Emmanuel Jal’s one of the “Lost Boys” of Sudan, a former child soldier. His mother was killed, and his sister was raped by soldiers by the time he was 9 years old. He’s also a rapper, and instead of the typical fare you might hear in mainstream hip hop, Jal is bringing something very different.
“The music I used to hear was bombs and guns,
So many people die that I don’t even cry no more.
I ask God the question: What am I here for?
Why are my people poor?
I ate snails, roaches rats, frogs — anything that had life.
I know it’s a shame,
But who’s to blame?”
His music has topped the charts in Kenya, and has become popular in Europe. But will an American hip hop audience get it? He has an album coming out soon — we’ll see.
[CNN]
Thank you for posting this. The stories of the Lost Boys are heartbreaking, but offer a lot of hope when you read about the ones who have managed to get out. I look at it like this - if this young man can go through what he did and still be able to salvage his life then the knuckleheads running the streets of our cities can do the same. No hood in America is a bad as what the children of Sudan and other parts of Africa go through. American blacks have no excuse to be where we are in society. The human spirit can overcome anything.
Oh yes, I think that’s called ‘Depressing rap’.
I have more respect for him rapping than some of these clowns out now in America.
Suffering is not quite as interesting as supersoaking hos
^^^LMAO