Gimme A Beat!

My son has found rap.  It is a difficult thing as a modern parent to listen to rap.  I should qualify that my son is only 8.5 years old.  Most rap music is written for the 18+ plus crowd based on the lyrics they use.  In my personal opinion, most rappers are weak lyricists.  When writing it's easy to just start throwing F bombs around.  Its lazy writing, if you ask me.  We grew up hearing "American Pie" , "Come Sail Away", and "Hotel California" just to name a few.  Like most kids they are drawn to things their parents hate.  We liked rock our parents liked crooners, their parents liked big band.  We probably could go all the way back to when cavemen banged on rocks and their parents said, "Stop making those rocks roll!"

I try to be open minded.  I used to hate it all.  However, when my son asks if he can download a song I will listen to it and decide if its appropriate.  I've come to like songs by Bruno Mars, B.o.B., Lupe Fiasco and a few others.

Jimmy wants and is trying to write a rap of his own.  I've decided to help him when he gets stuck creatively.  For inspiration I pulled out some old poems I wrote as a youth.  These date back to the 70's.

Sunken Ships

A ship is a boat

They float

Sometimes they sink

Their owners turn pink

There was the "Titanic"

Now look in the Atlantic

Look at the "Bismark"

Its decks are all dark

There was the "Andre Doria"

Its on the ocean flooria

Math

Math is fun

So is the sun

We can add

When we are not mad

We can subtract

When we are in tact

We can multiply

When we don't cry

And we can divide

When we don't hide

So math is not pushing

When you have it with Cushing

The End

By

Mark

"The Ploch"

(Cushing was my 6th Grade Math teacher.  This might have been a brown nose attempt.)

OK, so these may not be rap material, but that's OK by me.  I liked writing poetry, still do.  I hope to digitize my writings soon.  I wrote just as my brother did.  He's got some great stuff too.  We even collaborated a few times.  Our epic parody to "T'was The Night Before Christmas" was as viral has things could be in the late 70's.  We pushed our luck the next year by creating a sequel.  It was flat and predictable.  I think our last combined effort was our Gram's eulogy.  We each took turns putting it together.  I had a lot of pride writing about my Grandmother.

Writing should be fun.  This is what I'm trying to pass on to my son.  He's still at the "writing is a chore" stage.  When he has written, he's done quite well.  I also feel writing should be a positive moment for the reader.  Rap music tends to make me feel uncomfortable and negative.  I can only imagine what young people are feeling being that they can't understand how to process those negative messages.

I promise to share my early poetry.  Feel free to share yours too.  Send it to me at mark@plochdesigns.com.  Maybe we can get the eyes of a song writer to make a platinum selling song.