With all going on with my Mad Skillz class and upcoming show, I was reminded of a good story today from when I was in 10th grade Biology class. Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion records had just been release, Pearl Jam was all over the radio, and Nirvana had a huge buzz all over school. I, however, was rockin' my 1988 DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper tape in my Walkman. Since rock was the mainstream at the time, I of course would be liking something that nobody was into which was rap.
The first cassette I ever bought on my own was DJJJ+FP's"And In This Corner..." right at the end of 8th grade. I adored that record (and still do) so a couple of years later, I was checking out their back catalog. The first time I heard the title track, I was blown away by how complex and hard hitting the rhyme flow was. I bumped that record constantly from the summer into the 10th grade. I wrote a ton of rhymes on my textbook covers trying to do something similar to what they were doing. I lived, breathed, and recited that record all of the time - in between classes, at lunch, when I got home. It gave me the reinforcement to pursue music as a performance medium.
There was this guy in class Colin who LOVED to torment me. I was his favorite guy to pick on during that class. I was nerdy, not popular, and different enough to not fit in. So, the daily ritual went as follows:
The first cassette I ever bought on my own was DJJJ+FP's"And In This Corner..." right at the end of 8th grade. I adored that record (and still do) so a couple of years later, I was checking out their back catalog. The first time I heard the title track, I was blown away by how complex and hard hitting the rhyme flow was. I bumped that record constantly from the summer into the 10th grade. I wrote a ton of rhymes on my textbook covers trying to do something similar to what they were doing. I lived, breathed, and recited that record all of the time - in between classes, at lunch, when I got home. It gave me the reinforcement to pursue music as a performance medium.There was this guy in class Colin who LOVED to torment me. I was his favorite guy to pick on during that class. I was nerdy, not popular, and different enough to not fit in. So, the daily ritual went as follows:
- I'd show up to class 5-7 minutes early. Colin would already be there.
- I'd put on my headphones to block out everyone else and get a little bit of solace before class began.
- Colin would see me and get together with his buddies in class to call me names and threaten me.
- I'd appear to ignore them but would listen to every word they were saying.
- After class started, everything would be fine until about the last 2-3 minutes where we'd start packing up to go to our next class. I'd think about all of the things I should've done in retaliation.
At our high school reunion, I kind of hoped I would run into the guy just to see how he was doing. He didn't go (at least I don't think he did) but I had some of those battle rhymes stuck in my heads. I was going to thank him for being a dick all of the time back in high school. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have practice my craft so much.
I feel I have gained a leg up from that experience with free-styling and song composition. Can't wait to use that past pain to fuel my future happiness.
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