Shout out to legendary Maryland rapper Substantial (Stanley Robinson) By Anthony Andujar jr

   My friend Radaie and I were chilling as we waited for a friend of ours (KG) one Friday afternoon. Radaie and I were discussing about music, rappers and producers that we know of that either had some great lyrical content, quality, unique beats and rhythms etc. Radaie had me listen to Kendrick Lemar's tracks from his early work with songs  like "Kiesha song" and then we spoke about Kanye West and how he approached hip hop by blending things that were unacceptable and making it acceptable examples: Graduation,  808 Heartbreak, merging backpack rap with certain qualities of other rap, introducing different genres to a larger audience in the way Thom Yorke , Massive Attack, and Damon Albarn have etc.) Radaie and I spoke about admiration for Tyler the Creator in terms of his instrumental production and his primal energy with wordplay that reminds people of Eminem back when he first came into being in the early 2000's.

 Midway in the conversation we spoke about how despite the thug /gangsta rap stereotype that sadly tends to plague Hip Hop alongside Trap music, a marginal group would tend to say that there are barely any rap lyricists/artists who speak about hard hitting stories and positivity. Radaie and I elaborated on tracks like "Kiesha Song" by Kendrick Lemar, "Culture of Fear " By  Thievery Corporation (feat Lift),  Lupe Fiasco,  and a few other rap artists that have lyrics that present societal conscience and themes about society and the willingness to rise above the struggles as well as molding their environment and not the other way around.

 We then spoke about Real Hip Hop Turn tabelists /beat makers such as Dj Shadow (Endtroduction album, the less you know the better, The Outsider)  , James Levelle (UNKLE :Psyence Fiction), Flying Lotus  and Nujabes. As soon as I spoke about Nujabes and his work with other rappers like Lupe Fiasco , Shing02 and Substantial, that's when it came to a point that had to be discussed. There are tons of great rappers out there that speak about positive , uplifting, truthful , conscience subject matter like Substantial.  Albums such as :

• To This Union A Sun Was Born (2001) , Sacrifice (2008),  Home is where the Art is (2012), Jack N' Jill : a Jill Scott dedicated album (2013) , Substantial Vs Samurai Champloo: Beats, Rhymes and Strife are examples of positive work and creative content that promotes positivity as well as well written lyrics.   Personally, he's been one of my fave rappers since the  7th grade (2008)  due to being introduced to his work with Nujabes from the Samurai Champloo Anime.  His work has always been influential to my I illustrative works and written works. 

The point is that there are a lot of great rappers that have great lyrical content , skill , and positive conscience in their music. But sadly people are sleeping on them because they are either too caught up on Mainstream /radio mainstays or channels that never give up and coming quality rap artists the kind of recognition or air play that thy deserve to have. It goes for all genres of music. There is nothing wrong with mainstays, but when people only know of then and barely know or acknowledge the artists that are out there , mainly being seen at either face value or not being known at all.  What in trying to say is,  Music isn't dead, and each genre is not dead, it's just that the real quality artists aren't given enough of an opportunity to get there air time to cement their work. If it's not that, it's possibly because of a kind of stigma , or that some people who think that they know hip hop when all they listen to is trap  are missing out.  Not to hate on Macklemore , but there have been rappers who've been around for years and have spoken about social content and usually got shunned by the mainstream because nobody wanted to hear about cerebral content and positivity.  

There are still lyricists out there. There is still a lot of great music out there. It's just a matter of whether or not people want to give them the time of day and make a change of pace. 

Here's a link to one of Substantial's Substantial  vs Samurai Champloo : Beats , Rhymes and Strife : I hope you enjoy. And to Substantial, Thanks for all of the work that you do for the youth and also for inspiring many others to pursue their education,  who love the arts in finding their voice and mindset in life and learning the transition of boyhood to men in progress . Thanks. Ant. A

http://substantial.bandcamp.com/album/substantial-vs-samurai-champloo-beats-rhymes-strife