David Hill
“It’s my life, so I gotta tell it how I see it”
It was another family reunion and we were getting ready to pile into the car and head to my grandmother’s house. (She always had one gaming system that was a generation behind whatever was out at the moment so it was always cool to kick it old school.) We, meaning my dad, mom, brother and I, would arrive and immediately after knocking, were usually greeted by one of my Uncles. As soon as I walked inside the recognizable, musty smell of an old, lived-in house filled my nostrils along with the familiar sight of all my aunts and uncles dispersed all over. Greetings were exchanged for maybe the first five minutes, then I ran upstairs to my two older male cousins, Jimmy and Zollie, playing Mario on the Nintendo Entertainment System. The familiar Mario tunes filled my ears, and I could feel the soft carpet under my feet (I had previously taken my shoes off at the bottom of the stair.) Then I saw Jimmy make Mario jump a little too soon and as the familiar tune of Mario’s demise played over the television, he looked to see me and I saw his hand extend the familiar rectangular controller to me.
“And in the end some Gungans died
Some ships blew up and some pilots fried
A lot of folks were croakin'
The battle droids were broken
And the Jedi I admire most
Met up with Darth Maul and now he's toast
Well, I'm still here and he's a ghost
I guess I'll train this boy”
(Weird Al Yankovic, “Saga Begins,” The Saga Begins, 2000)
Honestly, “The Saga Begins” by Weird Al Yankovich is one of the few songs I can really remember bringing back any sad memories. This song comes to mind, though I don’t remember everything that happened exactly, just that I had had a bad day at school, along with other issues. I held in all my emotions and feelings until later that night when I was laying in my bed and I had a JVC MP3/CD player that I had gotten for Christmas that year. I had a CD in and “The Saga Begins” was my favorite song at the time, so, of course,` it was the first song on the list, and I turned it on to just chill out and relax. Something about the “American Pie” beat coupled with Star Wars themed lyrics in some way allowed me to think clearly and helped me relax. Listening to this song just helped to clear my mind and allowed me to reminisce about all the previous happenings of the day. So when the part of the song came on( about 4 minutes) in about the Battle on Naboo being over evoked a sad emotion and I guess this along with the thinking about being bullied earlier that day caused tears to begin streaming down my face and I eventually just cried myself asleep.
“No more games, I'ma change what you call rage
Tear this mothaf**kin roof off like 2 dogs caged
I been chewed up and spit out and booed off
All the pain inside amplified
it's no movie, this is my life
these times are so hard and it's getting even harder
Too much for me to wanna
Stay in one spot, another day of monotony
Has gotten me
I've got to formulate a plot
Success is my only mothaf**kin option, failure's not
Feet fail me not this may be the only opportunity that I got”
“Lose Yourself” by Eminem (Eminem, “Lose Yourself,” 8-mile,2002)
This song has been one of my favorite songs since my 6th grade year of middle school, since the movie 8 Mile came out. Of course, I thought the movie was tight. The rapping was the big theme of the movie, and hip-hop was pumping out chart-toppers. Once I heard this song a second time, I got super pumped. The first time I heard this song my jaw dropped, because I was just in awe and I liked it so much. The song has a great beat and it can get you hyped by listening to it but this song has another side to it. After listening to this song numerous times, I was able to decipher a deeper meaning and I had new perspectives about things I once thought I knew pretty well. It changed my perspectives in areas like our government, people’s lives, everyday struggles, and how people lived depending on their social class. As for feelings, there are a few. For one, it gets me pumped up. Like, pretend someone was in your face, disrespecting you and just really offending you. If I listened to this song while or even before someone did that it would probably give me the energy and strong enough feelings to get back in their face and show them just how much I didn’t like how they were treating me. The song “Lose Yourself” gives me more feelings than just pump me up. Because it makes me think and really analyze things I find it relaxing at times. When I listen to it sometimes I can really focus and be driven to do whatever particular task I’m doing. It basically helps me focus. For example, I was listening to it as I wrote this (the first time) and I was able to focus really well and disregard any distractions.
…Ey, don’t you know I got
key by the three when I chirp shawty chirp back
Louis nap sack where I hold'n all tha work at
What you know about that?
What you know about that?
What you know about that?
