Greetings, music lovers. We have an exciting new rap ingénue to tell you about, but before we go for the big reveal, let’s go through a short rundown of the genre’s history, shall we?
Music historians have traced the roots of rap to West Africa, where village storytellers would rhythmically recant tales over drum beats, slaves coming to the New World brought this same tradition to the Americas.
Fast forward to the 20th century (phew!), you’ve got early pioneers like DJ Hollywood paving the way for rap’s first mainstream hit, Rapper’s Delight by the Sugarhill Gang.
Then came De La, Tribe, Rakim, KRS-One, Public Enemy, NWA, Biggie, Tupac, Big L, MC Lyte, Gang Starr, Black Star, Nas, Jay-Z, Lil Kim, Remy Ma, Eminem, Kanye, et al.
Speed up again to today, and anyone with a social media account, decent Wi-Fi and the ability to recite a series of words written by someone else quickly can call themselves a rapper without much resistance. It’s 2018, and we’ve got bigger fish to fry.
With that in mind, we’re pleased to inform you that Malaysian model-slash-actress-slash-television presenter Amelia Henderson is dipping her toes into the rap arena, and has been spending the better part of the last week uploading several clips to her Instagram account illustrating her flow.
Do you like watching the painfully awkward moments in the classic British television series The Inbetweeneers? If so, click on these posts, reader!
If you can’t handle the cringe, but wish to understand the scope, just envisage the rapping embodiment of an above-average Zumba dancer, giving it all she’s got to Don Omar at your local gym.
The 22-year-old was married to Malaysian royal Tunku Harrunnarasheed Putra Tunku Annuar two years ago; however, in recent months, their union has been plagued by rumors of separation.
With all of this drama and potential material, we honesty can’t think of a better time to launch a burgeoning rap career.
Earlier today, she tweeted this less than cryptic message to her followers:
open your ears before you open your mouth 🙃
— anggun zahara (@ameliath) August 15, 2018
We’ve listened: While a lot of things seem to be currently lacking from her stage presence (bravado, braggadocio, aforementioned flow, original rhymes, identifiable style, consistent diction), the most important missing element is: A NAME.
Amelia needs a rap name if all this rhyming is going to keep clogging our feed, so we’re here to help her out. We’ve written a few suggestions below, but welcome readers to add their own contributions.
Ms Henderson, feel free to use any of these. As much as we like to put a price on our creativity, in some cases we’re willing to dish out the freebies for the greater good.
Here we go:
Vanilla Feist
Busted Rhymes
Notorious OOTD
Iggy Amelia
MC HighLyte
Tardy C (full disclosure: This suggestion came from a Coconuts KL friend)
Readers — hit us up with your suggestions in the comments section!
Reader Interactions