Wow I'm happy they have "agreed to disagree" but I'm sure Maya won't be working with any more rappers in the near future after this.. Do you think Common should have gotten approval from Dr. Angelou before sending it in to the label?
Legendary poet Maya Angelou told The Post she’s horrified that one of
her biggest fans, the rapper Common, put her on a song peppered with
the “N” word — which she abhors.
The song “The Dreamer,” off the
album “The Dreamer, The Believer,” features a poem that Angelou penned
and recited at the rapper’s request. It urges people to follow their
dreams, with such lines as “From Africa they lay in the bilge of slave
ships / And stood half naked on auction blocks /. . . and still they
dreamed.”
Common’s lyrics, however, include such lines as “Told my
n---a [Kanye West] I’m ’bout to win the Grammys now” and the boast
“N---as with no heart, I’m the pacemaker.”
The Pulitzer Prize-nominated poet was petrified when she heard the lyrics.
“I
had no idea that Common was using the piece we had done together on [a
track] in which he also used the ‘N’ word numerous times,” Angelou said.
Angelou said she never knew Common used the “N” bomb at all, calling it “vulgar and dangerous” to the black community.
“I’m
surprised and disappointed. I don’t know why he chose to do that. I had
never heard him use that [word] before. I admired him so because he
wasn’t singing the line of least resistance.”
Common tried to
squash the squabble, insisting that he’s spoken with Angelou about his
use of the “N” word — and claiming they have agreed to disagree.
Hit the jump/continue to read the rest and listen to "The Dreamer" by Common featuring Dr. Maya Angelou.
Hit the jump/continue to read the rest and listen to "The Dreamer" by Common featuring Dr. Maya Angelou.
“She knows I do use the word,” he told The Post. “She knows that’s part of me.”
But he admitted he never bothered to tell her he’d be using the word on the track she worked on.
“I
told her what ‘The Dreamer’ was about and what I wanted to get across
to people,” he says. “I wanted young people to hear this and feel like
they could really accomplish their dreams.”
Common’s dreams in the song include living in Miami with “exquisite thick bitches.”
Angelou
and Common met several years ago when they recited poetry at the same
benefit. Since then, the two have grown tight. He has rapped at her
birthday bash, and she once said he could be her son.
Common said the best lesson he has learned from Angelou is to “continue to be true to your voice.”
This
is the second time this year that the rapper’s lyrics have gotten him
in trouble. The White House was slammed in May for inviting him to a
poetry event there because of anti-police lyrics, including “Tell the
law my Uzi weighs a ton” and a line about President Bush: “Burn a Bush,
’cause for peace he no push no button.”
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