East Meets West

So, after the other day's post I had to sit down and really think about what was about to happen. To do this I did a short list of commands. Select "Kanye West"|Select All|Play and that's all it took.  I simultaneously watched Kanye's concert in Singapore while I was listening to hit after hit after hit. I reminisced about days of DVC, of Sargon Shots, of Tuesday house parties and Wednesday classes.  When Benny and Claude discovered the art of continued listening and found Graduation Day, when my song was Spaceship (I was the Gap like Banana Republic and Old Navy), and as I transitioned to his Late Registration I found myself in San Diego where, to date, I lived THE GREATEST YEAR OF MY LIFE.  I was Gone off those Roses as this Crack Music forced me to Drive Slow on My Way Home.

Kanye did it over and over again, as his pinnacle was reached on his Graduation, I too took to the seats and sat cap and gowned. That whole album was a hit, like Barry Bonds.  Almost Everything I Am I owe, in some way, to Kanye West and his music. I Wonder if my Good Morning was what made me Stronger, what gave me the Good Life, what brought all those Drunk and Hot Girls and Flashing Lights.  But, alas, I was Heartless when he dropped 808's and Heartbreaks. He had changed, he had lost a lot. I thought he turned his back on us when he made such a evolutionary album... I now know that it was, in fact, revolutionary and evolutionary, and I was merely a single celled organism in the primordial pool that is Kanye West.

How can one man have so much Power.

Power

Just when I thought my world was a shade of black and white, Kanye comes through with a splash of gold.  I hope to speak for all Kanye fans when I say it's about time.  I'm still in a state of shock, so here's the video.
Power

Hip Hop Saved My Life

Music is prevalent in our society. In some ways it guides our everyday thoughts, our intentions, our lives.  Music is our inspiration. Music is our reason for being. Can you imagine a world without music? Nothing but the sounds of footsteps, horns and chatter. Doesn't sound like a place I want to be.

I've avidly collected music since torrents were just scour.net (and if you remember scour than I applaud you).  When singles were in and albums were rare, I was trolling through websites, peer2peer programs and friendly PCs searching for my next fix. Alternative, trance, 80's hits, rap, or hip-hop; just one genre wasn't enough.  From that point on in my life I realized that I had a permanent soundtrack in my head that would never stop playing, and I'm thankful for it.  Lupe Fiasco once stated that "hip hop saved my life", I can speak for myself when I say that it definitely saved mine and it does so 'til today.

In the passed few years, we've seen a inverse in the evolution of music or the way it is distributed.  From LPs to CDs, music is slowly losing its place in the brick and mortar building it called home for over five decades.  Music is becoming a commodity among the billions of bites of information within the online universe.  Slowing finding its way into secured and masked websites that distribute this digital crack by the millions to fans who don't see the light.

Fans who don't know that, as a whole, we can revolt. We can say that we wont pay.  We have been placed in the position to feel bound by these laws, these rules.  File sharing was just about that, sharing. It transformed the music industry.  Hurt and helped thousands of fans and artists alike.  It's refreshing to know that there will always be balance in this world.

Hip-Hop saved my life and I want to return the favor.