Married to the Game: Love and Hip-Hop
A new trend is sweeping the hip-hop community, and it may come as a surprise; considering the lifestyles most hip-hop artists seem to promote. No, rappers aren’t trading in their guns for olive branches and doves, leaving the trap for 9 to 5s, nor spending modestly on an efficient European sedan; but many of the Rap game’s most prominent players, while still propagating the fantastical life of hedonistic promiscuity, are themselves settling down, marrying, and starting families.
For many years, divorce and broken homes wreaked havoc on the black community; but today divorce is a problem that no ethnicity is immune from. You can see why it is surprising that many of America’s most eligible and sought after bachelors would be choosing to settle down.
The most obvious example of this new trend is black music’s dream couple, Jay-Z and Beyonce; who married in 2008 and had their first child January of this year. The couple shows no signs of stopping, and have managed to keep most of their relationship private. While Jay-Z took some 20 years in the game to finally settle down, an up and comer; relative to Jay-Z, is challenging Jay for the title of Hip-Hop’s best father. Of course I am talking about Pittsburgh’s own Wiz Khalifa, He and fellow Pennsylvanian; Amber Rose, are engaged and expecting a baby in the next few months. Similarly to Wiz’s meteoric rise to rap’s elite, it seems he has wasted no time in scaling the heights of marriage and child rearing. Beyond these two all-star pairs others in the Game are following in their footsteps.
The Game, once Compton’s savior, is currently engaged to on and off again sweetheart Tiffney Cambridge, with whom he has had two children with already. The couple are bringing a somewhat new spin to the relationship game, Flava Flave of course did it first, and that is Reality TV. You can peer into the couple’s relationship on the show Married to The Game. The last rapper I will mention in this post is not openly married or even in a relationship, according to internet sources, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Atlanta’s 2 Chainz is in a very significant relationship with a special lady I believe is named Kesha(See track 19 on 2 Chainz’ mixtape T.R.U REALigion) who is mentioned extremely early in his album credits. This of course is a somewhat unfounded rumor, but I’m confident I’m right on this one.
Now we all know how fragile entertainment industry marriages can be, but something feels different this time around. I really hope that these couples make it. Leave it to the media’s favorite scapegoat for problems in the black community, to lead us all to the promised land.
