hey called her HIP HOP.
Sometime back she was conceptualized, talked of.
Sometime back she was yearned for, waited for
Then she was born.
They called her HIP HOP;
She was knowledge in motion.
There was need for knowledge to spread to all and sundry
The knowledge was abiding,
Sacrifices had to be made,
Nothing in this world that is worth it comes on a silver platter.
The movement started to spread the revolutionary,
The missionaries started to spread the gospel,
Sooner than latter, the news, the revolution, the movement spread
Contagious to all, allergic to none.
Everyone gets thirsty for knowledge, the inquisitive nature of man.
Somewhere in the Caribbean islands,
She was the replica,
She was REGGAE, the twin siz of HIP HOP,
How cruel was the distant.
And so with the birth of a new generation,
A generation that saw the beginning of the 21st century,
A generation that was born after the 2nd world war,
A generation so bubbly,
A generation that shaped the core of hip hop philosophy.
The pioneers of the generation gave the insight of knowledge in movement
A generation that was talked of as much as loathed,
A generation that saw the big picture behind the Harlem renaissance
A generation that inspired thirst for knowledge
They were the pioneers, we be copywriters.
They called her HIP HOP.
She smiled and other genres got envious,
They tried to cash in on her fame, popularity and more especially,
Her aphrodisiac nature.
The more they tried impersonification of her,
The more floppy, sloppy the genres sounded,
With an exception of few and none.
As her philosophies inspired the gurus of their times,
Their works are always artistic and literary marvels,
That only those with a kin eye get to notice the beauty,
Only a few get to notice the design of the masterpiece,
Only few understand where art and science break even;
The genius behind the inspiration.
She inspired the masses to read mo, learn mo and change the globe
Knowledge is never limited,
Storage space is never inadequate,
The stories are the ones in shortage.
She sang no doubt,
She hip hopped, she hyped, people hoped,
They popped their eyes and node they heads,
She was a true hero,
Sparkling with diamond lustre,
Bright colours hypnotize the mind,
The rainbow of her music hypnotizes the soul.
When she made a radio hit,
They criticized her,
When she made a hip hop classic,
No one bought the album,
But she ain’t giving up,
Her inspiration continues,
Yeah, they called her HIP HOP.
As the revolution gathered moss,
As the activism got webbed,
The two twins discovered their true identity,
They discovered they are resources blessed,
Blessed of all species.
When HIP HOP and REGGAE collided where they met the African beat,
They let out the African cry, shout, laugh, song, the cherished moments,
Thus the rebirth of DISTANT RELATIVES was born,
That was when hip hop and reggae rediscovered their roots,
When they discovered they were distant relatives
When the ashanti tom tom drums beat to the music,
When the kwaito beat in their blood,
When they danced to the string of nyatiti,
When they rose they head to the blow of vuvuzela,
When they jumped higher than ‘em morans,
When they cherished, longed for, mesmerized, got aroused,
By the heartbeat of the African beat,
When the two twins danced in rhythmic unison,
Yeah, they called her HIP HOP.
Little did they know she was REGGAE’S twin sister?
On and on she preached,
The strong will continue,
And if u have it in you, u got a long journey to go.
She sings of abolishing tribal war,
She sings of fostering peace, unity, blah, blah,
She warned money makes the world go round,
She tales how love maketh the world go round,
What if she ruled the world, imagine that?
Yeah,
They called her HIP HOP.
TULIA MWANANGU: KUWA MPOLE. 