Old School vs New School...

Don’t get me started on oldies! Being the son of Rose Waterford and Phil Waterford I couldn't grow up without having oldies pressed upon me. Luther Vandross, Prince, Al Green, Teddy Pendergrass, Earth Wind & Fire, Temptations, James Brown, Bobby Womack, Marvin Gaye, El Debarge, Rick James, Teena Marie, Al B Sure, and Howard Hewitt, to name a few! You can put on a song from any of these artists and I will have a story for you. I would like to thank my family for introducing me to this genre of music at an early age for many reasons. Music back then was about love and the finer things in life. These artists would put all their feelings out there and tell you exactly how they felt. Songs back in the day had substance to them. Marvin Gaye, “Whats Going on?” lyrics were so powerful and had so much meaning.  He touched so many lives talking about real life issues, including poverty, the Vietnam War, and drug abuse. Al Green “Let’s stay together” talks about how in love he is with his woman. How many songs do we hear in present day where the opening line is “I’m so in love with you?”


Music has changed, and the emphasis from love has changed to material things such as cars, money, clothes, etc. Now I am not saying that “good” music does not still exists, because it definitely does. All I am saying is it is just not as frequent as it once was. I am not even saying that songs about material things are bad. If I said that I would be a hypocrite because I assure you that I will be in the club in the nearby future getting my freak on to people like Soulja Boy and Wacka Flacka Flame. Nothing against Soulja Boy or Wacka Flacka Flame, I support anybody getting their hustle on making money. So by all means keep doing the damn thing! All I’m saying is, when did the emphasis of music change? I am truly a fan of music; I can pull out my iPod right now and recite every lyric from artists like Luther Vandross to Tupac Shakur, so personally I understand music from back in the day and music in present day.  Watch this standup comedy video of Steve Harvey talking about these issues. There is a lot of truth to what he is saying, plus he’s really funny.

What is music...

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Music is more than a beat with words. Music is a way of life. Music is a culture. Music can motivate you. Music is my drug. Music can take you places that you have never been, and take you places you have been before. Every time I hear Hypnotized by Notorious BIG I think of the summer time in Chicago in my dads two-seater drop top black Mercedes Benz going to baseball practice with my older brother. I was in the back with the enormous sub-woofer to my left while watching my dad and my brothers head bob to the beat screaming out "BIGGIE BIGGIE BIGGIE, CAN'T YOU SEE, SOMETIMES YOUR WORDS JUST HYPNOTIZE ME! I guess you can say actions and words are imitated because at a young age I was doing the same thing in the back seat imitating my two role models. It seemed like that song put extra life into us, and we would all be in a better mood and energized us for practice. Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without hearing "Santa Clause is coming to town," or "I saw mommy kissing Santa Clause" by the Jackson 5! I swear those two songs just made Christmas that much better! I could listen to those songs to this day and I can see myself ten years ago opening presents with my family having the time of my life. Music is comforting to me and for every mood that I am in; I have a song for how I feel. I would like to thank Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Michael Jackson, Drake, R. Kelly, Usher, John Legend, Musiq Soul Child, Alicia Keys and MANY MORE for consistently putting out GOOD music with substance. These artists are only a fraction of artist who have had an impact on my life. I could go on and on and fill up this whole page with artists and songs that have impacted me one way or another, but they have all brought joy to my life, comforted me in situations when I needed advice, and have been there through hard times. Now I don’t know these artists personally, but when I put on my purple beats by Dre and zone out, I swear they are talking to me. What is music to you?