By Anuoluwapo Bamiro, Columnist
Welcome Back to “What’s Up with Anuolu.” Fresh from National Poetry Month, my mind is still thinking in rhyme. So, in this column, I think it is interesting to highlight the similarities between poetry and rap. The similarities between these different genres can be seen among people that have the true gift of gab. The first time I remember connecting the two consciously was in college. In one of my writing classes, we had a project where we could pick any piece of writing in our anthology and make it our own. I choose to do my project on Mos Def’s Hip-Hop. After that, I bought Tupac’s The Rose That Grew from Concrete. I realized that my love for rap was far deeper than the music; the artist’s pen and the way they were speaking poetry changed the way I would listen to music. Now, it is impossible for me to listen to songs without focusing on the lyrics and story that the artist is portraying.
I am highlighting Los Angeles Native Milania. I have watched some of her spoken word performances, and enjoyed her amazing songs, she is nothing less than amazing. She has been writing since she was seven years old. She is a phenomenal rapper, writer, poet, and spoken word artist. She’s one of those artists that can not only combine poetry in her rap just like her favorite artists Tupac, Lauryn Hill, and J. Cole, but the combination of all three in her music is also undeniable. Her spoken word performances and her written poetry are just as incredible. Her favorite poets of all time are Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, and Maya Angelou and when she allows you a glimpse of her pen understand it is a blessing. So we are going to end this columnwith a poem from one of my favorite people ever Milania. The title is “Come Get Me.”
I can’t meet you where you at no more
N**** come get me
You too busy worried bout what Arie do for moneybag
What did you get me
You done cracked me up so many times and still couldn’t be the Bobby if I was Whitney
Yo mama know damn well you light years away from being a Dwayne
But you Lucky m********** you
Gotchu a Whitley
I can’t meet you where you at no more
N**** come get me
Gas $5.00 what you mean pull up
Yo s***** mind needs just that
A pull up
Condoms $5 rt what you mean we don’t need one
Multiply a year and a half worth of pull ups
You not worth an ultrasound
My voice is voluminous
I’m extra Loud
You hit one lick and been wearing the same chains for 3 years talmbout you gotta watch a b**** for clout
Ooh Chile when I say yo head up in the clouds
I can’t meet you where you at no more
N**** come get me
How the fuck we in the same room
Yet I feel empty
You know what I gotta do
I have to be honest and say
You are not doing enough
My mind wonders what’s it’s like to be with a man who loves
That’s why I can ignore your touch
I express my need for a good relationship
Then you turn around and ask well what about us
N**** you doing too much
I can’t meet you where you at no more
N**** come get me
One thing y’all always have is the audacity
To blame a Black woman for your shortcomings
That is Blasphemy
Calling yourself a king as though you are allowed to walk all over me with no regard
Yet I am a Queen so you know the nerve of me
I’m cutting off any n**** that goes against the grain moving sacrilegiously
God only over me
On earth I am your religion see
Then you wanna give me that wack a** d***and wonder why you can’t pull a n** out me
While you were scrolling
You should’ve been studying
I can’t meet you where you at no more
N**** come get me
And oh no
I’m not mad
I’m not angry
It’s just that you can’t truly love me because I’m a black woman
Therefore I can’t trust that you would loosen the noose
Hell you might be the one to hang me
Beat my body like butchered and hanged meat
You ain’t really gang see
A bite into the truth have you gain green
I’ll make yo a** sick
Hate being called a b****
But I’m that b**** so
I can’t meet you where you at no more
N**** do you get me?
