Even though I was born on American soil, America was still a foreign queen to me. I saluted her and praised her but I had no idea what it meant to be of her. So I listened to rap, hip hop, freestyle battles - all of it - to hear what America sounded like. I wanted to know why she made people cry, why she left some people to die and why so many were walking around hungry.
So my relationship to music relates to my own identity, what it meant to be black and American - two things that don't fit very well together. The music gave me a definition of self, something to cling on to when the reflection didn't seem to fit the spiritual.
Music. It was the first to understand me and for that I owe it recognition.
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