The Voice & The Hero

Today, I decided to clear all the stories from my drafts and make them public. I have no idea why some of these pieces have been sitting dormant and collecting dust for almost three years. However, I trust that I did start a good thing. Now, it's time to see it to the finish line. For this piece, I was very inspired by the uplifting legends of Hip Hop. I recognized how much music has carried me through the various phases of my life and this piece is meant to pay homage. Enjoy the read!

Music is where heros have hid themselves for centuries. The coded language of our people has evolved throughout the decades to carry messages containing the blueprint to freedom.

Lately, my heros have been revealed to me in the most unlikely voices of Lil Durk (The Voice) and Lil Baby (The Hero). The most surprising part of this is that these self-proclaimed deities from Chicago and Atlanta respectively are not my hometown heros. I have so many legends from my hometown that this feels like adultery acknowledging someone other than the Baton Rouge superstars that warrant my worship.

While I may be loyal to the soil of my Louisiana roots, I'm smart enough to know that inspiration can come from anywhere. NBA Youngboy, Kevin Gates and Lil Boosie all served an amazing purpose for me up until this point. These were my hometown heros for as long as I have been listening to rap.

In high school, Lil Boosie had a song for just about any emotion one could imagine. I'd bump "Perfection" when I needed a reminder that I was cut from a different cloth than the one I was wrapped in at birth. His line at the opening of the song, "I always knew I wanted to be better than everybody in the hood." reminded me of my position in this world before I could even enter adulthood. I was predisposed and primed for success because my hometown hero, Torrence Hatch, dared to declare himself above the South Baton Rouge slums even while he was still in it.

As someone who grew up in the same neighborhood he rapped about, I always felt Boosie made music to speak directly to me. The little girls and boys in the hood that knew they could be so much more than the labels and targets on their backs.

I'd beam with pride when passing the Fina station on Highland Road Boosie references in the song "Real Slow." Eventually when I got my own car, there was no way I could drive in that direction without singing, "I made a right on Highland Road// and saw some lil niggas throwing 4's// the lil nigga in the black said, 'dem 24's?'// I told him yea// you can get em if you keep a roll."

This is the blueprint. Booise inadvertenly was setting forth a spirit of affirmation building.

Fast forward to today, affirmations are my fuel for finding my way. Each time I venture slightly off the path, I find my way back with the soundtrack that will get my mind right. I carry these artists and their uplifting messages in my heart. This tactic of looking to the truth hidden in the lines of Hip-Hop has worked so well for decades now. Often, these artists are judged and written off because of their outward appearances. I read somewhere that, "sometimes you have to be the wolf you never wanted to be in order to be the lamb you truly are." I resonate deeply with this phrase and am thrilled to be in the chosen few that refuses to underestimate the spirit of rapper resillience.