11 Years Later: World Trade Center Attacks

2 Albums/Music That Kept Me Sane During Trying Time:

Wow, I can't believe it's been 11 years since the World Trade attacks happened. September 11, 2001 is a day I will never forget. It one of the days that you don't like to remember, for example the day Michael Jackson died or the day The Notorious B.I.G passed. You will always remember the things you were doing on those days. But I am glad that two albums got me through those tragic times, Mary J. Blige's No More Drama and Jay-Z's The Blueprint. And with both artists being from NY, it felt good that we New Yorkers had to our home artists to listen to help us through the pain.

Now September 11, started out as any normal day. I remember waking up with me and moms still talking about the Janet Jackson "All For You" concert that we attended about 3 weeks prior. Her and I was reminiscing about the concert and it was the last time we heard Aaliyah before she died. So I finally left the house walking to the bus stop, listening to Mary J. Blige's No More Drama album. The album was released about 2 weeks ago, with me with me being a big Mary fan I was playing it non-stop. So, I get to school and first period began and my Electronics teacher, Mr Delfino always played the news. But this day, I actually paid attention to it and I heard the newscaster say "Oh my God that plane just crashed into the World Trade Center".  Now with the class at full attention, the newscaster says again "Oh my GOD another plane went into the second building". Now the classroom was so quiet you could hear a pin dropped. My instructor kept the TV on the whole class, we didn't even do anything for the rest of class. My instructor and I were from NY, so most of the people in the class couldn't understand what we felt. After the attacks, I felt empty so I took out my cd player and just played track 6, from Mary's album which was the title song "No More Drama". The song during this time had so much more meaning. While listening to the song, I was just thinking how blessed I am because 3 months prior my Electronics class went to the World Trade Center to check out the wiring of the building. Furthermore, my grandma just retired from AT&T after 30 years which was near the World Trade Center. I just started praying and thanking GOD that my family wasn't affected by it. but I prayed for the people that were.

So, the  school day ended and I remember getting home and my mother called me and said "Get some clothes for you and me and get to grandma's house, I will meet you there" Meanwhile, I had the No More Drama album blasting while I getting ready, by this time the album had so much more meaning. But these three songs were more meaningful during this:

No More Drama

Testimony

Destiny

As my mother got to my grandma's house, my family kept the news on and I stayed on the computer for updates. Then I realized Jay-Z's The Blueprint was just released. I went to cdnow.com and previewed the album. After previewing it I knew I had to get it. So I downloaded it. Alot of the songs had that soulful spirit what soothed my soul. (Yea I used Napster at the time. but I brought that Friday though lol) But during this time, three songs stood out:

Heart Of The City

 

Never Change

All I Need

These songs to me were uplifting to me because I needed music to escape what tragic was going on in the world. As a result, the whole week No More Drama & The Blueprint were the only two albums I was listening to. Furthermore, I want to think Mary & Jay-Z for releasing these albums at that time because it became food for thought for me. 

WHEN YOU TURNED ON THE RADIO THESE SONGS WERE ON 24/7 DURING THIS TRAGIC TIME:

Whitney Houston's National Anthem

Various Artists-What's Going On

Marvin Gaye-What's Going On

Bruce Springsteen-Born In the USA

WHAT SONGS ON MUSIC WERE YOU LISTENING THROUGH THESE TRYING TIMES??

My Top Three Soundtracks of all time

On August 17, the remake of Sparkle is being released featuring the late Whitney Houston. This was the last performance from Whitney Houston before her death. But if you are familiar with the original Sparkle, that included Irene Cara and Phillip Michael Thomas, it was known for the music. The soundtrack was done by the "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin and produced by the late great Curtis Mayfield. But I will discuss the background about Sparkle as this blog progress. I decided to do this blog because I saw an article about top soundtracks and three soundtracks weren't one it. So as a music lover, I felt it was my duty to write about them. As you can see my favorite 3 soundtracks are Claudine, Sparkle, and Waiting To Exhale. These three soundtracks displays soul and passion at it's finest.

3. Waiting To Exhale

This Babyface produced album is legendary. This album can be called the "women's soundtrack" because with this album all songs were sung by women. In my opinion, the soundtrack fits the movie. The movie was about 4 women that go through heartbreak and how they conquered. And the soundtrack does the movie so much justice. But the funny thing about this album is that women SANG all the songs but a man wrote all the songs. Babyface might have gone through this situations because he wrote great songs. Nevertheless, this shows that men can also relate to this soundtrack because men experience heartbreak as well. 

