Part of me was hoping to be caught up in the moment and be open to the good
and the God in me, but I got a lobotomy,
and I get that I oughta become a bit of an oddity
when somebody gets offended by the thought of me.
-Hi. I'm Candace.
I'm from Ohio.
It's kind of boring here,
so I decided to go outside and live a little.
"Live a Little."
[ Singing ] So, my name is Candace.
I like bananas.
Hey, SoulPancakers.
In 7th grade, I wrote a paper --
"Rap Is Crap."
Why did I think rap was crap?
Popular rappers would only talk about drugs and alcohol,
and I just didn't like the overall messages of the rap.
And I was like, "Rap be crap, y'all."
Years later,
my sophomore year of high school,
I happened to stumble upon George Watsky,
and I really realized that rap isn't so much
of music,
but I kind of respected it more
because I thought of it more as poetry.
After this newfound perspective about rap, I was wondering,
what do other people think about rap?
-[ Singing ] We like pizza in the morning.
We like pizza every day.
-What do you think about rap?
-I think it's a part of musical evolution.
-Do you like it? -No.
-It's very interesting.
-I'm not a fan of gangster rap.
-I prefer rap.
-I enjoy that kind of music.
-I think it's a very interesting genre.
-I actually like to listen to it a lot,
especially when I'm working out,
but I don't really listen to the words 'cause
they're kind of trashy.
-I enjoy the beats.
I am not a huge fan
of the content that's in rap music.
-It's either a moneymaker and it's fake,
or it's real and it's got a lot of heart to it.
-I feel that it's more poetry
with some music in the background.
-I was gonna ask if you thought it was poetry
or if you considered it music.
-Yeah, I consider it more poetry.
-I feel like it used to be a poetry form,
but it's definitely changed from that.
-It's just a music. It's not a poetry.
-No? -No, no poetry.
-It can be poetry,
but as of now, I don't see it in a poetic sense.
-I would say poetry. -It can be poetry.
It can be, totally.
[ Singing ] I walked down the streets today
and asked people what they thought about rap.
A lot of people had the same opinions as me.
Some didn't, but that's okay.
The opinions were free.
I had some really good interviews,
and a lot of people actually had some of the same opinions
as I did.
But I could really be talking to somebody else about this.
What about Watsky?
-Hi, Candace. How you doing?
I'm good, thank you. How are you?
-I'm good.
-I used to really not like rap at all,
and I think it was because I didn't understand it.
Last year, I heard you,
and you completely changed my view of it.
It's such an art form,
and I didn't realize that before.
-Well, I really believe in rap
as a type of poetry
that, you know, doesn't have to be bound
by what the stereotype of the genre is.
There's a lot of rap that's uplifting,
that's thoughtful,
that's brilliant. And so, you know,
if I can help people discover the genre
and how much amazing content there is, that's awesome.
-A lot of your raps have a lot of stories.
Are most of the stories true?
-I always try and be honest,
as honest as I can in my songs.
If you have a really specific personal story
that illustrates the way you felt when, you know,
one of those ideas became clear to you, to me,
that's the best way to get your point across.
Probably one of the songs I'm most proud of is a song
on my last mixtape called "Wounded Healer."
It's a really simple song.
It's, like, got one of the shortest verses
of anything that I've written, but I like it.
[ Rapping ] A year's a bottle in a bucket of trash.
It'll tip over the more that it stacks.
Didn't notice it till now,
but dad's been moving slower every time we go play catch.
I heard that you're a rapper also.
You've been -- been trying to get
into a little bit of fast rapping yourself.
-I was wondering if maybe we could try
and do the fast rap together, possibly.
-How about this?
I'll do it and then you'll do it, back-and-forth.
-Hopefully I know all the words.
Oh!
[ Rapping ] Oh, hi, I'm that guy
built so fly in a silk bow tie.
Don't know why I'm built so fly,
but I am, no lie
-Oh, my. -Rolled by,
got a low-ride Huffy
Sitting on the pegs, shelltoes puffy.
Cuff rolled up to my calf, class out the ass.
Bad with the swag like Buffy.
-Gotta be the one to bite the bullet.
I'm a sinner, but I bet I coulda been a better man.
-I wanna be Zen, but I go sipping on some medicine instead of meditating,
-but I get it when I can -And I don't wanna wind up in the gutter with a bottle
of malt liquor, bitter, 'cause I never got a call
telling me that it's all figured out.
-I'm sick of doubt, but I'm looking at the wall.
Part of me was hoping to be caught up in the moment and be open to the good
and the God in me, but I got a lobotomy,
and I get that I oughta become a bit of an oddity
when somebody gets offended by the thought of me.
Who's he? You gotta be kidding me.
Do me like Gabourey Sidibe
If you see me with a chickadee, no diggity,
it'll be giggity, giggity, giggity
You gonna send it like a letter from above with a man
that I love 'cause I got it like I live,
but if my baby's gay, I'll say
"You go, gay baby, work that bib.
Burp that kid, work that kid,"
screw police, flip that car.
I don't want a Jesus piece,
but I want a Reese's Piece and a Kit Kat bar
I want everybody focusing on getting me to Letterman
to kick it for the betterment of elegant Americans
who never want to settle for their pop.
Or not, 'cause my bedroom rocks and my beat still knocks
when I sort my socks.
I'm 5'11" of sex from the tip of my head
to my gorgeous knees.
-All right.
-I think that was my first rap battle,
and I might have won.
What?
So, I really do like rap.
What's something that you guys
like now that you didn't used to like?
Leave me a video response down below
or leave me a comment.