Coming of Age with Hip-Hop

Hip-hop has comprised a majority of my experiences with music. Even though my library has grown and I enjoy different genres, my appreciation for music began with my first encounter hip-hop and rap music. I was initially drawn to it because of its polarizing nature. Throughout most of my childhood my grandparents routinely went to church and listened to the Gospel, often telling me that I needed to pay attention to the word of the Lord instead of listening to rap. They never called it the devil’s music but that sentiment was evident in their statements. They would only let me listen to edited versions of rap songs, which didn't have any swearing. I was not living in a world of suffering or disempowerment, but turned to rap music to experience what Laderman calls, “the transformative power that emerges in the impressive physical sensations and emotional impact of shared musical moments”. I still felt as if I was being cheated out of the true experience, because I wasn't even able to enjoy every word of my favorite artists. 

My true immersion into hip-hop and rap music came in a very ritualistic way. On my 12^th birthday my father took me to the Virgin music store in Times Square, and told me he’d buy any CDs I wanted. Before this trip my adventures around the store had been monitored in an effort to keep me away from CDs with the “Parental Advisory: Explicit Content” warnings on the cover.  This moment encapsulates rituals occurring in time and space in a cyclical setting but functioned as a right of passage, a coming of age ceremony. I stepped into an atmosphere of physical freedom caused by radio waves of unfiltered content. I felt as if I had been given an open invitation to world where hip-hop could be appreciated for the elements that made it seem like “devil’s music”, in addition to aspects that caused its commodification and commercialization.