“…Never Thought That Hip-Hop Would Take it This Far”: Reflecting on My Journey on Hip-Hop’s 50th Anniversary
I’ve rewritten this post about 5 times, this being the 5th time. Currently, it’s about 2 hours before the clock strikes 12am on August 11th, 2023. There’s so many things I could say about Hip-Hop and my journey within it. But overall, what I’m feeling right now, is gratitude for the art form. Gratitude for the 5 Pillars (MCing, DJing, Breakdancing, Graffiti & Knowledge), and for the other pillars that have yet to be recognized (Production, Fashion, etc.) Hip-Hop gave me purpose, it gave me a voice, and it’s saved my life more times than I can count or recollect.
I was born between the first 2 “Golden Eras” to parents with contradictory attitudes towards the genre. My father immediately gravitated towards it in the early-to-mid 80s when Hip-Hop made its way to his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. Across the way on the “East Side”, in Cahokia, Illinois, my mother was more of a disco/funk/R&B person and (like a lot of people) couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that people were just speaking in rhymes over those disco/funk/R&B tracks that she loved & grew up on. But she softened her stance once she heard songs like “Freaks Come Out at Night” by Whodini, and “I Need Love” by LL Cool J.
By the time me & my sisters came around, Hip-Hop had proved its staying power, and was played all the time on the radio, in the house and on TV (albeit considerably monitored by my parents). I couldn’t tell you what song made my toddler self fall in love with it, I just know that it had an intense impact on me, to the point where I’d flip my Little Tikes Cozy Coupe over and push the wheels back & forth, pretending that I was on a pair of turntables; or hopping up on my parents’ coffee table with a toy microphone pretending to be a rapper onstage. Though Hip-Hop was always around, I would say the moment I TRULY paid attention to it and saw myself pursuing it was in Summer of 1998.
My dad brought a few CDs for a family road trip from Virginia to STL: Stanley Clarke’s “East River Drive”, the Waiting to Exhale Soundtrack, the Soul Food Soundtrack, and Rakim’s “The 18th Letter”. As soon as my dad popped the latter into the CD player in my mom’s Ford Expedition, I was HOOKED. The rhymes, the production, the scratches on the hooks….I studied it all, and found myself wondering HOW all those elements were brought together. The same summer, the latest signees to Michael Bivins’ Biv10 Records, Mag 7, released a song called “The Street Mix”. The interesting thing about this group was that they were all between the ages of 8 and 14 years old at the time. It was the first time I remember seeing kids my age & slightly older doing exactly what I wanted to do on a large scale. I wasn’t the same after this summer. I became obsessed with finding the answers to the HOW, and learning everything I could to become an artist in my own right. Luckily, one of my cousins on my mom’s side provided some of those answers for me.
Mario, who had just been sent to live with one of our aunts in CT, opened my eyes/ears to songs, albums & artists that I didn’t see on TV, hear on the radio, or ones that my mom would never allow my 9 year old self to listen to (Big L, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, BlackStar, Kurupt, Three 6 Mafia, The X-Ecutionerz, the lesser known members of No Limit Records, etc.) When me & my family moved back to CT a short time later, I looked forward to seeing my cousin and us trading bars over beat tapes (literal cassettes with instrumentals on them) that he & his friends made. A couple years later, he would bring over a video game that would forever change my life and solidify my devotion to making a career out of music at some capacity.
From that point, music (but specifically Hip-Hop) was all I cared about and put effort into…which, of course landed me in a lot of trouble due to poor grades. It also alienated me because I grew up in an environment where a lot of kids didn’t really have strong passions like mine. And they certainly didn’t know exactly what they wanted to do with their life at 12 years old. As such, I was made fun of for it by some. But no matter what a kid said about my music or love for music at the time, I was unmoved. I knew this was my calling. Luckily, along the way, I felt less alone as I found more & more people that I now consider friends (and for some, family) through the very thing I was made fun of for.
In total, I’ve been apart of 6 different groups/collectives over the course of my life. And though none of those groups ever made it big or stayed together long, some of us are still good friends. I went off to school to study Audio Engineering, and met people who I consider to be my family away from my blood family. I’ve done easily over 100 shows in my lifetime, and met even more friends/family through those. This genre has taken me to places I never thought I’d be in or thought I wanted to go to, and introduced me to people all over the world of many different colors, creeds, generations, orientations, genders & philosophies (including some of my heroes)…to the point where I could go to any city in America (or abroad) and feel at home because I’ve been embraced by a community of like-minded people.
Everyday, I think about how far Hip-Hop has gone, how far it’s taken me, and everything it’s done for me in my short 32 years on Earth. Like I said, I’m forever grateful. The genre has grown so much since its inception at 1520 Sedgwick Ave in the Bronx. It’s been a bridge, from genre-to-genre, from generation-to-generation, from person-to-person. So many amazing things, people, turns of phrase & trends have come from it, and I cannot wait to see where it goes next. I pray that I’m around to celebrate the 60th, 70th, 75th and the 100th anniversary.
HIP-HOP, YOU’RE THE LOVE OF MY LIFE!!!
9000+
RIP to the Legends who I grew up listening to, who inspired me, and to hometown heroes:
J Dilla, MF DOOM, Subroc, Prodigy, Notorious BIG, Tupac, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Phife Dawg, Troguy/Dave/Plug2, Mac Miller, Capital STEEZ, Guru, Baatin, Stezo, Blacastan, Big Pun, Quentin “Bugsy” Malone, Grandmaster Roc Raida, ASAP Yams, Pat Stay, Bender, Proof, DMX, Shock G, Big L, Gangsta Boo, DJ Screw, Nate Dogg, Jam Master Jay, Ecstasy of Whodini, Lord Infamous, Party Arty, Charizma, Scott La Rock, Fredo Santana, Paul C, Left Eye, Zoe “Gangstalicious” Dowdell, Nipsey Hussle, Disco D & Takeoff