I know all about that
Loaded 44s on the low where the cheese at
Fresh off the jet to the ‘Jects where the G’s at…
(T.I. “What You Know, King,2006)
I remember this song came out my sophomore year of high school. There are many different sets of memories I have involving just this one song. It was a pump up song for football games and wrestling matches, it was that one song with the distinct, loud bass, it was the song everyone talked about at school, and it was and still is one of my favorite songs. I can remember installing a system in my car of four MTX 12” subwoofers in the back of my GMC Jimmy and the first song I played when I got them turned on was “What You Know” and every time I hear this song it takes me back to a certain time of bliss. There were hardly any responsibilities. The only focus was (and in this order) Football, school, women, and popularity. Looking back now, this song really takes me back to high school and ties some great memories along with some bad ones too. Relationships at school were bad with everyone it seemed, except for with my teachers. On the bright side, sophomore year was like a “coming out of my shell” experience because I was meeting people that I became great friends with outside of school, forming lasting relationships. Overall, this song has not been dulled by time and still brings back great memories. I am able to enjoy this song as entertainment and the specific memories have not been distorted.
“So many doubt 'cause I come from the South
But when I open up my mouth, all bullets come out
Bang! Die bitch nigga die I hope you bleed a lake
I'ma play x-ray, helpin' y'all see the fake
I'm just tryin' to be the great, tryin' to get a piece of cake
Take it offa your plate, eat it right in your face
They got a whole lot to say but I don't listen
Call me automatic Weezy bitch I keep spittin', pow”
(Lil Wayne ft. Robin Thicke, “Shooter,” Da Carter II, 2005)
If I were stuck on a desert island with the option to pick only one song, I would choose to listen to “Shooter” by Lil’ Wayne. This song brings back so many good memories. It’s a great song and very dynamic. When I say it is dynamic, I mean it can have so many different effects on you depending on the mindset you’re in when you start listening to this song. Let me give an example: Say you’re calm but you need to get pumped up for something like a sports game or a show, then you turn this song and let it play through. By the end of the song you’re gonna be totally pumped up. On the reverse side: Say you’re really pissed off and you just need to relax, you play this song and next thing you know, you’re normal again.
This song is so different each time you actually listen to it because you can catch new and different things every single time you hear it. You can do work to it, get in a rhythm with it, anything! That’s why I’d choose this song to listen to over and over and over and over and over on a lonesome island.
“Sometimes I think sitting on trains
Every stop I get to I'm clocking that game
Everyone's a winner now we're making that fame
Bonafide hustler making my name”
(M.I.A., “Paper Planes,” Kala, 2007)
Dear Kelley,
I love listening to Paper Planes with you in the car or at your house, wherever. It’s so cute to see you dance along and do motions to the lyrics. Almost every time that song comes on I can just visualize you in my head being so cute and wonderful! Basically, it reminds me of how much and I love you and why I love you for who you are. I just couldn’t be without you, baby. I need you! I can always feel you with me wherever I go. I really feel like your presence is inside me. You are a part of me in so many ways. You were right in the text message you sent me earlier – “we’re always be together” haha…
You were asleep… Kinda. But I know you meant it in every way and I agree we will always be together. Well, hey! I gotta wrap this up… we’ll talk later. I LOVE YOU!
-Dave
If I were training for the Olympics, I would listen to the Halo Theme song; the original, from Halo, or the M.J.O.L.N.I.R. mix from Halo 2. I would definitely have to play it over numerous times because for some reason whenever I’m at the gym working out and I’m starting to get winded from running I’ll skip ahead to this song on my “Hype music” playlist and as soon as the “monk chant” sequence begins I get chills and I immediately get this inner feeling of my energy building back up. Then, the battle segment of the song starts soon after. This is where I feel invincible, like I can take on anything. I would definitely use this training for any sport I was training for at the Olympics. I would probably train for football if they had that as an Olympic sport but if not I would like to train for boxing or wrestling. Especially since I have long envisioned myself as a boxer, I would just need proper training.
“Baby I’m me, I’m me. So who are you? You’re not me, you’re not me…” That’s an excerpt from a song by Lil’ Wayne entitled “I’m Me.” This song is a lot of a little, meaning this song has many tid-bit meanings that relate to each other. It’s a song about his individuality and in a sense I feel that I can relate to what he says. I believe this song has a deeper meaning about being who you are no matter what. The song says to me to look past it when other people judge you because no matter what, other people are going to judge you. The song is about doing what you do to make you an individual. It’s about doing what you can to be the best and not letting anything get in your way. I would want everyone to listen to this song right before meeting me because this song would help people remember and realize that everyone is different and individual in their own unique ways. My interpretation “Be you no matter what, keep working hard and don’t change for anyone or anything.”
Bibliography
Eminem, “Lose Yourself,” 8-mile, 2002
Lil Wayne ft. Robin Thicke, “Shooter,” Da Carter II, 2005
M.I.A., “Paper Planes,” Kala, 2007
Yankovic ,Weird Al, “Saga Begins,” The Saga Begins, 2000
T.I. “What You Know”, King, 2006< http://www.metrolyrics.com/what-you-know-lyrics-ti.html>
Lil’ Wayne, “I’m Me”, The Leak, 2007
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