Justin Bieber Rapping

I was going to post something from Watch The Throne, the new-ish collaboration from Jay-Z and Kanye, which has a number of impressive tracks from two of (possibly) the best and biggest rappers of our generation. But in the past few days a YouTube video has surfaced of Justin Bieber freestyling to "Otis," one of the tracks from Watch The Throne. This ties in with some of our discussion about Tv shows and movies last week due to its popularity just from hitting YouTube. No one I know actually heard this on the radio program he was originally on; everyone has spread it through YouTube and Facebook.

Here's the link to Justin doing his "free-style": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MypCNTQaksY

I put quotes around free-styling because, as you can see/hear it seems a bit too polished and flows too well to be completely on-the-spot. But honestly, I think the little guy does pretty well for a teen pop idol who usually sings to thirteen-year-old girls. I think it's interesting that his lyrics seem to be so much more grown-up once he is put over a track originally featuring two huge rappers. He mentions buying huge diamond necklaces and his girl wanting to "get up under" him, which are lyrics very similar to what Ye and Hov have used in previous tracks.

Even if it is something he planned beforehand, I think Justin deserves more respect for branching out and attempting to reach a new audience/do something different. He's clearly attempting to redefine himself since he's growing up and his voice is getting a lot deeper than it was when he first gained fame (see him in Baby, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kffacxfA7G4&ob=av2e).

His freestyle speaks to the fact that in order to gain fame and then keep fame, musicians have to adapt to what people are demanding and change to reach new listeners. He (or his publicists) recognize that he's got to keep moving if he wants to stay in the game.