In a world where hip hop is pop
It’s cool to run away from a cop.
Easier to get a lean bitch
Far harder to be like Screech.
Crashing at mama’s, eating apple caramel
Day and night jobless spitting like a camel.
That bomb ass break will supply me bling
Education is useless for those who sing.
Seems easy enough, even I can do it,
Clap your hands now, if you’re down with it.
“Anybody can rap,” says Zareh Zatikian, better known on the microphone as Capital Z.
“I rapped [see above], and it is not good at all. The point is I did it because I could.” Most aspiring rappers these days lack skill in making music and/or writing lyrics. Furthermore, they advance their stupidity by hollering about absolutely nothing and ruining their futures while doing so.
This story is not about them.
This story is about two Armenian men whose voices are heard in the underground rap scene and it can be said that their voices are a bit too loud for MTV. To add icing on the cake, both proudly call themselves Bruins.
Capital Z and Armin Hariri, also known as R-Mean – the guy on that one genocide record that put tears on my mama’s face –have pursued an education while making beautiful music.
As young boys in love with music, education always came in second place for Cap Z and R-Mean. Today, education continues to take a backseat in the lives of these men who consider music as their remedy and outlet to life’s biggest obstacles.
“Without music, it’s not gonna [sic] work,” says R-Mean sitting at Kerckhoff Deck. However, he hesitantly admits that without education it’s not easy either.
“Not that I loved school, not that I really cared. It was always like if I just do that then I am cool with her [his mother], and then I do my own thing too.”
Pleasing his mother was easy for him. All he did was get a degree in Physiological Sciences from UCLA, and then continue his education at Loma Linda University School of Pharmacy in hopes of one day being the guy to provide you with your marijuana refill.
“Hopefully, marijuana would be legalized by then,” he says jokingly.
Growing up Capital Z was not crazy about school either. He regrettably states, “If I could go back to high school, I would be like the valedictorian, I would play football, I would join all the clubs, I would just be so involved.”
He accomplished none of these while in high school, but after his best friend lost his life, Zareh’s perspective on life changed. “I wanted to set an example, because I have a lot of younger fans… I wanted them to know that education is very important so they don’t end up drug dealers and gang members, hustlers for their whole life.”
While setting an example, Zareh enrolled at Pasadena City College earning a near perfect GPA landing him at UCLA. Currently majoring in Sociology, Zareh hopes to become an entertainment lawyer.
Maintaining high GPA was just a task on the side for R-Mean. His main concentration has been making good music for quite awhile already. After working on his music for years with good friends Blind and Teo, R-Mean dropped his freshman album titled Broken Water. The album is a reference to childbirth, which stands for the birth of R-Mean’s music.
Besides in the title, the feminine allusion is evident throughout the album, from songs for his mother to concerns over abortion to the constant flirtation with infidelity. Moreover, R-Mean insists that his music is inspired by “Everything I go through, everything I see, people around me go through.”
Understanding what every Armenian goes through on April 24, in his song “Open Wounds” from Broken Water, R-Mean manages to create the anthem on behalf of our generation demonstrating what we feel when observing our past as the descendants of people who went through genocide.
Right off the bat, Zareh gives one the feeling that he should be a social educator rather than a rapper. However, he is both at the same time. Throughout his music, Cap Z alludes to the injustices in the world. In his songs “F.U.C.K.” and “Bullshit” he literally spells out all that is afflicted in our world.
Like any human, Zareh admits, “I’ll talk about what pisses me off, and like about problems; but I don’t really have solutions.”
One thing that Zareh’s songs have is the maturity that is lacking in the mainstream hip-hop: he represents who he is without trying to be something he’s not. The realness of his thoughts and his precise accounts of our society hit home. And as R-Mean says, “That’s kind of what hip-hop’s missing.”
“R-Mean and Human (another great Armenian rapper, unfortunately not a Bruin) are two of the best lyricists…compared to the whole rap game, not just the Armenians,” Capital Z says when asked about his favorite rappers.
Armin and Zareh have made enormous contributions to the Los Angeles hip-hop scene. Their biggest: being great role models for the Armenian youth. Their talent has bestowed upon them great popularity in our community and they have managed to use this for good. Just in the past month, R-Mean performed in a Hurricane Katrina benefit concert while Capital Z performed on his own behalf to gather toys for The Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and A.H.F.
Their greatest contribution is one that they may not even notice. Statistics have shown that Armenian students in the greater Los Angeles area have a very high rate of either dropping out of or not continuing their education after high school. Seeing R-Mean and Capital Z at school is encouraging for the youngsters.
Zareh puts it best, “Younger Armenian males, they need to listen to somebody they respect.”
Zareh released his album titled The Unsigned Hero early September of 2006 and is working on releasing another one in early 2007.
R-Mean will have an album out in 2007 as well, which will be titled Born Naked, an appropriate title following his lyrically powerful Broken Water. Expect a mix-tape produced by DJ Mega Man prior to the album release.
As their musical careers strongly progress, so do their studies at school. Maybe one day R-Mean and Capital Z will be one of the best-known rappers around, or perhaps in the future, Dr. Hariri will stand behind the drug store counter while the Channel 2 News announces how Mr. Zatikian was able to get yet another acquittal for the notorious Snoop Dogg. We can’t be sure as to what will happen, but either scenario is equally inspirational.
No comments:
Post a Comment