Now I knew about this soundtrack because this album has hits but I never fully listen to the album, I only knew the singles. Finally, one of my classmates in college was saying that the Waiting To Exhale is the best soundtrack of all time, I knew then I had to listen to it. The following Saturday came, and I had nothing to do, so I went to the store and brought me a bottle of a certain "spirit" and figured I would listen to this album. I think that was the best and the worse thing I could have done. This album was emotional so when you are full of the "spirit" it makes you think about your situation that you are dealing with. So, as epic as the album was I was in my dormroom crying on certain songs. But that crying show me that if a soundtrack can bring me to tears, it has to be epic. I was "Sittin Up In My Room" (dormroom that is) reminiscing. In addition, what I like is Babyface wrote each song for the right person, which the artist made the song theirs. From this album there are 5 songs that I always have to hear:

Aretha Franklin -It Hurts Like Hell

Whitney Houston- Why Does It Hurt So Bad

Mary J. Blige- Not Gon' Cry

Shanna- How Could You Call Her Baby

Whitney Houston/CeCe Winans - Count On Me

Now after listening to all these songs, they basically tells the story of the movie. The characters go through heartbreak and at the end they realize they could count on with other to get through it. I must say if you want an epic soundtrack this has to be in your collection. 

2. Sparkle

This album takes me back every time I see it the cover. This album was the first 8 track that I pick out of my grandparents wall unit when my mother and I moved back north from her finishing her college education. Now this was the time I started falling in love with soul music. So, me as a 10 year old kid goes to this wall unit and see all these big cassettes and ask my mother "what are these big cassettes?". My mother responds as she laughs, "I am getting old but those are 8 tracks!" So, I see Aretha Franklin and pull that 8 track out and it's  "Sparkle". So, I started asking my mother about this album and she explains this is the soundtrack to a 70s movie titled Sparkle. She then explains that Aretha's "Sparkle" was already done before the movie was done. Of course, I never saw the movie so I started asking questions. As a result, my mother rents the movie but I love Aretha's version so much more. I am not bashing the movie, because it's a classic but Aretha's version to me was more soulful than the movies version. And with Curtis Mayfield's legendary producing this album this album is legendary. Even though, I love all the songs on the album there are 3 songs that are my favorites. Even though there is 8 songs on the cd:

Look Into Your Heart 

Hooked On Your Love

Jump

Now Aretha was SANGING on this album, I know you probably saying why was't "Something He Can Feel" on his favorite list. See I already knew about this song so when I finally heard the album these three songs became my favorites. But as I stated before I love the whole album. Now this leads me to the remake of Sparkle, I was a little nervous when I heard that Whitney Houston was remaking Sparkle back in 1999. I was thinking that this album and movie is tough to remake so if Whitney was going to do it she had to do it right. Then I found out Aaliyah was going to play Sparkle, I figured the movie was be fine but the soundtrack still worried me. But when Aaliyah passed, the movie was put on hold. Then in 2012 it was said that the movie started production with Jordin Sparks as Sparkle. After I heard that I said, well she does remind you of Irene Cara, so I said it could work. Then I said the only person that could produce the soundtrack to get that soul vibe is R. Kelly, because he is the closest to Curtis Mayfield we are going to get today. Next week, it's said R. Kelly was producing the soundtrack. I knew then that this can be a great remake like Dreamgirls. I haven't heard the soundtrack yet but with Curtis and Aretha leaving that legendary, R. Kelly has some big shoes to fill. But the original has to be in your soundtrack collection. 

1. Claudine

Another Curtis Mayfield produced album, this soundtrack is my favorite soundtrack of all time. Not just because Gladys Knight is my favorite singer but with this album all the songs are my favorite. I remembering being 10 years old and first hearing this album I was floored. As I stated, me and mother moved back north after she graduated college and we used to listen to old soul and we couldn't find cassette with old music. As a result, someone told my mother about a guy that sells old music in Brooklyn on Belmont Ave. On Saturday, my family decided to take a ride out to Brooklyn so we can to go meet this guy. So, we went to Belmont Ave and we saw this brown van with this older guy. When we get up to the van, he opens up the van we see all these cassettes that included Tyrone Davis, Sam Cooke, Bobby Womack, etc. Me and my mother felt like we were in heaven. So my mother decided to get two cassettes "Claudine Soundtrack" & "Sparkle". When mom popped that cassette in I fell in love with this album at 10 years old and I still play it at 26. Gladys' voice on this album is just legendary. Since I have pick favorites I will chose 4 songs:

To Be Invisible

The Makings Of You

Hold On

Makes Your A Happy Home

Well I hope yall enjoyed my music journey through my favorite soundtracks, these albums in my opinion define soul at it's finest. Hopefully if you don't have these soundtracks, then maybe this blog can get you add them to your collection.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SOUNDTRACK?

