#whatsyourfavsong

#whatsyourfavsong?
It’s that feeling, y’all. It’s music, yet again.
“Then cool out to the music cuz it makes you feel serene, with the birds and the bees and all those groovy things. Like getting stomach aches when you gotta go to work, or staring into space when you’re feeling berserk…”
“Music is the soul of the man. Music makes a, happy day. Music makes a cloud flow by, baby. Your music is my tears inside my eyes.  Your music makes me want to sing. Girl music, is a joy to bring. Music is my heart and soul, more precious than gold.”
For the record, that’s Q-Tip from “We’ve Got the Jazz”, and The Master himself, the great, late Marvin Gaye along with Erick Sermon on “Music,” a track that Erick paired both his rap lyrics and production with Marvin’s a cappella lyrics from “Turn On Some Music (I’ve Got My Music).”
If you ever in life feel like you don’t have a friend in the world, never forget the fact that you’ve always got music. Just press play. The genre doesn’t matter: rap, r&b, rock, country, gospel, punk, grunge, big band, blue grass, alternative, reggae, classical, salsa, merengue, freestyle (think Marc Anthony mid-80s, not Murda Mook and Loaded Lux), reggaeton, go-go, new wave, heavy metal…whatever. Put your left and right Beats or ear buds on or in. Get into your zone.
Personally, my mood and/or activity rarely define my musical preference. Moreover, I’m an eclectic. I can be working out on the court playing Mary’s My Life album start to finish. I can be putting a Dutch of #dour in the air to Miles Davis’ “Moon Dreams” off The Birth of the Cool. I can be writing a blog to Talking Heads’ “Once In a Lifetime” (in progress). But it doesn’t matter. My PNC Mr. Ten told me about one of his Decatur niggas who would be in the Chevy riding out en route to a “Lick” playing Diana Ross, burner on the lap. It doesn’t matter. It’s your preference. You flow how you feel like flowing.
How often do you hear a song that makes you stop dead in your tracks, regardless of whatever you’re doing? Not only does it stop you dead in your tracks, it also immediately puts you in the DeLorean with the flux capacitor and takes you directly to a specific memory associated with that song. Often time it takes you back to that period of time when the song was out, that time when it was “the rave of the town to your foes and your friends” (that’s Q-Tip again, same damn song). Anytime I hear “Flipside,” it’s immediately summer 2003 in Jeff Projects. It was the theme song to that summer. It was a much younger me, Jose, and Leaha, and Shay Shay was still trying to get walking down pact. It was the last summer that I listened to the radio, save being in someone’s car or in someone’s house. I was a completely different person. So was the world. Few outside the state of Illinois had ever heard of Barack Obama. No one’s phone took pictures; there was no true smart phone or full web browser on phones. It was seven years before my first tweet. P.R. was still living. Life goes on, life changes. Those songs that are an indelible part of your heart and soul, they change too. They get better and better with time. They’re that good kinda change. That’s just one song. I can name a million songs and a million memories to associate with them, as can you. I’ve coined a term for a complete time period of r&b. I label all early to mid ‘80s r&b the #WBLSdays, a tribute to my formative years when 107.5 was on in my apartment(s) in uptown NYC, the time period when I’d learn 95% of the ethics in life that are most important. It was the time when, to me, my mommy was as tall as the floats she’d take me downtown to see every Thanksgiving Day morning at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Somehow, all these years later, she’s even more amazing.
I basically only broached upon music and what it means to me, means to us. I could write a War and Peace sized blog on that, if the spirit were to hit me. But I feel that this bit is enough. Music is on my mind even more than money. Just like Papa Levert dem, I love music. Music gives me life.
Send all love/hate mail to [email protected]. Follow me on the twitter @tymonday, where I talk historic horseshit on a semi-regular basis. Also be sure to follow my brogod @themisterceizzo, as well as our squadron @crewunB. While you’re on the site, be sure to scoop some of our fly and original a la carte tees. We plan to dominate the summer, then the globe. Y’all be cool how y’all be cool.