So, now that I got that recap out of the way, I’m ready to continue with the topic I left off on. Hip-hop is the music I mainly chose to create, because it was the first genre to inspire me with its potential to be a powerful tool for change, and because it was a way of expression that was readily available to me and that I enjoy, but I do have numerous issues with the culture that it is normally associated with. No one likes to make a big deal out of glorification of drugs or violence, among other things which are often promoted in rap, and I have a suspicion that it’s because we like to think we’re immune to being influenced by these things. We believe that, since we are adults, we are mature enough to enjoy whatever entertainment we choose, without repercussions. We can watch or listen to whatever we like without fear of being changed by it, affected or altered by it in any important way. This really isn’t true at all though, because everything we experience is changing us in some way. Yes, that might make you ask what the big deal is anyway, since we’re bound to change no matter what we do. I would reply that that’s exactly the big deal, the realization that we have the power to influence our minds in a negative or a positive way, during each second of our time on this earth. We decide what we fill up our minds with, and with every decision we make, move in a specific direction. The way I see it, this realization should make us feel very powerful, but the problem is that when you know you’re not taking your own advice, that same realization does nothing but terrify you and fill you with guilt. Like I was saying before the recap, I sometimes feel very hypocritical when it comes to writing about this because I still listen to a lot of music I’d label as negative, music I grew up on, even though I try to remain in a spiritually positive headspace. I hate to admit it, but sometimes I just know that I have the right answer when it comes to a specific dilemma, I know what I should do, but I end up doing the exact opposite anyway. I understand that we all grow at our own speed, and that, at the end of the day, I’m not competing with anyone other than myself, so I don’t really beat myself up about it, but I just had to include it here since it’s definitely something I have to remain aware of. Now, there actually is another reason I want to mention when it comes to why I don’t want to leave any of that old music behind, even if it’s ‘negative’. I had already talked about the chaotic aspect of my personality, which loves everything random and discards nothing, as being a reason why I never stop listening to any music I cherished in the past, but there is another important reason, a reason that has to do specifically with hip-hop, and it has to do with the comparison of old-school and new-school hip-hop. We’ll get into this in tomorrow’s post though.
I appreciate you taking the time to read my post. If you have a few more minutes I’d appreciate you listening to my ambient/trip-hop song ‘epic ensemble’ from my album ‘dawn of a new day.’ Much love.
rebel eye 