Context: The question is a quote from the movie Brown Sugar (2002)
For me to make a blog partially dedicated to rap music and hip-hop culture, the very least I could do is share my story with it. What made me fall in love with hip-hop? Why do I like it so much? What is so good about hip-hop that I feel the need to write about it? At first, I intended to talk about my first experience with hip-hop, how I listened to my dad playing good kid, m.A.A.d city in his car, and it was my first time hearing it. I could also talk about how playing so many video games introduced me to rap as well…or how rap has been my favorite genre since I was a little kid. Even though those moments contributed to it, it’s not what made me fall in love with hip-hop. Actually, I didn’t fall in love with hip-hop until my senior year of high school. When I was a bit younger, I had an uncle who was constantly collecting movies until the day he died. I vividly remember him having bags and boxes full of DVDs, movies of all genres, and all decades. So, when he passed, his movie collection stayed at my dad’s house. My dad would take a movie to watch occasionally, but for the most part, his collection was untouched. After a while, my parents were unsure of what to do with his things, possibly giving stuff away or putting things in storage. I think at that point, I decided to take a few of his movies, one of them being Straight Outta Compton (2015).
If I’m being honest, I feel a bit foolish to say a movie made me fall in love with hip-hop, but it’s partially true. It was a movie about N.W.A and their rise to fame. We could also discuss how the movie is partially inaccurate and disrespects Eazy-E, but that’s an essay for another time. The movie was great at teaching people the history of the group and inspired me to research more about them. Now, when I become interested in topics, I like learning as much about them as I can. That’s when everything else happened; I started watching video essays, interviews, searching for magazines, reading about them, and listening to some of their music. Needless to say, they quickly became my favorite rap group. However, it wasn’t just N.W.A that I liked. Learning about N.W.A ended up introducing me to other artists from the ‘80s and ‘90s. It went from N.W.A to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, then DJ Quik, then Snoop Dogg, Public Enemy, De La Soul, E-40, Nas, Roxanne Shante, and eventually, I was only listening to hip-hop for the sake of my research. It didn’t take me long to figure out it was no longer research; I was fully invested in rap music. Hearing so many forms of poetry, being introduced to different subcultures in rap, and listening to different instrumentals? It made me feel emotions I never felt with other genres before. Not to mention this was before I started listening to newer rappers and hearing more modern versions of rap music. I started listening to albums by Doechii, Tyler, The Creator, and Kendrick Lamar, learning how everyone has a different way of presenting their art and poetry. Honestly, I hope everyone has a genre of music that gives them that same feeling. I want everyone to have a music genre that they love learning about and listening to. It’s just for me; that genre is hip-hop…and maybe I like it a bit too much. I remember sitting in my anatomy class, listening to Eazy-E on the school laptop. Thinking about it now, I don’t know how N.W.A’s music made it through the guidelines lol.
My little research period also helped me realize something: hip-hop was deeply tied to a lot of the video games I played. Games like Grand Theft Auto V and San Andreas, Watch Dogs 2, and Skate 3 would have their own radio stations that I would have on repeat every time I turned on my console. Then, movies that I would watch, like Brown Sugar, Black Panther, and recently Straight Outta Compton, would have a mostly hip-hop soundtrack. Before I realized it, most of my interests involved rap music in some way, shape, or form. Additionally, learning about hip-hop culture introduced me to subcultures, such as graffiti and skateboarding culture. The culture quickly became a part of my life, and in simpler terms, I love it so much that I feel the need to constantly discuss it. There are so many things that I love that I haven’t written about yet. Along with that, there are so many things I haven’t discovered that I would probably love to write about. I felt that making this blog would allow me to do those things: talking about the hip-hop that I know and finding new parts of the culture to talk about. The only difference is now, I’ll potentially have an audience who shares similar interests. I would love to thank everyone for the support I got on my first essay. I didn’t know at the time that I would make an entire blog as a result; I just knew I wanted people to hear what I had to say, and I appreciate you guys very much. Thankfully, the website is up and running, but I want to use this blog as an opportunity to pursue my interests, while giving you all the opportunity to read about them. I would love to have your support in my mini blog journey, and hopefully, I can give you guys entertainment in return. Needless to say, I’m proud of this blog and can’t wait for what else comes next!
- CD ★
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