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Posts Tagged ‘I Have Interests’
I Have Interests Volume 2: Gangs
Jeff Pickett | February 6th, 2009
Many people compartmentalize the music they listen to; evaluate it on a strictly sonic level. If it’s pleasing to the ears, or they can dance to it, they’ll download it on itunes and throw it on their “party” playlist. For me, music really comes to life when considered within the context it was created. When I listen to early Rolling Stones records, I hear six young Brits (don’t forget Ian Stewart, people!) swapping American Soul and Blues imports. When I listen to Black Flag, I hear a bunch of angry teens living in abandoned churches, dumpy rehearsal rooms, or the back of a van in Hermosa Beach. I was probably in 4th or 5th grade when I began to take a more active interest in popular culture in general, and the sounds on the radio in particular. In my life, those years fell during the early 90s, and coincided with the nationwide explosion of West Coast Gangster Rap. NWA had hit the scene years earlier, but when that group splintered into a half dozen solo careers, Gangster Rap really reached a new plateau and hit its stride. Any time the radio was tuned to Power 106, you’d hear the latest ultra-violent, ultra-amazing hit from Dre, Snoop, Cube, Eazy, Pac, the DOC, or DJ Quik, amongst others. Some parents protested, some kids posed the style, most people partied to the new sounds coming from America’s most marginalized demographic. I never found any interest in emulating the style of these frightening figures Continue reading…
