My Radio
When I was in the 5th grade, I attended Betsy Ross Elementary. The year was 1996 and I was 11 years old. It was at this moment in time that two things happened to me. One of those things that occurred was my love for music. The other thing that occurred was my desire to create write poetry. These simultaneous moments changed my outlook on life. I always had a lust for music, but not the music most people would expect. I will admit that earlier in my life I HATED RAP MUSIC. I would listen to rock, pop, and classical music on my radio. My older brothers would blast rap music all day while my parents were at work, so I grew to dislike it. That was until I stumbled on a radio station that changed my entire perspective on rap music.
Since there was only one television in my household, my parents controlled what I watched. Since I resent being controlled, I would play my radio to escape what my parents watched. My radio was a hand-me down that had seen better days. My brother thought he broke it so he gave it to me. After I played with it for a while, I worked just fine. I saw an advertisement for a Top 40s station called B96 (96.3 FM), so I wanted to hear what they had to offer my young ears. It was this woman singing so eloquently my hormones got the best of me. I was in love with her at that moment. After the song ended they said her name was Selena and the song was named ‘Dreaming of You’. It broke my heart to later find out that she had past away the year before, and I missed the chance to really appreciate her. B96 would play other artists as well and I enjoyed how diverse the selection of music was. At night I would sleep to a classical music from WFMT 98.7 FM. It drove my parents’ nuts, but I was excelling in all of my studies. I felt smarter so I performed better in my classes.
Before I got all wrapped up in hip-hop music, I was not a fan at all. Public Enemy, NWA, A Tribe Called Quest, 2PAC, MC Lyte, Salt N Pepper, Kid & Play, MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, TLC, Snoop Dogg, Nas, Big Daddy Kane, Queen Latifah, Kool Moe Dee, Black Sheep, Digital Underground, and all other emcees were my worse enemies. Now most of these artists are in my itunes library, but then I hated then all. I was in the 5th grade when I was giving an assignment to write a poem about anything. My teacher told me that poetry was one of the fundamental parts of hip-hop music, which went back to the Harlem Renaissance and further that. My teacher explained that poets would recite their poems to a beat like emcees do in hip-hop music. Granted I hated hip-hop, but I hated getting bad grades more. So I began to write my poem. I had a crush on this girl so I wrote about her. I neither got the girl nor the best grade, but I did get a talent. My teacher said if I work hard at it that I could be a great writer. So that began my path towards writing poems, and later on 16 bar rap verses. There was a station that broadcasted hip-hop music that I really liked. It was called 106 Jamz (106.7 FM), and it featured all of the latest hip-hop music as well as the old school music that I used to hate. Unfortunately they went off the air in the summer of 1997 and I was very saddened. I credit this radio station for sparking my interest in hip-hop music.
Despite my physique I am not the most athletic, however my words do tricks like Copperfield on Halsted. I’m a poet by nature, but my heart beats music. That’s why I love rap, my reflection of this union. That was a little something I wrote to conclude this essay. I have been writing my poems and raps ever since the 5th grade. I have grown a lot since then, but I know I’m not done growing with my work. I frequently listen to the radio now, and I am repulsed by the music that is being broadcasted. I am grateful that I had a better quality of music to grow to.
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