Lines express romantic feelings. On “Dry Your Eyes” the rapper honors his mom, who went to prison for an unnamed offense when he was 15. Kingston mourns social ills such as murder, fatherlessness and kids selling drugs, wishing he could engineer “Change.”
Mild profanities appear throughout (an s-word gets censored). One of the culprits is “Beautiful Girls,” on which the artist alludes to a criminal past and claims to be suicidal over a female. “Got No Shorty” is all about clubbing, drinking and lusting after women with big derrieres. He ogles another man’s date and invites her to be his one-night stand (“I Can Feel It”). The urban empowerment anthem “Little Drummer Boy” finds him leading a militant army of kids into war. The autobiographical “Dry Your Eyes” unapologetically relates selling drugs after Mom was jailed, saying, “I’ma keep hustlin’ for my mommy until I get rich like Puffy.” On “Your Sister” Kingston heartlessly dumps a girl in favor of her hotter, more willing sibling (“If I’m wrong, I don’t wanna be right … I’m over you”).
Raised in Jamaica, 17-year-old Kisean Anderson (aka Sean Kingston) has been touted as a positive rap alternative. Huh? He may resist graphic language and thug violence, but he flirts with all the same vices. For truly positive rap and reggae, encourage teens to check out the Christian groups Grits and Christafari, respectively.
After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.
