How I Fell In Love With Different Music Genres

In the world of music there are many genres from alternative to contemporary. That's why at the GRAMMYs all categories can't be televise. In my opinion, this shows how music can affect anyone. Music has such a big effect on my life especially these genres: gospel, soul, hip-hop, and pop. As I stated before, I understand that there is a lot of music out there, but these were the types that changed affected my life.

I'm going to start off with Gospel Music. Gospel music was always very big in my family, especially with my grandma Vivian. She grow up in the church, so it was only right that she fell in love with Gospel Music. I remember when I was between the ages of 2-6, I used to love Shirley Caesar. Grandma Vivian could put me in front of the TV when Caesar was on and I wouldn't move, I would cry when it went off. However, I think the day I truly fell in love with Gospel Music, was when I heard "Silver & Gold" for the first time. It was like nothing, I heard before. Meanwhile, this was during a time where me and my mother find out who GOD really was. I remember crying to "Silver and Gold" and not knowing why, but I realized that GOD has been wonderful in a my life and "I'll rather have JESUS than silver and gold." From that moment gospel, will always have that affect on me because songs like that let me know that GOD is always with me through anything. From that I'm so glad that we have younger artists like Mary Mary that make music for the younger generation, so we can understand who JESUS is.

The way I fell in love with SOUL music was the first time I heard ROY C, Tyrone Davis, and Bobby Womack. See my mother grow up with this music. My mother explained to me back in the day when my late-grandfather use to buy a 45 everyday. So, you know the older you get the more you fall in love with it. Now I take you to the year 1992, I was 6. Around the house my mother use to play all this southern guys that I didn't know, but they sounded so good. So, I asked my mother "You the heck are this". "Roy C", she laughs. The song "Dont Blame The Man". Meanwhile, my mother was going to South Carolina State University and on Friday's this guy had a soul station on campus. His name was Tony Brown, he would play that deep southern soul music like Tyrone Davis, Bobby Womack, and the Impressions. I just remember listening to this station on every Friday, with me and moms dancing to this great genre of music.

The day I fell in love with HIP-HOP music was the first time I heard "Juicy" by The Notorious B.I.G in late 1993. By then, I knew who SugarHill Gang, Run DMC, and the Furious Five, but that how my parents fell in love with hip-hop. I remember my dad used to play Slick Rick's "Bedtime Story" and "Mona Lisa" around but at 2 you dont understand, you just bopping your head because you dad is bopping his. But at the age of 7, when I heard "Juicy" I realize this was something that I had to take notice. My favorite line from "Juicy" was "I went from negative to positive and it's all good" That line was telling me, if he made it out of hard times I could too.  As a result, I started to explore more hip-hop artists like Nas's Illmatic, is definitely a classic. But it all started with Ready To Die's "Juicy" by The Notorious B.I.G,  when I truly fell in love with hip-hop.

I fell in love with Pop music during my teenage years, like with Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and Christina Aguilera. In 1996, my mother and I moved from South Carolina to New Jersey to start a new life. During this time, I was becoming a teenager. Now, I was getting sick of listening to just soul, gospel, and hip-hop. So, going to a new school this kids started to sing this songs by these artists that I didn't know. Moving back to the north, the only stations that I knew about was HOT97, 98.7KISS, 107.5WBLS, and 1600AM WWRL. After going to this school for a year, we had this party at the school, and this girl went to the radio and turned to Z100 and 103.5KTU. So, I asked her what do they play on these station she was like "The Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and Britney". I was like "who are they", she was like "they are teen pop", you should check them out. I knew about MTV and BET. But the only reason why I watch MTV was for Janet, other than that I changed the channel. So, when I got home, I turned on Z100, kept it on the whole day, and I actually started liking it. I think the songs that got me the most was The Backstreet Boys "As Long As You Love Me " and *NSYNC's "Tearing Up My Heart" from that moment I fell in love with artists like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, 98 Degrees and Jessica Simpson. This was  during the time my mother didn't wanted to claim me because I used to play them around the house all the time.

Above all, with these types of music, I got to understand different genres, now I am getting influenced by jazz, country, and rock. As my mother would said "you need to be broad to really understand music". Thanks Moms