Monday, November 5, 2012

Back In The Day

Welcome back boys and girls! While most of my forays into the writing world are driven by anger at the stupidity that surrounds me, today's journey is more nostalgia based. Is this a trip back to the days when I thought PDDFL was a great producer? Is it the fact that I could really go for a Chocodile and a Zeltzer Seltzer? Is it that I want to organize a Million Man March on Netflix headquarters in order to get BJ and the Bear streaming? Sadly, nay nay. What brings me here today is music.

I was driving to work this morning and heard LL Cool J's "I Need Love" on the radio. Hearing that song immediately brought me back to 1987 and the release of the BAD album (LL's BAD, not MJ's). This was the first "slow jam" rap that I had ever heard, and I can remember it playing after Mama Montego had told New Yorkers to "take care, darling...and walk good." This was LL's sophomore effort after he had stomped on the scene with the Radio album. As a 16 year old hip hop head, (pre lip licking) James Todd Smith was one of my favorites. We all know that he has gone on to become a film and TV actor today, but back then he was just a bad ass kid from Farmers Blvd with a hat like a shark's fin. He was so BAD that he had not one, but TWO DJs; Bobcat and Cut Creator. I can, to this day, sing every song on that record from "I'm Bad" all the way down to "The Do Wop". While many kids of my era will tell you that Zeppelin or Floyd shaped their musical tastes, I will tell you that LL's BAD album shaped mine.

Music is amazing; it can transport you to a time or place that is long gone. It has magical powers that do not require you to go 88 miles per hour, nor are you required to generate 1.21 jigawatts of power in order to go back in time. I am not a music snob, there are many songs from many different bands that can take me to many different times. Jethro Tull takes me back to my early youth, A-ha takes me back to the early days of MTV (back when they still played videos), Queen Latifah takes me back to the Catherine Street Center and my High School days, Another Bad Creation brings me back to Boot Camp....the list goes on. What I am trying to say is that music is a great thing.

I have been into hip hop since I was about 12 years old, but there is really no record that stands out in the "shaping of my youth" more than that one. While I know that this is not what all of you may have listened to, but you all have a song or a record that takes you back. Don't get me wrong, I do not wish that I were a kid again, like Ahmad (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyVu_v82vjM) but I do wish they made music like they used to. So...what am I trying to say? What is the song that takes YOU back? And where does it bring you? That's all for now...see you all in Los Gatos, California for the Million Man March on Netflix! Until then...Stay Salty.
-Salty Dog