The Talent: Aden Darity, Pierce Freelon
The Sound: Hip-hop
The Rest of the Story: languageartsmusic.com and adendotcom.com
Aden Darity resents the characterization of his group Language Arts as clean-cut, conscious rappers.

For one thing, he says — in an easy style that hides just how bad the pun is — “it’s not like other rappers are unconscious.”

To be fair, Darity is clean cut. On this day he’s sporting an aqua Izod shirt, jeans, and some of the most pristine white shoes I have ever seen, so clean they might as well have come out of the box moments before he showed up at my door.

And he and partner Pierce Freelon are certainly socially conscious, or conscientious more accurately (and less pun-worthy). Their lyrics read like a thesis backed by slick tracks and a rhyme scheme. For example, a set of lyrics on Darity’s upcoming solo album (“Future: Tense,” due out in May) offers surprisingly relatable social commentary on what it’s like to live every day as the working poor in an unstable economy: “We’re going out tonight, even if we can’t afford it; toast to the good life, we’re still waiting for it.”

The album is furthermore punctuated by a tongue-in-cheek song titled “Post-Racial America,” a track that takes aim at the notion that the election of Barack Obama moved America past racial identifiers, an idea that Darity calls dangerous.

Darity’s objection, however, lies with the characterization of rappers generally as slovenly, unscrupulous individuals, as if Language Arts was something of a unicorn in the hip-hop community.

It’s a notion Language Arts tries to quell with shows that mesh performances with academic lessons. Both Darity and Freelon have given lectures on topics ranging from protest music and slave spirituals, to the history of women in hip hop. These workshops, which Darity says are “more lucrative and less stressful” than touring, show an interest in the music that goes beyond the beats and reaches for meaning in the very act of creating it.

Yet they have taken their music on the road as well. Language Arts has performed at places like Duke University, the University of North Carolina, the Maryland Institute College of Art, and, recently, Cornell College.

“Our objective is to engage everyone in the audience. It’s high energy and interactive,” says Darity. “I like to believe it’s educational.”
That education includes a great deal of social commentary.

“This album’s thesis is that we live in an interesting time in history, where we’re experiencing the results of capitalism exploited to an extreme,” says Darity, adding that, despite the depressing notion, Language Arts songs contain a message of hope.

“I want my songs to reflect that, I may have $10, but we’re going out tonight because I worked hard this week. My credit card may go below zero, but I’ll worry about that on Monday,” he says. “I feel like that’s relatable.”

— BLAKE