Sunday, February 3, 2008

Music and I

WPGC 95.5, at one time was synonymous with all that I understood music as (and WKYS 93.9 when nothing was on 95.5). Family cookouts with that old shit that none of the kids really knew, but we just knew the hooks to those oldies because we used to hear 'em so much. Biggie, Jay-Z, Tupac, R.Kelly, Lil Kim, Naughty by Nature, Fugees, SWV, Missy Elliot and a host of others that escape me right now. That was childhood. Endless songs about love that I couldn't relate to, and songs about a struggle that I didn't understand. I just knew I liked the way that shit sounded and to very little surprise at all, other people liked the way that it sounded as well.
Growing up, I always wrote, but never quite made the connection until middle school, Someone mistook me for writing rhymes, and I was like 'nah, not quite.'
I always thought that you can't even make it to the radio if you aint 'from the streets'...So I never cared.

(and by never really cared i mean wrote average 'nigga' rhymes)

Insert 2003, this song surfaces at about the height of my Clipse fandom called "Through the Wire", I thought it was the most amazing song I'd ever heard in my life. I damn near ran around the school asking friends about it, and this up-and-coming kid named Kanye West. Nobody knew who was talking about, except for Jessica Artis. I recall we'd sit and just talk about how much trouble this guy is going to be, how much we loved the song, and how Roc-a-Fella is doing a damn good job by signing him.
I figured that it was about that time that my life changed. Lowell (thank God) started passing me mixtapes and the rest is history.

I say this to say, This is MY history with music, and why, when given the choice of Kanye or Common, I'm going to roll with Kanye, because Kanye was there at that point in my life to change my view of what music could be. Make Me want to accomplish something. And I say this also to say that music nerds annoy the FUCK out of me.

Music is such a personal experience, so for someone to downgrade your experience because they listened to albums from before they could comprehend words, and all of a sudden this makes them part of the elite 'I Am Hip-Hop' crew, is just ridiculous.


Does knowing a certain set of music mean that you've done anything with your life? Did it inspire you to make positive change? Did saying Lupe owes his life to Midnight Marauders cure HIV/AIDS? How about world hunger? Did it elect a President who has the peoples best interests in mind? Did saying that someones opinion isn't important because they didn't grow up on music that didn't come out around the time they were growing up help YOU establish a comfortable financial situation?

(again)


Music is such a personal experience, so for someone to downgrade your experience because they listened to albums from before they could comprehend words, and all of a sudden this makes them part of the elite 'I Am Hip-Hop' crew, is just ridiculous.

I for some strange reason thought that hip-hop was B-boys and B-Girls, Dj's, Emcee's, Beats, Rhymes,and a lifestyle, because it affected your life...maybe I'm wrong.


_mC

Photobucket
"...is what kept him on track to be a great emcee..."
_Lu

1 comment:

Epic H. Foxx said...

Hmm. You make a good point.

I think neo-backpackers take things too seriously.

I can't say that people now should have the same love I have for A Tribe Called Quest, El-P, and Common...just because those people changed my hip-hop life so to speak.

At the same time I don't think they should be regarded as garbage either just because they might be a little older. Nobody ever says "Turn that dam garbage Marvin Gaye off...nobody wants to listen to him! That's old!"

Only if people recognized the people who came before them. And if the people came before them recognized that the Wu Tang era is over.

I love me some Wu, but dammit....there's gotta be a time where we allow hip-hop to move on.

Onto something better.