I remember falling in love with Van Halens’ music because my biological father Bob introduced me to them, which helped form my initial tastes in music. Later on in life I would start branching out to other genres of music such as heavy metal and hip hop, the latter of which eventually became my favorite genre. In the time since my early adolescence and particularly after watching the 2015 biopic Compton, I expanded my tastes further into 90’s era hip hop, becoming more familiar with groups like Gangstarr and N.W.A with rappers like Eazy-E, 2Pac, Notorious B.I.G (Biggie) and more recent and present day underground rap acts like Immortal Technique, Diabolic, R.A The Rugged Man and Vinnie Paz. Some of which appeared in video game and movie soundtracks which I watched and played during my youth.

Compton inspired me to do some independent research into Ice Cube, Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Tupac, Mobb Deep and others which lead me to Youtube content creators such as DJ Vlad and Karceno4Life who both filled me in with some of the lore surrounding these important figures of the genre, generating even greater interest in the topic and expanding tastes even further into it. A friend of mine, Desi, whom used to be one of my addict friends from the 2010’s introduced me to the New Jersey based hip hop crew The Fugees with Lauryn Hill and the other two rappers. Desi also got me into Schoolboy Q’s 2014 album Oxymoron, which I still enjoy to this day and still stands as a deeply nostalgic project for me. As mentioned in a previous post, my childhood friend John introduced me to Eminem in middle school.

So what do I find so appealing about the genre? I love the wordplay, double entendres, the ways in which the genre proves there are a never ending combination of ways you can piece together a phrase or sentence, pronounce a word and do so with a flow that still has meaning intact and still makes sense! It’s especially thrilling to hear a rapper convey a complex idea or feeling in such a way that makes me go “Wow, that’s really insightful, I never thought of it like that before!”. For as much of a fan as I am of the harsh vocals of death metal (Like Cannibal Corpose), I ultimately value lyricism that speaks to me over energy that pumps me up without making me think. While Metal and certainly rock can have insightful lyrics also, they simply can’t hold a candle to the rhymesayers who turn ordinary language and song from something you simply speak or sing into a mount rushmore of complex meaning and artistic conversation.

Among heavier acts in the metal department, I have a particular taste for bands like Avenged Sevenfold, Mastodon, Cannibal Corpse, At The Gates, Deicide, Immortal, Burzum, In Flames, Iron Maiden, Disturbed and Slipknot. Mastodon’s music feels like more than just a typical metal act. They are classed as Progressive Metal, meaning they tend to be more experimental in sound, showcasing a wide range of musical flavor. In the case of this particular band, you can listen to a chill and enigmatic song like Creature Lives, then to a classical rock song such as Curl Of The Burl, both songs from their 2011 project The Hunter. Some of my favorite of their heavier songs includes Where Strides The Behemoth, Pushing The Tides and Chimes At Midnight. Mastodon’s music feels like stepping into a mythical land of sound and esoteric meaning. Indeed, their 2009 album Crack The Skye explores the concept of loss with a rich and deeply complex fictional storyline intertwined into the project in something known as a Concept Album, an album in which all of the songs together are meant to tell a single story or convey an overall point. Their Album Leviathan is an example of a Concept Album because its artwork and songs fit the theme of Moby Dick.