Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
The other day I was on the socials and came across a meme that said something to the effect of, “when your kid’s songs slap harder than yours.” I turned up the volume and heard a song that I would learn came from the creators of Gracie’s Corner, a Black-owned YouTube music channel for kids. Each song is educational, but a bop as well. So of course I watched all of the videos with my kids who were both enjoying them but also jamming; it was a win all around.
I hopped in my car the next day and found the streaming music page and we continued our listening there. And then it happened. I guess we’d gotten to the end of the Gracie’s Corner jams because all of a sudden I hear a Vantablack, trap rendition of the “Three Little Pigs,” except in this version, titled “Big Bad Wolf,” the wolf has BARS. I looked in my rearview and my 7-year-old was looking the exact same way I did when I first heard “They Reminisce Over You (TROY)” by Pete Rock & CL Smooth. My son had found his music.
This song goes slam off. “What’s poppin’? What’s shakin’? Man, I’m in the mood for bacon.” I knew I was in for an entertaining ride from jump. So of course, I had to check out everything this Youtube music channel, JoolsTV, had to offer. And there is literally something for everybody AND it’s quite easy to discern the influences. I heard Kevin Gates, Migos, Boosie, etc. It’s almost as if whoever put these joints together was an aspiring rapper but realized it wasn’t going to happen but needed to do SOMETHING with the beats he had laying around, looked at his kids and was like, “I GOT IT!”
The Trap Nursery Rhymes, Vols. 1 and 2, include trapped-out versions of songs like, “The Wheels on the Bus,” “Old McDonald,” (which absolutely goes), “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,” among others.
Real talk, I have genuinely enjoyed how much music has been created that allows parents to enjoy the music as much as the kids. There was a time not too long ago when you could only listen to fairly safe and sanitized versions of kids’ songs. Somewhere along the way, some parents and Youtube music content creators realized you can be a parent AND still be an adult and the two don’t have to exist outside of one another. Parents like to blast the dope jams in the car and kids seem to really like the sound too. I remember when I discovered Desmond Dennis and his Cool Kid Jams and I felt seen. I needed music I could listen to without concern about messaging for my kids and it’s as if all of these folks were like, ME TOO!
JoolsTV, thus far, seems to have the music my kids jam to the most and want to hear the most often. One of my kids wants to hear “Big Bad Wolf” at all hours of the day. He’s memorized the words and raps along and spits the bars with stage-ready energy. Talent shows don’t even know what’s coming. So if you’re a parent (or just like music) looking for some Youtube music that you can listen to in the car or at home that is for the kids but jams like it’s for the adults, come on over to JoolsTV. I’m already preparing myself to DJ kids’ parties with this music. The parents might be concerned at first until they realize the music is all about counting.
This is how we all win.
Panama Jackson is a columnist at theGrio. He writes very Black things and drinks very brown liquors, and is pretty fly for a light guy. His biggest accomplishment to date coincides with his Blackest accomplishment to date in that he received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey after she read one of his pieces (biggest) but he didn’t answer the phone because the caller ID said “Unknown” (Blackest).
Make sure you check out the Dear Culture podcast every Thursday on theGrio’s Black Podcast Network, where I’ll be hosting some of the Blackest conversations known to humankind. You might not leave the convo with an afro, but you’ll definitely be looking for your Afro Sheen! Listen to Dear Culture on TheGrio’s app; download here.