I love words. I mean, if you are a keen follower of PoiseSocial, you would know that already.
It is no doubt for that reason that I love rap music. Apart from the pure joy of listening to well-crafted lyrics soaked in metaphors and puns and double-entendres the other thing I like about rap music is the range it gives you to explore any theme of choice. You are able, through rap, to pack more words and freely express yourself than you would on another genre. There is an ebb and flow and a depth that is peculiar to the music.
I have always thought that the lyrics in rap music across its different subcultures captures the spirit of the times. You could go back to the late 90s and listen to mainstream rap and to underground rap and properly dissect the intra-generational conflicts of the collective of what constitutes the hip-hop family of the time and how it impacted the rap culture, the social fabric of Americans and the larger influence on the world.
Rap musicians, I like to think, are like museum curators or even librarians, who record and keep books about a certain period of time. Some books are terribly written, some books are stories, some books are profound, some books are rebellious, some books are abstract. All of these meshes together to give you a snapshot of a period. The books are either written on purpose or by accident.
Pascal’s song “Douala to Brazaville” is one of those songs that tells its own story. 50 years from now, someone might randomly fall on it on Ytube and have an insight to the way some relationships were formed and the social culture around it.
In this song, Pascal paints a good picture of what is a very curious and interesting texture of what intimate and physical relations are today. The song narrates the story of a guy (an anglophone), who meets a (francophone) girl online and they talk in the DMs for a long time. Finally, the guy travels to Douala to see the girl. That very day they, they have sex, and the next day he packs his bag and goes back to Yaounde. The first verse is done in pidgin,
In the second verse, which is done in French, we hear the guy consoling the girl. The girl has had her emotions into the whole affair and the guy is telling the girl it was never a serious issue and that he has the same kind of relationship with 10 other girls.
This song captures a good picture of a lot of what modern relationships are like. As a person that grew up in the transition of the analog to the digital era, I am able to navigate through this sometimes with some clarity and sometimes with some loss.
For kids who are in their early 20s, it is a whole different world from what I know. Somebody from the past would be amazed at how trusting we have become with complete strangers that we have never met. One of the things Pascal rapped about in that song was how the girl had been sending him nude pictures on Snapchat. It may sound banal to some but it remains a curiosity to many people. Another thing that is explored in the song is how sometimes, the transitions of conversations and emotions from a digital to a physical space can be a tough thing. Have you ever chatted with someone online for a long time, and then went on a day with them, then you realise that the flow and vibe you guys had on Whtspp is completely different from the one you have had in that physical space?
It works with physical attraction too. The sexual build-up and excitement to meeting a stranger you have been talking to might be great, and then right after the act, you realise that that person wasn’t just it. Something clicked and everything went downhill at some point. And I am speaking from experience here.
Another subject explored is how the soullessness of tech as a medium for communication can still harbour real and raw emotions and how confusing that can be. The girl who falls in love with the boy might have gone in with realistic expectations and the boy may have interpreted her nudes and flirtations as nothing but raw horniness and he went in for a whole different reason. It is a real conundrum that couples grapple with every day and the added texture of technology perhaps makes it even more incomprehensible as the lack of physical contact at the start should have been a warning sign that says tread carefully. But then again in the physical, these warning signs are not seen or just plainly ignored.
Pascal song is at best a little foray into how technology has morphed the pattern of our social interactions. I won’t go as far as saying it has changed it. I think it has just brought out or heightened an aspect of it. Some might find this one a little revolting, no doubt because of the sexual component. But you have to remember that it spreads in many areas.
People who have never really liked going out on Sundays can now MoMo their njangi contributions au calme. Technology just came in to help.
I think it’s an interesting piece and if we are able to look beyond the superficial aspects of rap music, we can see deeper things in the lyrics.
Click here to listen to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7VNOfbUAg4
.- Wandji Wilfred