Both fiction stories as literature and oral storytelling techniques like rap make use of the idea of the confession. The exposure of the deeper - more truthful - and often hidden reality behind an otherwise misunderstood or secret world or person.
Susan Sontag describes this idea quite eloquently in a conversation on stories with John Berger.
Many rappers use this technique. I would argue it is foundational to the artform’s origin and popularity.
Rappers confess to their neighborhood - their immediate audience - in a self-reflective way, using their music to cleanse and humanize their sins and their struggles (often with poverty and violence) through the audiences’ listening and complicit acceptance.
Almost all big and mid-level rappers have at least one record that uses this technique. Jay-Z in “Song Cry”, Nas in “My Book of Rhymes,” Notorious B.I.G with “Suicidal Thoughts”.
One writer, who used this technique to great effect, which is how he created his best work to many, is Joe Budden, the Jersey rapper who might’ve been the genre’s self-reflective toxic confessional maestro.
His song, “10 Minutes,” set the tone early on in his first studio album but his later Mood Muzik mixtape work was often rawer and even more unrestrained.
His series “Ordinary Love Shit Part 1, 2, and 3” are prime examples of him reflecting on past relationships he has teased insight into through media, and then transformed that insight into a drama where the listener becomes almost a conspirator used to condone his abusive cycles.
He whines to the listener to take his side in the conflicts and complexities and pyscho melodramas of what is made to appear is his personal life.
Forgive Me is a noteworthy example, but the most exemplary of the oral style under discussion would be his direct conversation with God in the song, Pray For Me.
Joe Budden connects with the fiction I want to highlight for another reason outside their shared use of this confessional technique. Joe Budden’s songs (and unfortunately his life) admit experiences with domestic violence.
He sings with shame and regret and rationalizations about domestic violence at least in his narrator’s past in several songs, and those incidents have become public accusations, at minimum. I don’t co-sign, at all.
However, the controversy around domestic violence in his work ties well with My Brilliant Friend, the prize winning and bestselling novel series recently chosen as the Best Book of the 21st Century by the New York Times, and a pretty good television series.
The book deals directly with domestic violence - and often creates quite compelling prose describing the abuse, how it poisons the relationships of the characters for multiple generations.
The book provides Joe Buddenesque self-pity from the voice of Stefano, but we also get the other side with Lila’s spite and refusal to internalize violence from several male family members. We get an institutional critique and review of the society’s complicity in the hatred of women.
The frame of the whole novel, giving you this stunning revelation of a neighborhood that becomes a whole country, is one of confession. The confession of the less talented friend of the impact of her more talented childhood bestie on her own life, and vice versa.
The tone, style and narration work to convince you the book is fictionalized only because to make it a memoir would expose too much of too many people, and would be too painful for the narrator. But this is the real story of how you can understand - intimately - a neighborhood through which the narrator sees the world.
There you are. I have BEEF - VOLUME I out in the world, with audio. A few different people have mentioned to me how much they love the voice sound effects. I ain’t gonna lie, I feel real good about how that came out.
Tell people to listen to the story or really exercise that brain and read it.
Also tell people to subscribe. That helps me the most.
Alright, here is my confession:
All I do I do so one day I may confess it to you.
Audio version is amazing! Love the idea that fiction can act as a sort of veil through which the author can give you an intimate view of how they see the world.
Mmm. Love the exploration of the confession and its larger role in society. Also can’t wait to listen to BEEF!!