Why Lou Reed loved rap music (and indirectly represents it)
It shouldn’t be surprising that Lou Reed had a particular fondness for rap music. Rap is an accessible and raw form of protest originating from dancing, artistic expression and poetry. Who is Lou Reed, if not an embodiment of the latter two? (Reed’s dancing ability is yet to be determined). He poured expression into poetry like no other musician has ever been able to, and subsequently, the link between him and rap music is easy to make.
Tracks like ‘Walk On the Wild Side’ do the same thing that a lot of gangster rap that followed did. How Reed holds a mirror up to his surroundings and tells the truth about what he experiences daily reflects the work of Ice Cube, Eazy-E, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
When you listen to the lyrics of ‘Walk On the Wild Side’, as Lou Reed speaks about what a day in New York City is like referencing drugs, prostitutes and blow-jobs, the message is somewhat comparable to, ironically, ‘The Message’. As The Furious Five talk about their experiences in New York, there is a large crossover. Granted, a lot of the song ‘The Message’ is about the plight of people of colour in New York (and America at large), which led to the “A child is born with no state of mind” verse, which set the bar for a lot of conscious rap, but other themes expressed are undoubtedly similar to those Lou Reed sings about.
One artist whom Lou Reed spoke well of (prior to his subsequent downfall) was Kanye West. Reed admired how West blurred lines not only between genres but also between different art forms. Reed went into scrupulous detail when writing about West’s 2013 album Yeezus, as he provides an analysis that can be applied to rap music as a genre.
“Sometimes it’s like a synth orchestra. I’ve never heard anything like it,” he wrote, “I’ve heard people try to do it, but no way, it just comes out tacky. Kanye is there. It’s like his video for ‘Runaway’, with the ballet dancers – it was like, look out, this guy is making connections. You could bring one into the other – ballet into hip-hop – they’re not actually contradictory, and he knew that he could see it immediately.”
He continues, “He obviously can hear that all styles are the same. Somewhere deep in their heart, there’s a connection. It’s all the same shit. It’s all music – that’s what makes him great.”
Interestingly, Reed makes a particular point of highlighting the crossover of genres throughout music. He was privy to this crossover in real-time, as a number of his songs went on to be sampled in what are now iconic rap tracks. ‘Walk On the Wild Side’ ended up being used by A Tribe Called Quest on the now classic, ‘Can I Kick It?’ A beat that many different hip-hop outfits have used since.
Lou Reed understood the humanity contained within music, and as such, he had no problem with different genres so long as they continued to tap into the human element of the art form. He connected with rap music because of rap music’s ability to connect with so many others. As he put it, “It’s all the same shit, it’s all music”. And that’s what makes it great.
A lot of people call Lou Reed “the original rapper”, which is a bogus claim, something he himself poked fun at in the song, ‘The Original Wrapper’. However, the people who make that claim do so because of the clear link between his music and a lot of the rap that followed, not only in its poetic license but the truth behind its lyricism.
The playlist below is not one made by Lou Reed but by Far Out, which we think stands as a representation of how Reed’s influence can be heard in rap music, whether this is done directly or indirectly. It doesn’t mean that all of these rap artists would cite Lou Reed as an influence; rather, the means by which artists like Rou Reed could provide commentary in music was a step towards what eventually became rap music, specifically the expressive and commentary like nature of a lot of rap. Have a listen and see if you can pick it up.
