The 9th Wonder Touch

Why is 9th always mean mugging? Anyway...

While some people are thinking this is baby making weather (it's mighty cold and rainy and friggin' annoying in Joburg today), guess what I was thinking? Time for some feel good music! Not the going-to-the-club-freakum-dress-wearing-lipgloss-popping kind of jams. The chicken soup for your soul type stuff. So, naturally, I thought of 9th Wonder.

Then that led to me wondering about Jean Grae.



And whether signing with Kweli killed her career. I mean, it's not like 9th is the only dope producer who has chemistry with a rapper to the point that he knows how to bring said rapper's work up from good to great, right? Maybe he is. Just listen to this:



Isn't that great?

To this day Jean is still dope. But is Rapsody, 9th's new signee to his label, It's A Wonderful World/Jamla, filling her shoes. Wait, wait, wait feminists! Allow me to explain. Had Jean just continued working with 9th, would there be a greater chance of her making the music that actually reaches people and isn't confined to the players of rap blogs?

Would people consider her a fully-fledged artist and not just an underground rapper who enjoys more than her fair share of Henny? Yes, I know Jeanie existed way before she stomped on a 9th Wonder beat. And she was dope then. But what about elevation? Maybe my definition is different.

But look at Rapsody


Pretty isn't she? But that's not the point.

Aside from being the very first artist signed to 9th's label, she's been quoted as saying she wants to be the next Jay-Z. That she wants to be a role model to black girls and be what MC Lyte and L-Boogie woulda been had they stayed in the industry and continued making albums. But, with these sort of rhymes, can she do it?



See, Rapdiddy, as she's affectionately called, has a unique opportunity in that she is not just an artist on a label roster. She's also said in interviews, that she spent two or three years prior to being signed just learning from 9th. Being the lecturer that he is, it's safe to say that he's taught her a thing or two about making music.

But - and this is where Rapsody under 9th Wonder and Jean under 9th differ for The Ordinary Girl - Rapsody doesn't sound like a spitter. She sounds like she could learn the formula and become a success but I'm not sure if she's moving me right now. When Dude first introduced me to her sound a few months ago, he played me A Man's World. And I wasn't feeling her on that either. Perhaps it was the title that put me off. But I've since heard more material and I just can't fall in love. And maybe that will change but for today, we return to The Dream Merchant Vol 1.