The Philosophies of Maxo Kreamby Harry Hawkins66
For many years, hip-hop has been the most popular genre of music in America,especially amongst younger Americans. But due to common and often racialstereotypes of the genre, whether or not rap music’s influence on society hasbeen positive or negative has been a point of public debate.After Kendrick Lamar’s performance of his hit song “Alright” during the 2015Black Entertainment Television Awards, Fox News anchor Geraldo Riveracriticized the performance on-air and even went as far as to state that, “hiphop has done more damage to young African-Americans than racism in recentyears,” arguing that the song’s message was “counterproductive”. Rivera’sstatement was especially strange considering that the message of the songwas one of overcoming hardships related to racism and police brutality, anddid not seem to contain any messages that could easily be interpreted asbeing counterproductive — unless, of course, one holds the belief that racismand police brutality are not real issues.Rivera and other critics of modern rap decry politically charged lyrics that donot align with their worldview, revealing their discomfort with acknowledgingeither opposing perspectives, or facts about reality. They determine thatlyrics referring to topics like drug dealing and gun violence are automatically“glorifying,” and are therefore worthy of condemning. But the reality is, manyrap artists are not glorifying things like crime and violence, they instead givethe listener a look into their past or present which can often include suchtopics.While artists such as Kendrick are generally regarded as being exceptionallyphilosophical and enlightening with their songwriting, withKendrick even winning a Pulitzer Prize for his album Damn.in 2017, many rap artists with different styles who sharetheir own valuable stories and perspectives are notseen in that same light by much of the public.Maxo Kream is a rapper from Houston, Texaswho is one of the best examples of an artistwho shares powerful insights into his ownpast in a unique way that separates himfrom the pack. Maxo Kream broke onto thescene in 2011 after releasing a freestyle overthe trumpet-heavy beat from “Rigamortus”,the Kendrick classic from his debut studioalbum Section 80. Maxo Kream did not lethis newfound popularity go to waste, and hequickly captured fans with his one-of-a-kindflow and illustrative stories about his dark past.He has released many popular songs in his career:“Roaches,’’ where he describes himself desperatelytrying to make it home to help his family who almostdied in Hurricane Harvey; “Meet Again” which tackles thechallenges surrounding having close friends locked up in jail;“Mama’s Purse” where he grapples with regretful memories of stealing moneyfrom his mother, and how there is no amount of money alone that he can giveto ever pay her back for everything she’s done for him.I first heard Maxo Kream’s music in 2019 when Spotify radio started playing“Work,” the intro to his 2018 album Punken. I was immediately struck byMaxo’s creative storytelling, but what won me over was the incredible beatswitch halfway through the track, which to this day is one of my favorites,especially because it leads into an unbelievably catchy, fast-paced, andpowerful final verse. The song can be a bit jarring on first listen as MaxoKream does not sugarcoat his experiences and gives the listener an honestlook into the harsh realities that he had to face growing up, as well as thehardships that his family went through in order to survive in their environment.I have been a fan of Maxo ever since; I kept the song in rotation for years, andwith every listen I became more and more focused on the deeper meaningsbehind these lyrics I have heard so many times before.As an economics and philosophy major, I have a certain way of listening tothese lyrics and analyzing them on a level that many would argue is, “thinkingtoo deep about it.” But I firmly believe that this is not the case. Even if MaxoKream did not deliberately intend for some of these messages to be takenaway from this song, the evidence is all laid out for the listener to come towell-supported philosophical conclusions themselves, and we must all acceptthat part of what makes creative expression so special is that a piece of artis not limited to what the artist intends for you to take away from it. With thatbeing said, let’s take a look at some of the lyrics from “Work” that carry a lot“Trap philosophy,, Maxo Socrates. capeesh.” -maxo kreamof weight. They should help any listener gain a better understanding of thecomplicated way we must view morality for people like Maxo, who grow up indangerous and impoverished neighborhoods with few resources to make itout. At the end of the first verse where Maxo Kream touches on topics such ashiding stashes of drugs and scamming people at a very young age, he says:Used to ask my brother why he cook with baking sodaTold me I won’t understand this life until I’m olderThis ignorance Maxo Kream displays while seeing his brother using bakingsoda to cook crack cocaine can be taken literally as a child-like curiosityregarding the use of baking soda, as well as symbolically to show how a youngMaxo, like many others, did not understand his family members’ drug dealinglifestyle. His older brother recognizes that Maxo at the time was too youngto understand what was going on around him, but suggests that he too isdestined to follow in his footsteps eventually, and will understand then.Broke as hell we had to manage, chicken noodle, syrup sandwichJu, Medulla, Josh, and Alex, had no beds, we slept on palletsDaddy was a swiper and my mama was a boosterCousin Pooh, he was a killer, all my uncles, they some losersHere, Maxo Kream describes the harsh conditions he and his family had toface while in poverty. Being broke and lacking basic comfort and security isa traumatizing experience, and Maxo and his family resort to lives of crimein order to prevent themselves from falling deeper into poverty. Maxo listshis family members and the criminal lifestyles that they lead as theironly way to make money, and we see that from his perspective,the people around him seem to be given two options: eitherbecome a criminal, or become a loser like his uncles.This is where morality becomes difficult to assess. Thecrimes that his family commits are all considered tobe immoral actions, but if they do not have otherways to make money or eat that day, then are theseactions any less immoral? The severe discomfortthat comes with a life of poverty is traumatic, andany human would do everything they can to avoidbeing put back into that situation if they can help it.So can any person privileged enough to have neverexperienced poverty make any meaningful claimsabout Maxo Kream and his family’s morality? Wouldanyone claiming that they would do differently in theirshoes be giving themselves an unfair and undeservingamount of credit? Some would presumably argue thatcriminality is wrong no matter the circumstances, and thatMaxo and his family have flaws in their character that causethem to make excuses for not focusing on education or finding legalemployment to support themselves in a moral way. As we see in the rest ofthe track, however, this argument begins to fall apart, and Maxo’s options forlegally making money appear limited and unclear:See the streets is all I knew, pimps and prostitutesI never owned a suit, I was known to shootThis part of the song answers why Maxo Kream resorted to illegal anddangerous methods of supporting his family. As somebody who grew uparound former officers in the military, doctors, nurses, and teachers, I sawmany paths to legal employment and a future for myself, while also having thefinancial support from my family to pursue those paths. An ignorant person inmy shoes could easily criticize Maxo and others for not pursuing a career as adoctor or a teacher, but this is closed-minded and neglects the simple fact thatthe path to those professions was simply not part of Maxo’s worldview.Maxo grew up in a bubble, as many people do, where he did not see manyoptions to make a life for himself outside of street life, which was all he hadever known. One of the main reasons that he cannot leave the streets is thesheer lack of resources he had to do so, and his line about never owninga suit illustrates that point. Not owning a suit is just one example of howthe professional and corporate world has barriers to entry, barriers thatsystematically keep people like Maxo from entering that world and preventingentire communities from getting a solid footing to economically benefit futuregenerations.67
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