You're too young for that music

Well, fool, maybe you aren't old enough.

I talked to SD last night after MIB and I visited his Ma'Dear yesterday afternoon.  But, before we could get into the visit discussion good, he commented on my choice of music on my ring back (I'm not sure which song it is but I'm sure it was written and sung 10-20 years before I was even born...Motown sound for sure).   He told me that I was too "young" to have songs like that playing on my ring back. 



I'd rather listen to them than...



When I was a kid, I NEVER listened to hip hop or any current songs until I was about 8 or 9...especially rap/hip hop.  My parents raised me on Motown, the blues, and country and my personal interests in music included your typical 80s genre (Duran Duran, The GoGos...any white group with their name repeated twice).  But my personal favorite was Motown music before the 80s.  I learned about the beauty of strings in "Just My Imagination" before I picked up a viola.  I felt the sadness in "Reflections" before I could spell sadness properly.  I went "Cruisin'" before I learned how to ride a bike. 

To this day my favorite 45 (yes I said 45...damn maybe I AM getting old lol) is Diana Ross's "Upside Down" with "Mirror Mirror" on the B-side.  And being able to listen to these songs, sing along with them, reminisce about good times with my mom and daddy, and expose MIB to them makes me feel good.  It makes me feel like I am introducing a whole new genre of music to a new generation that would have never known that Patti LaBelle and her song "Love, Need and Want You" was the inspiration to Lloyd's "Lay it Down." 

Thinking about they way that the men and women dressed during the 50s up until the 80s makes me wish for those days again.  You would never see the Temptations looking like any ol' thing, running around with their asses hanging out with pants hitting their knees.  They.were.sharp.  Hear me?  SHARP.  Tuxedos, suits, coordinated outfits, the whole nine.  They LOOKED like a group (despite the issues they had within the group) and kept their look pleasing to the eye without offending Big Momma an 'nem...

And the women...talk about classy.  To see The Supremes with their wigs perfectly done (even though I know they were hot as HELL) and dresses that fit but covered EVERYTHING doing their little routines on stage made me want to be Diana Ross+hair (you KNOW her hair was and will always be her road dog).  I wasn't subjected to Buffy the Body, Beyonce's crotch, and everybody else's breasts (well areola but you get what I'm saying...they need to cover up [I'm looking at you Janet even though you are my girl]).  I learned that you could be classy, grown, and sexy without having only 15% of your body covered. 



...this fool here. Flame.



I know that many of these groups had their issues with divorce, infidelity, drugs (Mr. Ruffin), abuse (Mr. Ruffin), and a slew of other things.  But the images that they portrayed were grown, mature, and gave younger kids the proper impressions.  It taught my parents how to dress, how to carry themselves, how to be an adult...at least how to look and sound like one.  No Waka Flocka Flame here.

These groups and sounds and images made the person who I am. I am able to appreciate great music (with actual instruments!), real voices (that I can actually understand and don't need closed captioning to figure out what they are saying), costumes that took effort to create, and images that I don't mind exposing MIB to.  I have learned to understand and respect hip hop/rap for the creativity, talent (SOME of the artists), it's worldwide magnetism, and freedom of expression that it offered folks that had no other way to be heard.  I get that, I'm appreciative of that, and am glad that those voices were heard and allowed others to be musicians and composers that were able to usher in a new style that defines a generation or two.  But when push comes to shove, my young behind has an old ass soul and prefers to listen to the music that were part of my and my mother's formative years.  One day, MIB and me will have that connection and will be singing "Stop in the Name Of Love" in brushes and wooden spoons. 

 Maybe if SD would have been listening and paying attention to that instead of whatever it is he listens to now, he still wouldn't be trying to be a rapper*.

*kneegrow you are 34, it's over...sigh I'm so shamed