Now here’s a little story I’ve got to tell…

It was the winter of ‘86. I was in the second grade.

Standing underneath a mystical live oak tree, complete with its bendy branches that nearly touched the ground, I heard it. Hip hop music. The Beastie Boys blared through the little red jam box I’d received the prior Christmas. It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced and differed from all of the music adults around me were listening to in so many ways that I leaned into every rhyme as if it solely belonged to me.

🎵 ‘Now here's a little story I've got to tell

About three bad brothers you know so well

It started way back in history

With Adrock, MCA and me, Mike D…’ 🎵

I’m not sure the average second grader was as dialed into License to Ill as much as I was, but my mom never minded my music and this gift catapulted me into worlds beyond Osteen, Florida day after day, mostly via the Orlando based radio station 102 Jamz.

As the years passed, I explored many genres of music, falling in love over and over. But, hip hop…it belonged to the kids and I was comfortable in that existence. I always thought I needed to seek out this music so many adults said was detrimental to me.

I’d never heard of 2LiveCrew until it was banned in Florida…and what did I do when I learned the folks down in Broward County and Governor Martinez made it illegal to sell 2LiveCrew’s music? I went looking for it. As Nasty as They Wanna Be was certainly nasty and not my jam, but you best believe I listened to every single lyric- because the government said I shouldn’t. After all, Tipper Gore and her parental advisory group was not my mom. Teenager- duh.

I was in high school when Dr. Dre’s The Chronic took over my bedroom jams. Could I relate to the lyrics? No. Did I love the poetry and the beats? Absolutely. Dre and Snoop’s smoothness were, once again, unlike any of the music my mom was listening to and in my home, hip hip still belonged to only me.

🎵’Gimme the microphone first, so I can bust like a bubble

Compton and Long Beach together, now you know you in trouble…’ 🎵

Years later, I went to Long Beach on a work trip…and I gotta say, it was nothing like Snoop painted it to be. I only saw pristine coastline with well-manicured neighborhoods and boutique hotels.

My freshman year of college at The University of Memphis was littered with concert after concert and brought me my first hip hop shows. The Student Activities Council (SAC) kicked off the school year with a parking lot celebration featuring George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic, solidifying the understanding that funk is the core of hip hop. I wrapped my first year of college standing front row in another SAC hosted concert- Run-D.M.C. I didn’t have Adidas, but if I did, that would’ve been the night to wear them. Tone Loc was there as well, taking his song ‘Wild Thing’ to the stage. I dug into my inner child and somehow remembered every single lyric- lyrics that had zero meaning to me when I’d heard them a decade prior- just so inappropriate, honestly. I went on to attend countless concerts- some I loved and some I didn’t, but live music always brings a good time.

Modern day, hip hop is my daughter’s favorite genre and whew, lemme go on and tell ya, I have to tune out some of the lyrics as her mom. But artistically, Eminem is the Picasso of hip hop and like my own mother, I do not censor art. And quite honestly, I love that we share our love of music with one another. One of my most favorite nights with her was family night at the Drake and Lil Wayne concert. Such good times.

Do I love all of the yucky lyrics? No way. Do I understand how some parents are steadfastly against it? Absolutely.

But, that poetry…those beats. Just incredible art to me. And for me, it’s a conduit between the little girl back in the1980s and the one that is now in her teen years and tends to keep her bedroom door closed a little too much for my Momma heart. I’ll meet her wherever she is…always.

A recent Book Club selection led me to share my love of hip hop music with you…who knew this group of middle aged Boca ladies was so cool? Me. I did. Of course…