Rappers today are seen as the best there ever was. Every time a popular rapper comes out with a new album, everyone seems to love it. It seems that most people don’t even care what's on the album, they just like it because it’s from a popular rap artist. It feels like all those popular rappers rap about the same thing. I know, everyone who doesn’t like popular rappers say that all the time. However if it’s said all the time then doesn't it make sense that it's true? For me, the best and most underrated rapper is Watsky. This is only my personal opinion though, I am not writing this to force people to like his music. I am writing this because I feel he deserves much more recognition than he has now. The things I will be talking about is the history of Watsky, how he actually raps about the challenges in his life, and how he is underrated. I will mainly be focusing on his 2009 album “Watsky.” There is a very similar album to this one called “Guilty Pleasures.” It has the same songs except, but all the songs are a different version. “Guilty Pleasures” is the newer version. I chose this album because it’s his first, so he was new and inexperienced but still great. It’s also not his newest so he is still getting better and learning.
Watsky has a come a long way to get where he is today. He didn't always think he was going to be a rapper. According to Katie Sharp, in an article from Music.Mic on June 24 2014, Watsky began getting in trouble a lot for speaking out in his ninth grade english class. His teacher suggested he channel his frequent interjections into a local program called Youth Speaks. Watsky then tried poetry, but sometimes it was difficult because of a lisp he has. So he then started to practice rap, he used the same skills he used in his slam poems to rap. Then suddenly a video on YouTube starring Watsky himself called “Pale Kid Raps Fast,” which is now renamed, appeared. Watsky didn’t think it was going to be anything big. That’s what he thought at least, because then he was on Ellen. The video racked up more than 20 million views, which then caught Ellen Degeneres’s attention. He became very popular very quick.  However people still thought he didn't really have a career, no path ahead of him. Yet, he still released more videos and started gaining fans. Soon enough he released his first album “Watsky.” Before this album was released Watsky  had a lot of personal struggles to overcome, which I think made it great.
One of Watsky’s challenges was his lisp. A lisp is where letters of words are pronounced like other letters. For example, a “s” may be pronounced like “th” in the word thing. This can be be very difficult in just regular everyday talking. Now imagine trying to talk very fast on a beat with that same lisp. He has learned to overcome his lisp. I’m not saying it's inaudible, but to compare it with his older music to his newer, it probably wouldn't even be noticeable. Another obstacle Watsky had to leap, was the girl he was in love with played him. I know, it’s not that big of a deal, it happens to a lot of people. However this girl ended up playing not only him, but playing his friend too. She used both of them for her benefit only. Watsky then moved on from her, but then when he got on tv she insisted they get together sometime. She then proceeded to stand him up on one of their dates. He actually wrote a song about this called “The Girl Next Door” on the album “Watsky”. Those things are somewhat common or have happened to people before. The next thing I’m going to talk about is something not as common. That thing is seizures, Watsky had struggled some seizures in his lifetime. A seizure is like a sudden attack of an illness, which can cause someone to convolute or have spasms. According to Watsky himself he has 4 seizures in his life. He assumes things that trigger them are caused by aerobic exercise or long distance running. Some of these seizures have also been recent, as recent as 2014. However he was teased at school for having these seizures. He was often called seizure boy at school. In fact he also wrote a song about this called “Seizure Boy” on the same album, “Watsky”. Even with all these struggles Watsky still  managed to come out with great music.
Watsky is one of my favorite rappers. Others may think he’s the worst and others might not even know about him. I believe he is the most underrated rapper of his time. Yes, he has been on tv and that gave him some recognition. However a lot of other people have been on tv for far less important things and gotten much more recognition. I think he is not as popular as other rappers is simple because he’s not like all the other rappers today. He doesn’t rap about the same thing as all the others. Also I believe a lot of the popular rappers are almost mumbling and slurring the lyrics together. Another reason I feel Watsky is underrated is because one of the fastest rappers, yet not a lot of people care. Yes, there is some rappers faster than him, yet they go so fast to the point where you can’t understand them. Sure it’s pretty impressive but it’s not music. He’s also different from other rappers because he actually makes sense. His music tells a story and isn’t just a bunch of words that rhyme strung together, then layered over a beat. His lyrics actually talk. Now I’m not going to say his songs are curse free, however when he does curse he uses it where it makes sense. Again I am going to go back to the other popular rappers. They seem the just swear anywhere in the song even when it doesn’t make sense. To make more sense of all that I think he is underrated because he is popular and different. People don’t like different things because they feel like they won’t fit in or be popular.
Watsky started as a trouble making, slam poet with a lisp and seizures. He then had a moment of glory.  He got on tv for a video on YouTube that gained more than 20 million views. He gained fans and eventually came with his first album. On that album he rapped about the personal struggles he had and how he overcame them. Watsky now has 6 albums, his newest one came out in 2016. Watsky is one of the most underrated rapper of his time. He’s not known as well as others because he’s different. Watsky started as a slam poet with a lisp and seizures. Now Watsky is an underrated and an extremely talented artist with a lisp and seizures.