Nina by Rapsody (2019)

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Marlanna Evans (born January 21, 1983), best known as Rapsody, is an American rapper from Snow Hill, North Carolina. Her album Laila's Wisdom has won two Grammy Award nominations for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song.

The philosophy of Rapsody is "Culture Over Everything," which refers to the culture of hip-hop music. She explains this term in an interview with Vibe Magazine, where she said, "To me, it’s about culture more so than money or anything. I make music for the people of the culture we’re in; that comes first. If you touch the people first, the rest just falls into place. That’s what it means to me, just preserving and respecting the culture." [1]

Key Lyrics

Rapsody's "Eve" Album Cover

“I am Nina and Roberta, the one you love but ain't heard of

Got my middle finger up like Pac after attempted murder

Failed to kill me, it's still me, woke up singing Shirley Murdock

As we lay these edges down, brown women, we so perfect[2]

Black Women Empowerment

With Eve's recently released third album, Rapsody has proved once again that she's a league ahead of anyone in her path. The North Carolina emcee wields a 16-track armored pen – equal parts of a black woman's appreciation, a black history lesson, a beat-driven witticism, and a literary swag. As she recently explained to NPR, "I had a concept: I want to make an album and name every song after a black woman because I'm an extension of every black woman." [3]

As well as an album title that refers to the first woman in the Bible ('Eve'), each track is named after a single inspiring black woman – Nina, Oprah, Aaliyah, and Michelle Obama among them. Rapsody uses these women's legacies as a springboard to tackle larger concepts of adversity, self-confidence, and achievement, showcasing the same deft lyricism that made Kendrick Lamar one of her fans back before visiting his 2015 album To Pimp a Butterfly. [4]

Rapsody's immersive 'Nina' video channels Black culture on a haunting survival anthem. The song from Rapsody's latest album, Eve, shows Nina Simone's classic Billie Holliday cover "Strange Fruit" as a soundtrack for Rapsody's inspiring bars and punishing punchlines. The video features North Carolina MC walking along the sunset beach in a flowing white dress and spitting bars at a photoshoot, juxtaposing pictures of her songs with literal, split-screen images.

Eve's unifying theme surrounds the praise of prominent Black women throughout history', from ancient queens to modern-day supermodels and pioneering athletes, with contributions from The GZA, Leikeli47, Queen Latifa.[5]

Ultimately, "Nina" is a song about resistance in the face of turmoil, especially Black women - as expressed directly in the lyrics "Failed to kill me, it's still me, woke up singing Shirley Murdock / As we lay these edges down, brown women, we so perfect." [6]

Reference

  1. Rapsody. en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved on Feb 4, 2021.
  2. Nina. genius.com. Retrieved on Feb 4, 2021.
  3. Cakes, B. ‘Ibtihaj’ & ‘Nina’ Show That Rapsody Is Every Black Woman. soulbounce.com. Retrieved on Feb 4, 2021.
  4. Cliff, Aimee. Rapsody: Eve review – inspiring rap celebration of women of colour. August 23, 2019. theguardian.com. Retrieved on Feb 4, 2021.
  5. Williams, Aaron. Rapsody’s Surreal ‘Nina’ Video Channels Black History For A Haunting Survival Anthem. August 23, 2019. uproxx.com. Retrieved on Feb 4, 2021.
  6. Wang, Oliver. We Insist: A Century Of Black Music Against State Violence. June 26, 2020. npr.org. Retrieved on Feb 4, 2021.