WeekendMix 4.26.13: GOING DOWN HIP HOP MEMORY LANE

House, Techno, Drum n Bass, yeah, I really dig those genres, but would you be surprised if I told you my first love was Hip Hop? Yeah, the boom bap still runs through my veins, a love I have never let go, even if I’ve not been happy with the genre as of late.

I seek out the new ish on the regular, not only on terrestrial radio, but also online radio, various Hip Hop mixtapes sites, Soundcloud of course. Personally, I’m disappointed most of the time. I mean, I’m no self righteous prude, and I doubt it’s simply due to my age, but sometimes I feel the excessive cursing and use of the N word is simply to mask a deep rooted lack of creativity.

There is some good ish out there though, just the other day I heard a track on the radio that reminded me of Outkast, circa mid 90’s more or less. I was driving and couldn’t Shazam the track and the radio DJ didn’t drop the name afterwards, so it’s lost, for the time being, in the memories of that day.

Speaking about memories, I realized recently when I came across the following mix by Kid Cutt from Stuttgart, Germany, that no matter how deep I go looking for that new ish to satiate my Hip Hop needs, the fact is what I will always appreciate most is that music that was the soundtrack of my life way back when. Masta Ace, Showbiz & A.G., Guru, Nas, EPMD, Mobb Deep, these names and many more are what I think about and what moves me the most when it comes to the boom bap. Sometimes, it’s not about looking for that new shit. It’s about simply enjoying what we know and appreciate. Sometimes, that’s all we need.