A Message From A Soul Brother:

 I have to bring a message to y'all about how I feel about the state of soul music.

R. Kelly "Write Me Back" was leaked last week, when I heard it, I fell in love with it just like I did with his previous album "Love Letter". With these two albums R. Kelly is taking a more sensual approach to his music. R. Kelly is known for making those sexual bedroom songs like 'Sex Me Part 1&2', 'Half On A Baby' and 'Feeling On Your Booty'. So, I took to twitter to explain my opinion on this awesome album because of it's soulfulness. "Write Me Back" would make soul artist like Tyrone Davis and Marvin Gaye proud because he took more 70s approach on this one. On his last effort, "Love Letter" he took more of a 60s soul approach that reminded you of Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. As I stated, I took to twitter to tell all my followers about this soulful album and to see their opinions, people said this album sucks and R. Kelly needs to go back to the freaky songs. Those statements bothered me and I knew I had to write something about it.

Now I have been a fan of R. Kelly since 1993. Even though he was with Public Announcement in 1991, but it wasnt until his solo debut, "12 Play" where I became a big fan. This album is most definitely a hip-hop soul classic that included a lot of bedroom songs but on this album my favorite two songs were his remake of the Spinners classic 'Sadie' and the sensual 'For You'. The way he did these two songs were very soulful, which showed he was not just a sexual artist. But R. Kelly knew that sexual songs were what the fans wanted. So, as his career continued he kept making those sexual songs but you can't forget about those soul ballads that included 'If I Can Turn Back The Hands Of Time', 'Bad Man', 'When A Woman's Fed Up', and the classic 'I Believe I Can Fly'. These songs were not sexual songs but they were all very soulful, which songs like these he is giving you on "Write Me Back". In addition, R. Kelly always appealed to the older generation with songs like 'Step In The Name of Love', 'Happy People', and 'Red Carpet (Pause, Flash)'. He made these songs for "The Steppers" that includes my grandparents era. So, R. Kelly has always had that 60-70s soulful sound. 

R. Kelly is now a 45 year old man his mind is not in the same place it was in 1993. Now he is not talking about bumping & grinding anymore he is making songs like 'Lost In Your Love'. In addition, he was going through a divorce with his wife after 10 years, he is not in that place to talk about the bedroom. I felt that "Love Letter" & "Write Me Back" are dedications to his ex-wife. In my opinion, these albums are just like Marvin Gaye's "Here My Dear" album. This underrated album was dedicated to his ex-wife Anna Gordy. This show me that R. Kelly can make GREAT albums without sexual songs but the songs being sensual. In addition, R. Kelly pay tribute to his musical heroes.

Fast Forward, Brian McKnight is talking the approach that R. Kelly did in 1993 making songs that are very sexual . McKnight has a song entitled 'Let Me Show You How Your P---- Works'. Brian McKnight is not known for songs like that, he is know for ballads like 'One Last Cry', 'Anytime', and 'Back At One'. Now McKnight and Kelly are in the same age category, fans of McKnight are angry because they feel that he should not be making sexual songs like this. What about R. Kelly then? I'm sorry I don't want R. Kelly to make another 12 Play album now because in my opinion, he can't be talking like that. Wait! R. Kelly tried to do that with "Untitled" and the fans didn't like because they felt R. Kelly is not in that age anymore to talk about sex and the album didn't perform well. We had new artists like Trey Songz and Chris Brown having that sexual style that R. Kelly mastered after Marvin Gaye.

