English Meets Punjabi
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English meets Punjabi
In recent years pop and rap musicians have been collaborating with many artists that have different musical backgrounds like rock and metal. The new trend nowadays has been an influence from the Middle East with many songs having belly dancing beats in the background. The song I have chosen to discuss is a collaboration between Jay Z and Panjabi MC, the single is called “Beware of the boys” and it features a mixture of bhangra beats and a sample from the 80s hit television show, Knight Rider. The mixture of both sounds is something that had never been heard of before this collaboration and makes for a very interesting song.
Sean Carter or known as Jay Z to his fans is a multy-platinum, world famous rap artist with record sales of over a million, had never previously done anything like this collaboration. Jay and Panjabi MC were hooked up through their managers after Jay heard some of Panjabis work while on vacation. Jay brings an American hip hop vibe to the song and on the other hand Panjabi Mc brings bhangra beats. Bhangra is a traditional style of music, whose main components are comprised of the dhol, tumbi and Punjabi lyrics. It is said that Bhangra was started in the 14th or 15th century when farmers would come home after the harvest. After the harvest the farmers would celebrate the long months of hard work with bhangra which meant dancing to drum beats and even singing. The song itself has a very special sound to it, the track starts off in English with Jay Z rapping and then Panjabi MCs lyrics, which are sung in Punjabi the words mean Translated, are a warning to a 16-year-old girl to be leery of guys who are trying to take her innocence. “Be careful of the boys/ Youve only just grown up./ Its not your fault that youve got beautiful eyes/ Once youve realized this, you will become shy/ Look after your youth/ This time wont come again.”