son my blood looks up to me

Open my eyes and breathe as deep as Tai Chi

My wife my love holds her arms out to me

Build my self-confidence instead of worrying “Why me?”

As long as the Sun shines everyday

I’ll keep looking for ways to remain in a positive mind state