During the "Love Letter" era, R. Kelly performed at the 2010 Soul Train Awards during this performance he performed 'My Body Callin', 'When A Woman's Fed Up', 'Happy People', 'When A Woman Loves'. He prepared you to let you know where he is today with his music. So, when you hear "Love Letter" & "Write Me Back" you shouldn't be surprised. So, when "fans" say we want the OLD R. Kelly back it shows that you don't want your artist to grow musically. Perfect example, Beyonce's latest album "4" was her best album musically but it didn't sell as much as "I Am...Sasha Fierce" which included the female anthem 'Single Ladies'. People didn't like the album because she went back to her R&B roots that didn't include pop anthems. Beyonce even said that the "4" album she will look back on and be proud of it. Now, that album didn't sell as  much as her previous efforts, but now she wants to make pop anthems like 'Single Ladies' again. Again, I feel like fans don't want their favorite artists to grow musically. But the same people that are hating on R&B based albums are complaining that R&B is dying.

R. Kelly in my opinion has always been soulful and with albums "Love Letter" & "Write Me Back" he is keeping the soul music alive since in this era we are so pop/dance based. In addition, when you have new school artist like Trey Songz and Chris Brown making sexual explicit songs, R. Kelly passed the torch and now he can make more classy and sensual songs. There are only a few R&B artists that are mainstream that are trying to keep R&B a float that include Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott, and R. Kelly. Artist like Anthony Hamilton, Calvin Richardson, and Kelly Price are not as mainstream as the others but they are making soulful music. Above all, I am glad R. Kelly made "Love Letter" and "Write Me Back" because it shows that R. Kelly feels the same way about soul music as me and feels it needs to come back into the mainstream because the pop/dance music is getting to much to handle. 

Check The Rhime

A Tribe Called Quest

A Tribe Called Quest is my 2nd favorite group of all time, but my favorite hiphop group. These dudes brought the real hip-hop. It was not about gimmicks with them, that's why their music will last for a lifetime. A Tribe needs to be put in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on the 25th year in the music business. With songs like Check The Rhime, Award Tour, & Can I Kick It they are considered rap classics. Let's rock to the music for a minute

Check The Rhime

Bonita Applebum

OKAY YALL FEELING ME NOW!!

I was inspired to write about my favorite hip-hop group after I saw the documentary done by Michael Rapport, Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of the Tribe Called Quest of the high and lows of the Quest, what the group was called before they decided to call themselves A Tribe Called Quest. The group consist of Q-Tip, Phife, Ali, and Jabori. This group came through a time when hip-hop was trying to become mainstream. During this time, the only rapper that was "claiming" hip-hop was pop was MC Hammer. But in Q-Tip's lyric from Check the Rhime, inform the world and Hammer "rap is NOT pop if you call it that then STOP". This group was just real and musically awesome. The Tribe incorporated soul, jazz & hip-hop and made it sound so perfect.

Now I was introduced to A Tribe Called Quest in 1993, with "Award Tour". As you know from reading this blog, I am a SOUL/R&B head, so if I like a hip-hop song it had to be great. Music stayed on in my house so the radio would always be playing and I remember one day coming home from school hearing this song. I feel in love with it. I used to go to school singing "We on the award tour with Muhammad my man". Now vibe to this classic.

DON'T THAT REAL HIP-HOP FEEL GOOD!!

About two years later I was introduced to the Tribe again, everyone watched The Wayans Brothers. The theme of the show was "Electric Relaxation". The song is so smooth because the group added jazz into the song, which made the song so epic. Now I know the show was funny, but I used to just watch for the show to hear theme because I liked this song so much. Check it out!

Theme to The Wayans Brothers

Awesome, nah I can't let yall get just a snippet, here's the full song...rock with me 

After this I was not introduced to A Tribe Called Quest until college. My homeboy Sheldon is a big hip-hop fan. So I saw that he had two cd's from the Tribe. I asked him if I can get those so I can listen to it because I next heard a full album from the Tribe. Sheldon is a type of dude that he wants you to hear the REAL hip-hop because he feels that hip-hop is not as real as it used to be. He gave me the The Low End Theory & The Midnight Marauders. From that day, I haven't stop playing these albums. The Low End Theory has became my 4th best hip-hop album of all time. (Oh Sheldon I know it's been 5 years I owe you those albums back, lol.)

The Low End Theory musically was epic. They incorporated jazz with hip-hop which sounded like a perfect marriage. From this album, I learned who Phife really was because I always knew Q-Tip, this was Phife coming out album because lyrically he was awesome. "Yo microphone check 1 2 what is this"....(yall know the rest)

Buggin' Out

Yall can't tell me Phife didn't murder his first vibe, even on the documentary Q-Tip said "when Phife walked out of the booth, they looked at him and said, THAT WAS FIRE!" Of course "Check The Rhime" was a classic, but the musically "Jazz (We Got)" was a masterpiece. The smoothness of the song made you want to listen to what they were saying lyrically.

