The Perfect Rap Song for Morning Meditation
Ok. New morning. New Day.
Let’s start our morning routine:
Open the window.
Grab the yoga mat.
Light the incense.
Headphones in, but wait…
What song are you going to meditate to?
You could listen to the same morning meditation lo-fi playlist curated by your favorite algorithm or a song that offers a proactive and refreshing reflection on time passed, time now, and time to come, much like the track, “New Day” by Swoope.
2021 saw the release of Swoope’s highly anticipated fifth studio album, 24. The opening track, “New Day”, is a harmony of different sounds with its first half being a colorful mix of jazz, boom-bap, and midwest coast rap, while the latter half brilliantly melts into heavy bass synths, modern Atlanta trap-style instrumentation, and loops that samples the first half of the record. It is the perfect sound for the person that needs a tranquil yet high-energy way to start the morning.
Within the lines of the song, Swoope blends the concepts of fate and free choice. In one line, he raps “Every 24, comes wit’ another chance; one has been allowed to live life once again.” In the last half of the first half of the line he uses the phrase “another chance”. It is purposely left open-ended so that we, the listener, can put ourselves in the shoes of the artist understanding what it is that we are supposed to do with our lotted hours. The first half of this line notes a sense of thankfulness for being granted another 24 hours; the second half of the line ponders the idea of having reverence for the source that provides the coming day.
Plunging deep into the rhetoric often associated with the mantra “blessed”, he contemplates the gift of time from Adonai. In the latter half of his verse, he then begins to correlate cosmic sovereignty with his ability to operate in contemporary culture. He does so by noting the various dichotomies that exist within the history of rap culture of which he is a product of. He raps “Jay-Z over Ye Beats.” This reference is to the early career of Kanye West as a producer creating instrumentals for some of Jay-Z’s now classic work. At the time, many did not perceive Kanye West to be a worthwhile listen, as a rapper because he did not exude the archetypical masculinity that was common in the late 90s and early 2000s, which everything that Jay-Z represented Swoope implies that he is a product of that combination. He later raps, “let yall overlook me, let God overtake me.” Swoope, not so often, has lamented that he has yet to achieve a standard of success that he has seen his peers achieve. As time progressed, he admitted that God worked on his heart and helped him to understand that he may not necessarily be meant to excel from center stage.
The question of human life is by no means absent from anyone. Many ponder what existence is and what purpose has to do with that existence if there is purpose in it at all. Some are more thoroughly convinced that there is a purpose and are, therefore, compelled to fulfill it even if they are not entirely sure what it is. For many Christians, it is common to believe that continued existence here on this Earth is solely to fulfill the purpose of God’s work in some specific form. How better characterized by Swoope’s conviction for not making haste with the time given? “I’m payin’ attention, Spirit, forever wastin’ my time. I’m prayin’ that you forgive me, your grace done gave us more time.” As we listen to the album further we know that he is alluding to much more than just the image of someone who watched too many television shows whilst eating chips. For him, wasting time also alludes to the mistakes that he’s made, taking advantage of the time to do wrong rather than doing things correctly, time used to operate in unforgiveness when he could have been more gracious with people or wasting time by not giving time to people who needed him most. Ultimately, his belief in God holds them to the standard that he should be utilizing his time more ethically and more efficiently for the betterment of himself and others.
Conclusively, Swoope has an interesting dichotomy of understanding who he is as a person who lives and functions but uses his every day as an active reference. Transactionally, it is every reference that amplifies or raises the standard of how he lives his daily life. All of which is a cyclical system that exists within the allotted 24 hours of the day. In this song, Swoopee offers us as The Listener to invest within that system itself by ensuring that we are making the most of the hours given to us whether it be about God or done with a superb level of reverence for life itself as the time we are given is a gift.
Furthermore, if you liked the song “New Day”, I recommend you check out Swoope’s most recent release, 24.
Also, feel free to check out my curated playlist on Spotify, Christian Rap for Kanye West.
Works Cited
Samovar, Larry A., et al. “Chapter 3–4.” Communication between Cultures, Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore, 2017, pp. 71–116.
“Allen Swoope: Hip Hop & Hope.” Performance by Jim Swoope, and Allen Swoope, All That to Say Podcast, YouTube, 1 Mar. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1pNhd8fIow. Accessed 4 Jan. 2022.
“Swoope — New Day.” Genius, https://genius.com/Swoope-new-day-lyrics.
Swoope. “New Day.” Weathrman, Atlanta, Georgia.
