My dad, conscious music, reggae and africa

After listening To Pimp A Butterfly, I called my dad and told him to listen to it. Most people would think that's weird but to me he needs to hear it. I am so thankful for one thing my dad did that a lot of African British families do not do, is not just educate me about my culture but make me feel proud to be an African. The way the media, for instance charity adverts focus on the poor side of Africa gives you a bad prospective and like most African British young people only clam the British side or even try to be Caribbean. But he showed me movies like Roots, documentaries and books about what Africa is really about.

One thing as young as I can remember that my dad used to do is play Reggae and Rap music in the car all the time. A about the age of 9 I know most of the lyrics to Bob Marley's album Confrontation and Survival. I asked one day "Daddy why do you play so much reggae, we're not Jamaican" and he said it doesn't matter he loves the way Reggae artists talk about God and Africa through their music. Even though I knew the lyrics I didn't really listen to the meaning till I was older. You know artists like Lucky Dube, Morgan Hertiage, Stephan Marley they talk about the history of Africa, black Egyptians, the great kingdoms of Africa. I'm proud to be British don't get me wrong but when you have a different heritage you can't rely on the country to educate you on your own individual culture, so have to go out and learn it yourself. That's why I love conscious music because it tells you the truth.

Now, Rap

Again I knew lyrics to Tupac and Biggie music, which till this day I'm not sure on how that happened because they swear a lot; I'm sure my dad played the clean version ahhaaa. But Changes, Ghetto Gospel, mo money mo problems yeah I was singing along to that. Just like Reggae they talk about having faith also the truth about how the world really works and not the fake reality the media shows(To which this line unlike most is becoming very very distinct). And seeing as their African American they talk about discovering what it meant to be an African, which is relatable.

It doesn't matter where your from or born it's good to know and be proud of your culture, because I doesn't matter how hard you try to hide it will always be there. To be honest it gives you an individual sense about yourself.