YBN Cordae Joins Common and Rapsody on Maxine Waters' Panel

At the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's 48th Annual Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. on Saturday (Sept. 15), Congresswoman Maxine Waters convened an impressive group of lyricists for the Young, Gifted and Black Panel. Common, Rapsody, YBN Cordae and poet Bomani Armah joined to discuss their artistic roots and drop exclusive freestyles.

Cordae, 14 years younger than anyone else on the panel, rose to the occasion with unreleased bars paying tribute to their moderator from the 43rd district.

"Although it seems so bittersweet and you ain't got nothin' to eat/And Sallie Mae callin' your phone for like the fifth time this week/All your bills overdue, all your people over you/Only one option remains, you just gotta show and prove/And one day far from now, I know I'ma have a daughter/And I'ma teach her to be like Mrs. Maxine Waters," he rapped.

Rapsody rapped a verse from "Black & Ugly," featured on her latest album Laila's Wisdom released last September, and Common spit a verse from his Black America Again song "The Day Women Took Over," which he previously performed at January's Women's March in Utah. He explained he wrote the song while "thinking about Congresswoman Waters and women who, if we had them in leadership, how better the world would be."

Common left the panel early, but shared some thoughts on the importance of voting in the upcoming midterm elections before departing.

"If we don't get out and vote, I don't wanna hear nothing," he said. "If we complain about all this stuff that's going on with this administration, and we don't identify some good candidates, which are really out there, in these midterms, and go out there and do the work, I don't wanna see you at no protest, I don't want to see you tweeting about nothing, because you ain't doing nothing."

You can watch the full panel below. Common, Rapsody, YBN Cordae and Bomani Armah's freestyles begin around the 27:20 mark.

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