My Music Renaissance

This week I thought I was going to make a hate post about Will.I.am. I'm going to save that for another week. Instead, I've decided to talk about parts of my musical journey that help contextualize why I hate him so much today. I used to listen to the Black-Eyed Peas so much as a kid, so I want to look at a personal timeline of what's informed this disgust. So, this week we will dive into what inspired me to expand the music I listen to.

When I was a kid, I would listen to whatever my parents played in the house or in the car. The problem was, we were listening to a handful of songs months to years at a time. The Supremes, Bob Marley, and The Beatles were constants in my household, which is great... but little did I know most of the albums that we played were greatest hits albums. There was a lot of Motown, 80s hits, African music, etc. But it was always from a compilation album. On the other side of our listening experience there was a lot of radio Disney, pop radio, and Christian music. So I was in the loop when within the mainstream in pop and rock but the radio only plays so much music. I mean we're talking 10-13 years of hearing the top 40 mixed in with older hits from past decades. Not only was radio limiting, but often times I was either listening to what my parents wanted to hear or what they wanted me to hear. My first CD was Lost and Found by Will Smith... while I loved that album; and quoted it often. My parents bought it for me because Will made it a point not to curse in his music. It's literally one of the softest introductions to Hip-Hop you can give someone. The E.N.D. by The Black-Eyed Peas was another big one. I listened to the album a lot and I'm just gonna leave it at that. All the music was fine but as I grew older, I began thinking beyond radio, greatest hits and CDs. It got my foot in the door (kind of) but I wanted more. In comes YouTube.

Eminem

Around middle school (2008-2011) I started to mix YouTube videos into the ways I listened to music. YouTube allowed me to develop my own interests (to an extent). Now I'm listening to Eminem, Lil Wayne, JAY-Z and Dr. Dre, along with some undesirables like Hoodie Allen and Chiddy Bang. I didn't even know who Eminem was until my friend Matthew told me to listen to "Without Me" in 2008. I was able to put faces to names and look at music videos that were vast in their artistic expression. The entire experience was genuinely life changing in terms of my understanding of art, and my exposure to it. I cried listening to "Forever Young" by JAY-Z; I was in awe of Lady Gaga when the "Paparazzi" music video dropped; and I was terrified when "Disturbia" by Rihanna came out. I have vivid memories of all the music I was listening to and how it made me feel. The issue was that these songs were almost all singles or songs that got popular after the album dropped. I was expanding my taste (kind of), but up to that point the only album I was bumping was The E.N.D. That three-year span was easily my first renaissance in music. Once I came to the realization that I needed to engage with more than hits, I started doing some digging.

A$AP Rocky Live Love ASAP cover

Just kidding! My older brother came and visited in the fall of 2012 (sophomore year of high school) and showed me Live Love A$AP and good kid, m.A.A.d city. Up to that point I was still listening to everything through YouTube and the radio. But when I tell you the impact those two albums had on me... fam, I was hooked. The two albums were vast in style, and I listened to them religiously, but I didn't want to fall into the trap of playing a song into the ground like I'd done in the past. A few months later in 2013 Long Live A$AP came out with other albums like Trap Lord by Ferg, Nothing Was the Same by Drake, Yeezus by Kanye, Indicud by Kid Cudi, and The 20/20 Experience by Justin Timberlake. I didn't take my foot off the gas after my brother gave me those CDs. I may or may not have downloaded some music using questionable apps. I listened to every Kanye album that'd come out up to that point within maybe three months. I hated Kanye before 2013 because his radio singles never resonated with me, so when I finally listened to his discog I was in shock. By this point I made it a mission to listen to albums. I wasn't only motivated by wanting to catch up, I had a genuine love for music. This music shit is so sick. I'm not going to list more artists (for now) but damn, thinking back this time period was extremely formative. However, yeah there's another however. There's always gonna be another however. This shit is ongoing on God. I've had a cool six dozen musical renaissances, I'm just not willing to go through 2014-present day all in one post. Anyway, aside from Taylor Swift and some other artists, I mostly listened to Hip-Hop for most of high school. By the time I went to college I knew I wanted to listen to more genres.

Anderson Paak Malibu cover

Ok I promise you were almost done. The album above is Malibu by Anderson .Paak. I have a debate with my friend Asanti about who played it first (he played it first but whatever). we all know 2016 was an insane year for music so I won't even begin to discuss what I was listening to then. I started listening to R&B, Neo Soul, and more alternative music. You know, I went back and started listening to the musicians my parents played, but I would listen to their discographies. I also listened to non-renowned artists and albums from past decades as well. I would play some B-sides off an album from the 80s and my mom would sing along and ask how I knew about it. I eventually started talking to my parents about the music they grew up listening to. The music was far from what I expected, but it was nice to hear about their formative music. At the end of the day everything really came together. Someday I'll tell the other half of this story because I didn't get the chance to talk about 2017-present day. Those years introduced me to punk, brit pop, French music, and much more. Hopefully now this context will tell you why I hate Will.I.am today. He's a visionary in 2008 standards. That's such a shitty creative headspace to be in. I mean this man can't buy or steal a decent mode of creative expression. My bad, not this week. Hope y'all have a great weekend.