Jazz

The last song on the album is a collaboration classic that included a young Busta Rhymes that was part of the Leaders of the New School, everybody remembers "as I combine all the juice from the mind". Rock to the first "Touch It Remix"

Scenario (Video)

 

THIS WAS HIP-HOP!!!

After listening to The Low End Theory I thought that these guys are not going to deliver another great album. So, I expected The Midnight Marauders to be disappointing. Now even though, I don't think it better than The Low End Theory but the Tribe delivered with hits like "Award Tour", "Electric Relaxation", and my favorite artist Mary J. Blige sample this song for her hit "Love At First Sight"

Hot Sex

I KNOW YOU HAVE TO BE BUMPING RIGHT NOW!!

Now The Tribe have so much more hits, but I felt from watching the documentary I inspired to write about them. During the documentary, I discovered that Q-Tip produced a lot of the Tribe's music. He grew up with that old soul and jazz and it reminded me of myself because I raised with that old soul. In all, this documentary made me respect and love them more. And that's why they are my favorite hip-hop group of all time.

More Tribe Bangers 

Can I Kick It

With The Zu Nation/Native Tongues: Buddy

Stressed Out

MUST WATCH DOCUMENTARY

WHATS YOUR FAVORITE JOINT FROM TRIBE? WHY?

COMMENT

  

The Album I Can't Get Enough Of

"Emotions" (1991)

Mariah Carey's "Emotions" for the last month I've been listening to everyday. I knew of this album but I really never listen to in its entirely. So, on twitter one of the trending topics was what was your favorite album from Mariah Carey most of my followers said the album "Emotions". See I never had a favorite Mariah album because she was not one of favorite artists. Now Mariah can SANG, but I never really listened to her albums in full expect "The Emancipation of Mimi". After seeing many of followers talking about the "Emotions" album I felt I will give it a full listen. Even though, I already knew songs like 'Emotions', the inspirational 'Make It Happen', and my then favorite song 'Can't Let Go'. When I finally listened to this album, it become one of my top favorite albums of all time. I absolutely love this album. Mariah was SANGING on this album. This album made me have so much more respect for her. Now as I give my "emotions" on this masterpiece, you will realize that I have 3 new favorite songs from her.

Track By Track Reviews (My Emotions of each song)

