Entering the World of Deaf (Not Def) Hip-Hop Posted by Nathan S. on 03/12/13 | Filed under Opinion, General Awesomeness

RefinedHype Nation should know by now that the good folks over at TSS are compadres. Great minds think alike, so when they drop a headline like "Of Course You Want To Watch Drake’s “Started From The Bottom” Performed In Sign Language", my response is yes, yes I do.

It turns out watching people sign hip-hop is pretty ill. It makes sense, a lot of rappers "talk" with their hands while they rap, and deaf rappers take that style to the fullest extent. In fact, I was willing to bet that there's an entire world of deaf (not "def") hip-hop worth checking out, and if you're looking for a portal to a world you previously didn't know existed, you turn to YouTube.

I thought I'd start with the same dude who did the "Started From the Bottom", turns out "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe" is also dope as fuck in sign language:



But those are just sign language interpretations, it turns out that there's a world of deaf rap for deaf people out there, and just like hip-hop as a whole, it runs the spectrum from conscious backpackers to hustler music:




Fair warning, it's pretty easy to get sucked into a YouTube vortex and before you know it, you've spent the last two hours of your life listening/watching deaf hip-hop. But beyond the fact that it's generally awesome to see hip-hop really transcend boundaries, watching a lot of sign language rap starts to force you to revise your idea of "flow".

For example, check this dude out:



For someone speaking, there aren't enough words per bar for the flow to work, but if you can wrap your head around the idea of "watching" the music instead of listening to it, his flow's dope as hell. (And no, I swear I'm not stoned.)

It's shit like this, shit's that removed from the daily hype grind, that really makes me remember why I love hip-hop in the first place. Hopefully it'll do the same for you, enjoy...