Podcast #35 – Francis Aaron – Rapping against the woke (part 2)

If you haven’t, listen to part one (Podcast 34) of this conversation first.

Francis Aaron is a rapper from the UK who tackles relevant, controversial social and cultural topics with philosophy, sociology, and psychology.

Francis Aaron is a rapper and writer with an ability to court controversy and intelligent debate. He was born in Blackpool. His mother died when he was young and he lived a nomadic youth in state care. The stories of struggle he found in rap music resonated with him, and over the years he began honing his technique as a lyricist.

He lived in Moscow and St. Petersburg and later hitchhiked across Russia, visiting gulags and wooden fortress towns along the way. He spent time in Europe and the United States, before returning to the UK and becoming a notorious name on the underground rap battle scene. He has been a bartender, a Mathematics tutor, a recording engineer, an English teacher, and has worked to support children in care.

He is currently writing a book about Nietzsche’s influence on 20th century figures. Alongside music producer Left Axis, he has been releasing controversial songs about “the culture war.”

The podcast

Audio

Video

Contents

00:00:00 – Lockdown talk, growing presence on social media,

00:15:10 – The songwriting process, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane

00:23:40 – Battle-rap, essay rap, Zuby

00:34:00 – Social media bubbles, the old internet, mainstream media

00:43:35 – Discussions around religion, atheism, Chomsky, Foucault, Derrida, constructionism

01:00:20 – Change of language, cult-like behavior, free speech, corruption of universities

01:23:00 – GamerGate, Alt-Right, Alt-Lite, Alt-Left, Milo, Anti-racism, Coleman Hughes

01:41:40 – Religious ideas, the internet changing discourse, pronouns, trans-activism

02:07:00 – Essay rap, mandated speech, Jordan Peterson & bill C-16, Dave Chapelle

02:25:45 – Men & women’s sports

02:33:23 – “Problematic” lyrics breakdown, zero-sum game, personal responsibility,

02:51:10 – The upcoming album, music video production