Fly High with Rap’s Young Tweeting Birds | Amalgam Digital Blog

Welcome, everybody, to a blog that’s been years in the making…conceptualized back when Boost Mobile first skyrocketed into the hip hop world. You might be asking yourself, “Isn’t ‘skyrocketed’ a bit of an exaggeration?” or “What the hell does Boost Mobile have to do with Twitter?” and my answer to those questions lies in another question: “Don’t you remember that ‘Where You At? (The Whole City Behind Us)’ song by Kanye, the Game, and Luda?” If you remember that track from about five years back, you’ll remember two things: 1) it was dope and 2) it was full of annoying Boost Mobile “chirps”—what I’ve come to regard as the provincial precursors to “tweets.”

That said, it may seem like a bit of a stretch to compare the inclusion of such chirps in a surprisingly fresh promo song to the emergence of rappers on Twitter, but check this out—the first documented “tweet” was in fact hip hop related: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tweet_(singer). And with that I present to you my three up-and-coming artists to keep an eye out for on Twitter. All of these guys were included in that XXL “Class of 2009” feature done a while back, and the buzz around their pages should help you see why. Keep in mind that this list is open change, and it is by no means meant to limit the scope of rappers I plan on covering in this blog. I just like what these young cats are saying, and hope you will too:

1) Name: Wiz Khalifa

Twitter Alias: RealWizKhlaifa

Why You Should Like Him: Wiz tends to keep his tweets relatively simple—everything he posts can usually fit into one of four categories. First, there’s the “anybody got weed?” posts, which pretty much speak for themselves. Second, there’s the “I just smoked a lot of weed” posts. Again, pretty self-explanatory. The third category consists of random one-liners, like “The Hippos are Slouches,” “I’m sorry but that Dominos commercial is racist!!!!” and “Casinos are full of regrets.” My gut instinct tells me that this genre of Tweets is directly impacted by the first two posting categories, but nonetheless Wiz’s sometimes quirky, always fun adages really connect the artist to his followers. He says what’s on his mind in a way that makes him refreshingly personable to his supporters, which brings me to the fourth and final type of Khalifa Tweet: fan outreach posts. Wiz is constantly updating his page with new songs, videos, and concert information, and he does so without coming off as a self-promoter. His efforts for fan appreciation seem entirely genuine, which is ultimately why he’s atop this list.

Favorite Tweets: “Morning joints and Kung Fu Panda..We win”; “I juss figured out I’m never gonna die, Im gonna gracefully float off into the air like master”

2) Name: Curren$y

Twitter Alias: CurrenSy_Spitta

Why You Should Like Him: Put simply, Curren$y is his Twitter pages. He describes just about everything he does, and he does so with intricate detail. For example, take a look at this Tweet he posted on Monday: “I WAKETH….I BAKETH….2 THE LAST FEW SCENES OF HOUSE PARTY 2.” For most rappers, just saying that they were watching a movie would have been enough—but Curren$y is not most rappers. Not only does he tell his followers which installment of the “House Party” series he’s watching, he narrows it down to the very scenes. That type of pinpoint accuracy is hard to come by in today’s rap world, and it doesn’t stop with movies. Whether he’s describing his every sight on the streets of New Orleans or uploading new pictures of his puppy online, Curren$y uses Twitter to give fans the type of glimpses into his personal life that otherwise would not be possible, which is the way the site was intended to be used (or at least that’s how I imagine it being intended to be used). Heck, he even bleeds his deepest realizations onto his page: “B.E.T’s Pastor Kearney = Jimmy Swaggart meets Daffy Duck.”

Favorite Tweets: “I never had to worry about my n64 games gettin scratched up and not workin anymore…damn progression of the gaming industry”; “anybody awake with doobies to share??”; “anybody feel like bringin me a sundae from McDonalds?”

3) Name: Wale

Twitter Alias: WaleDC

Why You Should Like Him: Why shouldn’t you like him? He’s from DC (“…MoCo what up”). Aside from that though, he also has an uncanny ability to be socially, culturally, and politically relevant without forcing issues or losing his Twitter appeal. While there are certainly plenty of artists who embrace the need for activism within the rap community through their Tweets (more to come on this in the future), Wale differs in that he never dwells on any one topic to the point where disinterest surfaces. He’ll comment on the politics behind BET, then discuss the Washington Wizards’ draft moves (sorry Wale, but I liked the trade), and wrap it all off with keen social analysis of an everyday encounter on the train. Where Curren$y lives through his Twitter, Wale’s Twitter lives through the people. He’s not afraid to kick knowledge (“u ever got to the point where u don’t give a fuck about anything? It’s a good n bad feeling”), but always leaves room to showcase his unmistakable sense of humor (“ma the meatloaf…we want it…now!”). Not to mention, his sports knowledge is first-rate (Wizards trade aside)—as good as any tweeting athlete around.

Favorite Tweets: “wow..I just found out why bitch ass pacman jones is always in trouble…way too aggressive..stop showin off for these LA girls..”; “I can’t stand pressed mutherfuckers..I’m in the quiet cart on train..and I called my brother for 15 seconds..whisperin ..nobody could hear me…but the fact that this nosey ‘who’s the boss’ judith light lookin byatch is tryna look at me like she ready to tell on me..is makin me sick…u can always tell when a women is deprived of sex…they hate everybody…lol”

Tags: Curren$y, Twitter, Wale, Wiz Khalifa

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 11:20 AM and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.