Making Sad Music Making Me Sad
Tags: lyrics rap Nas music blog
So it's been another week. Not very much has happened to be honest. I just worked on a new song, but it's not done yet. I still have to finish the lyrics, then record, but I'm very close. This new song is pretty fuckin sad. It felt really heavy for me to write and I just couldn't bring myself to finishing it. It's sparked a lot of existential dread in me and a part of me had been considering not even finishing the lyrics and maybe starting over. But then again, I feel like this is what I was aiming to achieve. Maybe this is such a powerful statement that I need to make. Something more important than myself.
For context, this track is about my disappointment in the world that I've grown up into. I detail all of society's flaws, at varying scales, starting with the current global issues and refocusing on the impacts it makes on each level of the human race. It was my way of telling the story of our current political/economic landscape as a population.
I don't usually make conscious rap and my song's usually focus on my own personal experiences, so this was a step in a different direction for me. The lyrics touch on a lot of whats happening in the world right now, from war in Sudan, the wealth gap, housing crisis, etc. and facing the reality of our modern existence. Writing those lyrics and going into that stuff really bummed me out. As I was getting close to finishing the verse, I just felt overcome with a profound sadness, realizing that things may not really get better for anyone, within my lifetime, at least. I feel pretty depressed just having this view and I was so naive before.
I know I need to finish the song anyways so I can at least move on from it. Making music around my disappointments and what I've been experiencing lately has not been great. But I guess means that it really resonates. I could just ignore everything, ignore my feelings, ignore my reality, ignore the things happening in the world, and continue to make fun happy and meaningless music. I try to put a positive spin on my music most of the time, even when the subject matter is bleak. I'm just not sure how I can do it with a song that covers so much tragedy.
Other than that, I've been listening to more Nas lately. His new album with DJ Premier has been nice, I really like the songs Writers and Nasty Esco Nasir. I haven't really dug into Nas's stuff in a really long time. His stuff inspired me very early on and helped me get a grasp of just how to properly write raps, the fundamentals, and delivery. Nas-Deja Vu Nas-Nas Will Prevail