No, heffa...not everyone who likes rap/R&B/hip-hop is looking to get shot or sell drugs. A friend of mine recently expressed to me his lack of knowledge on the subject of "urban" music, if you will. I was trying to think of a way to explain to him the swag that is brought out when listening to this kind of music. You don't have to be black, you don't have to have lived the life, you don't have to really even understand a lot of what they are saying with their music. All you have to do...is feel it. Feel the fire. Feel the rawness and the utter insanity that is behind it. Feel the beats, feel the rhythm, let yourself let go. There are many genres of music that I listen to to raise my voice and sing with everything I have. Then there's rap - I don't listen to it to get any sort of epiphany about life or music. I listen to it to tap into that person inside of me with the biggest dose of self-esteem on the block. "Some call it arrogance, I call it confidence." - Beyonce. Whether it's R.Kelly's "Bump & Grind" unearthing your innate sexuality or "No Love" with Eminem and Lil Wayne bringing out your inner gangster and making you feel like you could own this world...even if that world is just in your car. Self-esteem is something that is greatly underestimated in this world and I believe anything that boosts it, even if superficially and for under four minutes, is as important as breathing. For some, music is an escape. An escape from reality, from life, from your worries, from your troubles, from thinking about anything and everything but the beats slamming through your soul. You can smoke a blunt, put on some Snoop Dogg, and chill the fuck out. Or you can throw on some Hot Boyz from back in the day and shake your ass. Do what you wanna do, feel it, and appreciate it. Don't hate on it just because it's different, celebrate it it because it's happening. It's life. It's beautiful. It's real. Love. Learn. Feel. Expand your horizons.
