Ok, moving on.
Considering my peers and my surrounding environment I spent time listening to music like NSync, Britney Spears, and anything played on the radio, I knew every song, every lyric. Of course I was infused with artists like Marvin Gaye, Anita Baker, Earth, Wind and Fire, etc but that was my parents' music, not mine. I know the lyrics, they make me nostalgic, but it doesn't necessarily bring a smile to my face, pep in my step, or a lighter, happier feeling. You better believe my parents attempted to change my interest in music, books, and hobbies in general, but I was right and they were wrong. Simple as that.
Towards the end of high school, I began to get tired of my usual. I was annoyed easily with my peers (similar to the ones in my earlier years) due to my introspection and life realizations. It took coming to college for me to really reach out into the music world beyond the radio and explore
.About two years ago, I started listening to Dave Chappelle's Block Party. It's a compilation of a lot of artists that I appreciate, and when I first heard of some of them (Dead Prez, The Roots) I wondered why they weren't played on the radio. The seed had been planted, and it continued to grow.
Today was the first time I listened to the live show in quite some time. It made me think about a lot, what I've just portrayed about my past, but also my present.
In the past year, I have managed to fall in love (yes, that for real) with Mos Def's music (when you've been deprived of something of that form for so long, it's easy to dive right in). The kind of love I held for Bob Marley's music in my past life, yet still in a different sense. After seeing him in concert this past summer, I was hooked. I had listened to all of Black on Both
Sides, but immediately after the concert I ordered The New Danger and True Magic and requested The Ecstatic for Christmas. I don't own the entire discography of any other artist. The closest I could come would be Bob Marley, but I'm not sure I'll never own everyone of his songs, same goes for Mos Def. I still have yet to downloade any of his mixtapes, that I'm sure exist out there.
Point being, after a year I'm still not tired of his music, and it's inspiring me to research other artists. I'm trying to catch up on everything I missed while living in my past life. I was definitely left behind, and there are years and years of music for me to discover and come to love.
I'm not one to really write about music in the sense of what is "good" or "bad." I'm no expert, but I know what I like and I know what I dislike. I'm just saying.
