By Jessica Booth
For years, rappers have constantly been under scrutiny for violent song lyrics that glorify a criminal lifestyle. It has been a question of debate on the effects these lyrics have on the kids that listen to them.
While many people have tried to put a stop to these rappers, someone has now taken a different approach-Christian rapper Lavoisier. Through Internet exposure on Web sites such as YouTube and Myspace, Lavoisier has been exposing hip-hop artists as liars and hypocrites and urging kids not to listen to these lies.
Lavoisier, who is also known as “The Rap Terrorist,” hails from Brooklyn, New York, where he grew up living a lifestyle similar to those portrayed by today’s rappers. He was introduced to hip-hop at the age of six by his older brother, who was later murdered on the streets.
Lavoisier grew up without a family, and turned to a life of crime. He was involved with gangs, drug dealing and robberies. At age 14, he began writing song lyrics because it helped him deal with all of the difficult things he had going on.
Lavoisier began turning to God for help and found a much better way of handling things-religion.
“I started seeing questions I didn’t even think there were answers to, but I was finding them in the Bible,” Lavoisier says. “I just became convinced about what I was reading.”
He soon became a Christian rapper, and his music today is centered around God and how to deal with the struggles of everyday life. Not only does Lavoisier preach about God and Christianity, but he also teaches kids that rappers today are liars and that their music is usually not real.
Lavoisier made a 15-minute documentary where he interviews sixth- and seventh-grade Brooklyn students about what they think about rappers today. His documentary brings up several interesting points and questions, and also directly points out several rappers, such as 50 Cent and T.I. The video quickly gained popularity and just 48 hours after it was posted on YouTube got about 10,000 views.
“A lot of people watching the video don’t know I’m a rapper, they just think I’m some guy,” Lavoisier says. “In hip-hop the first question is, who do you think you are? You question my credibility, let’s question your credibility. I had to begin to address these lifestyles, and these frontin and these fakings.”
In the documentary, Lavoisier asks the students if they think that rappers today are real, and most of the students say they don’t think that they are. He claims that rappers are liars because of one of two things: either they don’t do any of the things they claim to do in their lyrics; or they do, and when pressed by the media about it, say that they don’t.
“People say to me that rappers aren’t fake, but people aren’t really listening to what I’m saying,” Lavoisier says. “I’m not saying that they’re fake gangsters. What I’m saying is that you can’t be a gangster and a good person. Rappers try to say ‘I’m a good person, look at what I do.’ I say that you can’t have it both ways.” Therefore, they are putting out a false image that many kids think is real and are trying to emulate.
When asked if they think rap music has a negative influence on kids today, every single student in the room raised their hands “yes.” Lavoisier asks the students why they listen to rap music if they know that it is just going to negatively affect them, and the students respond by saying they just like the beats. Lavoisier seems to be trying to make the point that rap music does indeed have a negative impact on children.
“My focus is on the music and the children, and getting music into their heads that gives them something else to chew on, like that reading is cool,” Lavoisier says.
“They lying to somebody. Either they lying to you on the records or they lying to the media to protect their identity,” Lavoisier says during the documentary.
He finishes the video by claiming that rappers are the biggest hypocrites out there. They rap about living such violent lifestyles and then say that their music is purely for entertainment.
Lavoisier is currently doing interviews, appearances and seminars so that he can get his message across to as many people as possible. He is committed to exposing the top rap artists as liars and hypocrites. He seems to be creating quite a following. It appears that maybe the best person to try to help the rap music industry is a rapper himself.
Rapper Lavoisier setting the record straight. (AGMLLC)