1. Emotions- The title track of the album was always great to me. I remember this song when I was in kindergarten and we used to play the radio during lunch and I remember singing this song with my class. (Yup this tells my age...lol) But I remember when the class used to try to hit the those high notes she did at the end. (Imagine high pitch 5 year olds trying to sing..classic!) This track was a very known track that I knew from Mariah because of the memories from kindergarten.
2. And You Don't Remember- One of my new favorite songs from Mariah. This was a track that I never heard before. The only time I knew about this song was when I saw Mariah do interview and they asked her what was her favorite song from this album she said 'And You Don't Remember'. This song sent chills through my body because the harmonies and her sanging was legendary. In addition, this song connected to me because made me think about situations that I have dealt it. It's like you gave your heart to someone and they don't remember the great/loving things they told you. But the thing that really gets you with this song is when she hits that high note graciously during the bridge.
3. Can't Let Go- This song use to be my favorite of mine from Mariah but since I have listened to this album in full this song is still great but 3 other songs in my opinion are better than this. But before my full listen, I used to love this song because of the smoothless, Mariah brought you into the song with her voice. During a time when I thought that someone really care for me but I turned out to be wrong, I really felt that Mariah was saying everything I wanted to say, and when she sings "and every night I see you in my dreams". I used to sing this and try to hit the note at the end, but one time I was singing with such emotion, I actually hit the note at the end. So that high note makes perfect sense at the end Mariah...lol 
4. Make It Happen- This song was also a song that I knew from her. I remember this song from the video with her in the church. This song is very inspirational, during my college days when I wasn't going to church on Sunday's I used to have Gospel playlist, this song was on there. Now we know Mariah is known for those high notes, but on this song it wasn't needed. She didn't over do it on this song. The part of the song that gets me is when she sings "I held onto my faith I struggled and prayed, and finally found my way". If you need a song with inspiration and a great beat, I recommend this song.
5. If It's Over - As I stated, I didn't know a lot about Mariah, so one day I was on youtube and I found this performance of her singing this song on the Grammys. That performance was epic, but it still didn't make me go listen to the album version. Every time someone would ask me about this song, I would say "have you seen her performance of this song on the Grammys". But finally after listening to the album version, I understand why Oprah wanted her to sing this song on her show. This song is great, but I feel that Grammy performance made the song legendary.
6. You're So Cold - This song is most definitely an album filler. But what draws me into this song is the beginning because it sounds like the beginning of the O'Jays "Backstabbers". With the O'Jays being in my favorite group of all time, Mariah had me from the beginning, when she hit that high note in the beginning then it was over, I was like "damn this girl has range". Every time this song plays, I rock out to it like if it's hip hop song. 
7. So Blessed - Another favorite of mine. I play this song every Sunday before church. Maybe Mariah talking about a person, but I feel like she is SANGING to GOD. It's like when you get to this song on the album, you realize maybe you have been hurt but you are blessed to see another day. "You are my heart, my everything, feeling you now is all I need". When she says this song, it continues to send chills up my shine. (I am listening to the song as I type this...*shakes from chills*). From this song and 'Make It Happen' you know that Mariah is very spiritual. Thank you Mariah for another inspirational song in my eyes.
8. To Be Around You - This song gives me the vibe of a 70s party, like from the scene in Claudine where Claudine plays "On & On" by Gladys Knight & the Pips and the party gets live where the people start doing the bump. Mariah gives me that vibe in this song. The end of the song where background vocalist harmonize with people talking was a great ending to the song.
9. Til The End of Time - This is my 2nd favorite track from the album. This song is so smooth. Mariah takes you to another place on this record. You can just close your eyes and imagine the person you want to be with and sing this to them. There is really no words to describe this song, but LEGENDARY!
10. The Wind - I love how she uses the wind in the background while the piano and her vocals sound great together. I feel that Mariah wanted this song to be more about the instruments which I love, which gives you that jazzy/blues vibe. This song was a great way to end an emotional album, as she lets instruments finish the album.

Well these are my emotions for each track of this masterpiece of an album. I see why many of my twitter followers love this album so much. I have such more respect for Mariah after hearing this album. I know it's late to give a review of this 21 year old album, but a masterpiece album like this I had to. If you don't have this album in your collection you need to get it.

MY TOP 3 FAVORITES SONGS

(LISTEN TO THE GREATNESS)

AND YOU DON'T REMEMBER

SO BLESSED

TIL THE END OF TIME

THE GRAMMY PERFORMANCE OF IF ITS OVER

When Did You Fall In Love With Hip-Hop??

Now I know that I love soul music, but hip-hop is also a part of my life as well. With me being from New York, hip-hop is a big part of my city. Artists like Run DMC, the late Notorious B.I.G, Jay-Z, and Nas, just to name a few are from New York. As a result, hip-hop has a small part in my life. With me being born in 1986, hip-hop was starting to become mainstream with RUN DMC being played on MTV, which was a station that only played rock and pop videos. But with their song 'Walk This Way' with Aerosmith made mainstream America play attention to hip-hop. During this time until the late 90s, hip-hop was more of social media, artists talked about issues in our inner cities but now it has changed drastically. During my younger years, that's what made me fall in love with hip-hop because artists were making a statement with their music not with just personality and hot club song. Now artists are so determined to talk about girls, cars, and money not about social issues about our inner cities and communities. That's why I respected one of my favorite rappers Nas' album "Hip-Hop is Dead" because as far as hip-hop community making a statement it has died. That's why I am so glad that we can go back and listen to classics, so we can know what REAL HIP HOP is. In this blog entry, I want to take you back into the 4 albums that made me fall in love with hip-hop.

As I stated hip-hop was on the verge of becoming mainstream in 1986, the year I was born. Now even though, soul music was a big part of my house because of my mother, but my father was a big hip-hop head. The first time I can recall hip-hop was when I was two years old and my father used to play Slick Rick's "The Great Adventures of Slick Rick" around the house a lot and the songs I can remember from that album is 'Hey Young World' and the classic 'Children's Story' at two years ago these songs caught my attention. I was two years old in my carseat going off with my mother and father to Slick Rick.

