Ode to Hip Hop

Erykah Badu’s hit single “Love of My Life (Ode to Hip Hop)” was released in the summer months of 2002. As summer approaches, I could only do this song justice by writing my own ode to Hip Hop...

“This is street radio for unsung hero; ridin’ in the regal, tryin’ to stay legal… Yeah, you know how we do, we do it for the people”. Hip Hop spoke to me and while growing up I connected to this culture through its lyrical prowess; catchy beats and crazy but cool fashion. Hip Hop is meant for the people; Hip Hop is meant for me.

I grew up in a Christian-Caribbean household with a sister that’s 7 years older than me. Our father never really understood our love for the culture and he would constantly tell us “change that channel or turn that ‘rubbish’ off”. Little did my father now that we couldn’t just “switch the channel” on something that was so embedded in us; something that both him and my mother unconsciously invested in.

My sister and I would spend Saturday morning listening to HOT 97, writing down the lyrics to songs together. Whether the messages were positive or negative, we listened, wrote them down and just recited them for fun (weird, I know). At the age of five, my parents placed me in dance school and of course I enrolled in Hip Hop dance classes, moving to the beats and creating my story. “The karma of the streets is needs and takes. Sometimes, we find peace in beats and breaks”. Those dance classes gave me a sense of belonging and sense of peace, despite any crime my neighborhood was facing. I would walk into that wooden floor studio on East 92^nd Street and hear the beats of songs like “Momma Said Knock You Out” and know that I had entered my own little haven. I watched my sister get dress for school everyday wearing Perry Ellis flight jackets, timbs, cut-up jeans and plaid shirts. Once she left, I took her clothes to have the same image; the image that she replicated from those 90s videos. The daily routine in our house was Hip Hop and to my sister and I it wasn’t “rubbish”, it was just who we were. Hip Hop isn’t just a genre of music to me that so many people negatively criticize. Hip Hop was how I unconsciously grew up. As I observed the Eazy-Es and Run DMCs, I longed to be a part of that era when Hip Hop was born, but I never realized how much it was already apart of me.

Currently, we are in a more modern era of Hip Hop where some believe it has lost its way. The same love and passion I had for this global culture when I was younger has not left. At twenty-two years of age, though it has altered, Hip Hop is still very important to me. Like common so poetically said “vision realized, music affected lives”. Those Saturday mornings, dance classes, music videos and clothes I wore was such an important part of my upbringing. Although, my father didn’t like hearing the songs and seeing the videos, it affected my life; it allowed me to grow artistically and keep me heavily involved.

“Love of my life, you are my friend, love of my life, I can depend”. Erykah Badu, “Ode to Hip Hop” simply expresses what Hip Hop means to me. I look to Hip Hop socially, emotionally and academically. Listening to songs that evoke the same emotions I am feeling or playing and dancing to songs during get-togethers with friends. I did not grow up in the era of breakdancin’ outside in the park or MC battles on the streets (oh I wish I did), but I did grow up in the era where Hip Hop grew and became an international phenomenon. I couldn’t imagine my life without Hip Hop. Nas repeatedly said “save the music yall”, but I’m convinced the music saved me.