As my articulate works blossom, you will witness my passion within the music community, mainly hip-hop & rap genres. You are probably wondering how the hell some woman from the small-town USA demographics and mentality would turn out to have such an admiration and love for the hip-hop community and the black community.
We didn’t have a lot of diversity where I am from, but we had a very few biracial kids we grew up with and biracial cousins in our own family. So that in itself taught me the basics of acceptance. For my passion for the hip-hop community in general, I blame my brothers (laughing). As early as I can remember, specifically fourth grade, I remember Andy (the oldest) driving us to school half the time rather than riding on the bus. It all depended on his schedule, to be honest, but we would listen to different music, but preferably Hip-Hop and R&B, because that is what Jon (my other older brother) only listened to while growing up.
We would listen to The Lox, Boyz II Men, Da Brat, Will Smith, 2Pac, Biggie, Snoop Dogg, etc. I was rapping along lyrics that my mom would probably have flipped about if she knew that was the type of music my brothers listened to around me. Can you imagine a ten-year-old white girl from an area where it’s so tiny that two towns had to join to be one school district? Let alone with only two biracial kids in the entire school at the time blasting “Gin & Juice” by Snoop Dogg in her big brother’s car? Yeah, that was me (laughing).
Three music albums would define my fandom and passion for Hip-Hop and other similar genres. The very first album and artist that would draw me into hip-hop would be Est. 1999 Eternal and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. My brothers introduced me to the next album, the Dr. Doolittle Soundtrack, released in 1998, produced by Timbaland. I was twelve at the time. Ginuwine’s song “Same Ol’ G” was my jam considering my last name started with a G, and I even had big dreams back as a kid. Aside from Ginuwine’s song, that album has fire after fire for each artist’s single put on that album. The second album would be Tupac’s two-disc Greatest Hits collection album released in 1998, only two years after his death.
The rest is history, and the exposure of hip-hop culture through access to MTV, BET, etc… would open my heart and eyes when it came to enlisting. My experience with the military truly cultured me with diversity and various backgrounds that represented the melting pot of the United States of America. The fallacy that felt so real within our military community made me believe that as long as we carry the US Flag with pride (or whichever coalition forces worked with us in Iraq/Afghanistan), you were my brother and sisters in arms.
I never comprehended or understood the miseducation and various issues as a child, or even right away with the military. However, the music and entertainment that was presented to me never stopped me from enjoying the events that provided and supported each soldier’s, airmen, etc… with salsa nights and hip-hop nights. These events were meant as morale boosters for those homesick in a war zone. It was a different atmosphere that I didn’t know really existed before the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. I sensed it, considering I was one of the few white folks going to every single hip-hop night throughout my tour in Taji, Iraq, back in 2006-2007.
My love for hip-hop would expand lyrically through artists like T.I., Kanye West, Eminem, Twista, etc. Of course, Mike Shinoda would release his album, “Rising Tied,” under his Fort Minor brand back right after I finished Advanced Individual Training, and I would play that album non-stop all through my deployment. The females would get so damn annoyed with me in the barracks, because “Where’d You Go” was my song during that deployment, and I would also have it as my ringtone for my phone at the time (laughing).
My battle buddies from Waco, Texas, whom I would bond with, would introduce me to artists like Tech N9ne as we pass the time with Spades on a nightly ritual working overnights at the dining facility. I would be more stoked when Bone Thugs, who are my all-time favorite hip-hop group, would release an album called “Strength & Loyalty” to help me get through the rest of my deployment in 2007.
Thank you for reading my blog. In return, I give you a playlist of Hip-Hop and R&B music that helped me through my deployment on Spotify!
Gautsch Vision 