"Of all the epic heroes to be namechecked in hip-hop lyrics, few are invoked more often than the shepherd David. The appeal of the Old Testament figure who conquered Jerusalem and felled Goliath could scarcely be more obvious: Rappers love warriors and kings, and he is both. He rose from the runt of the litter, faced long odds, silenced his haters and toppled a behemoth, literally becoming the stuff of legend."
"Dave, as he is known mononymously, is more concerned with what happened before David faced Goliath: As the story goes, the king Saul disobeyed God, and the prophet Samuel anointed David to rule in his stead. In the wake of his defiance, Saul was plagued by evil spirits, and a servant suggested he call David in to play the harp for him as a means of relief;"
David functions in hip-hop as a warrior-king and emblematic underdog who defeats overwhelming foes. Rappers invoke his rise from obscurity, victory over giants and the faith that moves immovable obstacles. 50 Cent even compared taking on rap royalty to David confronting Goliath. The biblical episode in 1 Samuel about Saul's disobedience, David's anointing and David calming Saul's torments with the harp is central to Dave's concept. Dave (David Orobosa Michael Omoregie) draws on those verses for The Boy Who Played the Harp, his third album, released after four years and presented as the crown jewel of his discography. Since 2018, he has earned Ivor Novello, Mercury Prize and Brit Award recognition.
Read at www.npr.org
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]