Rock with me for a minute:

In due respect, I have to give Slick Rick respect for making me take notice of hip-hop at two years old. By 1993, my family had migrated to South Carolina, where music became a big part of my life. As I stated, my father was a huge hip-hop fan and one day my father brought home "Doggystyle" by Snoop Doggy Dogg. At first, my mother and I looked at my father in confusion because we didn't really know who he was. But when he played it, I fell in love with it because all of the cuss words. To this day, I told my mother "Doggystyle" taught me how to cuss. Every time family would come over that album had to be played. I used to love when my father would blast this album because I could cuss without my parents hearing it. Besides the cussing, Snoop's rap flow was flawless on this. You can tell with this album Snoop had something to say and he was going to let the world hear no matter how vulgar it was. Then with the love of soul music, the production from Dr. Dre he used a lot of Curtis Mayfield and George Clinton which was also caught my attention. So in all thanks Snoop for teaching me how to cuss. (LOL)

Vibe with music: 

    What's My Name 

Doggy Dogg World

For All My Niggaz & Bitches

My Favorite Song on the Album

Ain't No Fun (If The Homies Can't Have None)

Now being from Brooklyn, my family definitely sided with the EAST when it came to the EAST vs WEST situation. In late 1994, I was riding home from school and I heard Brooklyn rapper made a song entitled 'Juicy'. When I heard this song, it made me feel something different. This rapper was telling his story about his struggle in Brooklyn and how he made it from negative to positive. So, I got home and told my family about it and my parents already knew this rapper. They told me his name was The Notorious B.I.G., I was surprised they knew with them being so "old" (just a joke mom). My dad said "Yeah we are going to get his album because he's from Brooklyn" (so biased). Now, with me being a Mary J. Blige fan, I didn't think this was the same guy that was on the 'Real Love' (Remix). But I didn't realize that later on. In Nov 94, my father brought "Ready To Die" home after that, The Notorious B.I.G became my favorite rapper of all time and still is. Biggie told stories about his struggles/outcomes and made you want to listen. This album in my opinion is the BEST HIP-HOP album of all time. Songs like Juicy, Everyday Struggle, Unbelievable, and Suicidal Thoughts are story-telling classics. This album is the main reason why I am so in love with hip-hop and every hip-hop album I listen to I try to compare it to "Ready To Die" and nothing can compare to this album, to me nobody has the story-telling gene like Biggie did and his flow is the best. (So what if I am being biased). Mine you this was hard for me to listen to anything else because "My Life" by Mary J. Blige came out around the same time so this album had to be epic for me to listen to because "My Life" was the only album was bumping to.

Listen to Biggie story-telling

 Brooklyn hip-hop anthem

Juicy

Biggie rode this beat flawless

Warning

Unbelievable

 

One of his best story-telling songs

Suicidal Thoughts

My Favorite song on the album

Everyday Struggle

Now this next artist I really didn't get into his classic album until middle school. But it also came out in 1994. Nas' "Illmatic" after I heard this album I knew that hip-hop will always be a part of my life. In this "Illmatic" album Nas was talking about how you can make yourself better and schooling you on knowledge. I heard this album at school doing basketball practice and I literally stop playing basketball to listen to this him. With "Illmatic" he made want something better for myself. He was teaching me things that my school didn't teach me about my culture, it actually made want to learn more about my culture. Songs like 'NY State of Mind', 'Life's A Bitch', and 'The World Is Yours' changed my outlook on life. When an album can do that, you know that it's a masterpiece. 

Learn something from Nas:

Life's A Bitch

My Favorite song on the album

NY State of Mind

Life Changing Song

The World Is Yours

It Ain't That Hard To Tell

As you can see I fell in love with hip-hop because of 4 rappers: Slick Rick, Snoop Doggy Dogg, The Notorious BIG, and Nas. These dudes caught my ear at a young age because all of them had a statement to express and they did through poetry. 

Now I am about to do my top 10 hip-hop albums of all time:

1.  Ready to Die - The Notorious B.I.G

2.  Illmatic - Nas

3.  Reasonable Doubt -  Jay-Z

4.  The Low End Theory - A Tribe Called Quest

5.  The Score - The Fugees

6.  Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers) - Wu-Tang

7.  Life After Death - The Notorious B.I.G

8.  Doggystle - Snoop Doggy Dogg

9.  The Blueprint- Jay-Z

10. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill- Lauryn Hill

WHEN DID YOU FELL IN LOVE WITH HIP-HOP?

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE HIP-HOP ALBUM & WHY?