Carly Stasko investigates the quandaries of new parents… and raps on playgrounds
I first came up with this “Mom Rap” during a 4am sleep-deprived freestyle session I performed for my husband and newborn son when none of us were getting any sleep. I have since performed it for friends, family and strangers every chance I get. It breaks the ice and tells a story. I think that parenting is equal parts comedy and confidence.
We can’t take ourselves too seriously, but at the same time it’s important to recognize how brave and bad-ass parenting can be.
Here it is, the Mom Rap:
Carly Stasko is a self-titled Imagitator, one who agitates imagination. She is also an artist/writer/producer/public speaker/cancer survivor/new mom living in Toronto. For more Carly Stasko, check out her radio stories on CBC’s Definitely Not the Opera and her blog, Imagitate the State. Read more...
Guest writer Dalton Higgins shares hip-hop music videos inspired by fatherhood
In the realm of pop culture pops - with a hip-hop twist – who really appear to support their seedlings, Will Smith stands tall above the rest. Pre-Willow Smith hoopla, Will was cranking out songs and accompanying videos with all kinds of parent-friendly subject matter.
Genuine hip-hop heads remember Will Smith when he was considered a credible rapper amongst the rapperati.
Then once the acting gigs started pouring in (think The Fresh Prince of Bel-air, Six Degrees of Separation), it was all about the happy raps.
I don’t mind the less hardcore, more happy cheeseball raps. It’s the daddy in me. It happens when you get old(er), softer and most definitely chubbier.
There’s hardcore pro-poppa rap, and then there’s softcore. I anoint Will Smith the King of Softcore Rap. Here, he flips a beautiful Bill Withers sample and celebrates Hip Hop Poppahood, in all its Fatherhood 4.0‘ian glory. Read more...
Guest writer Dalton Higgins shares a different fatherhood-inspired hip-hop video each day this week
Some of the greatest art, music and cinema of our times contains curse words, profanities, vulgarity, from Scarface to Jay-Z. My daughter recently informed that me that there are certain cuss words that have become are all the rage in her school. She is not at all a fan of this activity, but it’s around her daily. “WTF” has become hugely popular apparently.
The reason I mention this is because in the canon of rap and punk classics there are a whole whack of timeless anthems that I might’ve listened to (loudly) at some point in time, whose critiques on racism, sexism and George W. Bush still stand the test of time. But now I refuse to play them in my household. Does my 4-year-old Solomon need to hear the F word or take in Hollywood’s weekly gore fest? Probably not. It’s not tremendously enlightening stuff, really, outside of the fact that teens and adults absolutely love to watch things being mangled, burned and blown up. Old-school rapper Heavy D penned this brilliant song titled “Don’t Curse” which challenged great rappers like Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap to compose a rhyme for this song without uttering any swear words. Read more...
Guest writer Dalton Higgins shares a different fatherhood-inspired hip-hop video each day this week
Howdy Bunch familia,
The name is Dalton Higgins – Daddy Dalt, to my friends – and my aim is to take you on my hip-hoppy, digitally-inspired, multi-culti journey through fatherhood, as my fourth book, Fatherhood 4.0: iDad Applications Across Cultures, does. It’s a world where Bill Cosby, George Lopez, Ozzy Osbourne and Barack Obama get equal mention.
I am a Hip-Hop Pop. And what is a Hip-Hop Pop you ask? Well, for starters, it’s time to face facts: it’s a hip-hop world, and you’re just living in it! Hip-Hop Pops like me rap, and we’re receding! Rap dads of my ilk still rock Liberace-style jewelry like our kids want to (with inspiration from Jersey Shore and BET). And we get overly impressed when the president – America’s Big Poppa – uses Jay-Z rhymes in his speeches. The Hip-Hop Pops fraternity is large and growing, and is littered with dads fully tapped into their child’s daily need to listen to Drake and Willow Smith. We act goofy most of the time despite our advanced age. Forget Little Jimmy, it’s all about Lil’ Wayne (Weezy)! Read more...
