When Did You Fall In Love With Hip-Hop?
We can all agree that hip-hop was originated by our black culture. Since being uprooted in the early 1970s, the evolution of hip-hop has been astounding from simple rhymes to eclectic flows ranging off of a variation of beats. My love of music came from listening to my mom’s CD player or stereo system during cleaning days at the apartment or riding in the backseat of the car bumping Zhané, Brownstone, Faith Evans, etc as we ran errands. Although she wasn’t a huge fan of hip hop music, the frequent playbacks of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill album bumping through the apartment walls intensified my love for music overtime.
My growing love for hip-hop came after the classic Brown Sugar film starring Sanaa Lathan and Taye Diggs. This film exemplified a love story intertwined with not only expressing love for a person but also love for hip-hop. In addition, hearing Erykah Badu ft Common - Love of My Life song with her eccentric tone and rapping skills over a tight beat was art to me. It wasn’t until I got older that I understood the creativity and impact that this movie had on my life. Hip-hop has literally helped me through the good and bad days of my early teenage life and still has an impact to this day. Hip-hop has helped me through game days, rigorous school work, and countless occurrences throughout high school and college.
My love for hip-hop has been deeply rooted since the early 2000s. It continues to be therapy to my soul and helps me view life differently at times. I can honestly say that I would not be where I am today if I didn’t use music as a gateway to get through life at times. We all have that one artist or particular song that we can relate to no matter what we are going through. Even times like now with the constant battle with racism, social injustice, financial struggles, and the pandemic shows that it is more prevalent now to use music as a tool to get you through everyday obstacles.
So let me end by asking, when did you fall in love with hip hop? How has it impacted your life?
