My name may be on this post but the credit should go to Saule Wright & Verbose; one asked this question in 2008 and one brought it back to like in 2010. Confused? Let me explain:
It’s been about a year and a half since we opened up the forums and on the second day Saule asked the question “WHEN DID YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH HIP HOP?”. People responded but after a few days the post died down. Well, last week the homie Verbose took him upon himself to bring it back up and calls yours truly out to join in. After reading the new posts and re-reading the old ones, I realized that it’s a pretty good read. Here’s a few response:
we bought the bootleg cassette and had no idea what we were buying. It looked like one of the rap tapes we see on TV. The tape was clear and the song titles were put on in what looked like wet white out…shit was smeared. The cassette mistakinglly labeled side B and side B. The tape jacket was just the outside, no liner notes. We popped the tape in….
“My name is D-Nice, although I hate to admit it. Takin’ out you suckas and you don’t know how I did it…..” the shit has been in me since then. – Saule Wright
I believe when I heard LL’s “I’m Bad”
That song had me hooked. I waited all night to catch that on the radio so I could record it. That is when I fell in love with Hip-Hop – King Jerm
The Black Album. 2003, I was in 6th grade I think. It killed me; I knew then that Jay-Z was one of the best rappers ever. Sadly, at that time, he was bowing out of the game for three years. In that time, I listened to all of the greats (Ice Cube, Snoop, 2Pac, Biggie, N.W.A., etc.) and also went through Jay’s entire catalog. – H20
When I first heard “In Da Club” by 50, I was in the 8th grade, after that track, I fucked with Rap/Hip-Hop since. Before that, I never listened to any kind of music. – Infamous F
Damn that’s a good question…my moment would have to be when I first heard “Summertime” by The Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Jeff and then found my older brother’s copy of the CD single with the instrumental, extended versions and remixes. I played the hell out of that CD while dancing to it and from there it was on with Hip Hop especially when I found his copy of Biggie’s Life After Death album. I feel in love with Hip Hop at a very young age with “Summertime” being released in 1991 and I haven’t lost it since. I still love H.E.R., even though she trippin’ with some of this shit being played nowadays (lol). – SBK
Well lets see…It was 98 and I was 10 years old. I had known about hip hop and listened to the classics but didn’t know they were classics until I really got into hip hop. But anyways…summer of 98. My brother bought me Juvenile’s 400 Degreez which introduced me to the South’s Hot Boys and really got me into hip hop. For the next year I would be jamming anything Hot Boys until my brother got me Dr. Dre’s 2001 and after that is history. I’m balls deep into hip hop and no getting out now. – DJ LP
Me being a young’ un (I mean I got into hip hop last year guys!) the first real cd I listened to was, “American Gangster” by none other than one of my favorite artists, Jay-Z. I think the first song i liked on that album was, oh wait, the first song I liked was, “Roc Boys (And The Winner Is…)” And I still like it to this day. – Chew
I didn’t know shit about hip hop during high school because the household I came from, my parents hated the themes and lifestyle advertised by the genre and it kind of just rubbed off on me.
That being said, I have to admit that when I heard “In da Club” (like Infamous) in 6th grade, I loved it, and I will credit that song for getting me interested in rap (that’s the only thing I thank 50 for).
I was first only interested in mainstream music, because honestly, I didn’t know anything else. However, one time I was in my cousin’s car and he played Jay-Z’s “U don’t Know” off the blueprint. It was 2006 and this was my first time hearing that 5 year old song, but when I got home I downloaded his whole catalog (Keyword: Downloaded) and it kind of just evolved from that.
It’s funny, the stereotypical dumb shit caught my interest (In da Club), but right now it’s the lyricism and deeper overall meaning that I live for. – Golden Boi
I always flirted with H.E.R., but it was only a casual thing. I remember the exact 2 albums that changed that. It was 2000 and I saw Dead Prez’s video for “Hip-Hop” on the boob-tube, and that was the realest thing I’d ever seen. I didn’t realize hip-hop could be like that! So I went out, bought Let’s Get Free, and wore the shit out of it. That and Deltron 3030, which also came out that year. Those 2 albums married me to H.E.R. for life. I went out, studied the history, really got into the backround and culture of it all. But even then, for years I’d only listen to “conscious” hip-hop. And then while I was still in Houston, someone turned me on to DJ Screw and all the Swishahouse shit, handed me a purple sprite and a blunt….and well, that started a whole other relationship (one I’m happy to say I’ve since divorced) but thats another story.
I tried to move to Memphis just to calm down, but it turned out they got even fuckin’ crunker there! Then I got turned on to Three 6, 8Ball and MJG, David Banner, Lil Jon and all the crunk stuff. And I raged with everyone else until we started to grow up (didnt we fam?)
it funny…to this day, when me and hip-hop start to lose touch? then comes a Kanye. or a Lupe. or a POS. or a Pac Div. another lil flicker to remind me that she’ll never really die.
to this day Dead Prez’s “Lets Get Free” and Deltron 3030 are still in my Top Albums of All Time (along with UNKLE’s “Psyence Fiction”, Deftones’ “Around The Fur”, Tom Waits’ “Small Change”, Ben Folds Five “Whatever and Ever Amen”, Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea”…..well, I could do this all day long)
point is tho, while I listen to all different types of music, I can’t say I ever really appreciated music until I developed a love of hip-hop. and thats why she’ll always be the most important. – Verbose
thts a tricky 1, av always liked hip-hop. 1st dominant memory is comin home frm junior school, puttin on MTV and some white unknown rapper named Eminem singin “hi my name is”, after tht i startd listenin to the whole west coast movement at tht time (dr dre – 2001, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit)
sayin tht i remember listenin to Busta Rhymes videos and missy elliotts “the rain”
think the 1st hip-hop album i did buy was “speakerboxx/lovebelow”, then Common “Be” came next – raza
I can honestly say that I’ve been in love with Hip-Hop for a minute. I actually don’t even remember what I listened to before I discovered Hip-Hop; I don’t think music was a big thing to me then. My earliest memory was probably in 1985. My sister is 10 years older so she initially was the one who got me into Hip-Hop. I remember her listening to LL Cool J’s “I Can’t Live Without My Radio”. I was very young but I kept asking her to play it over and over again. So much that she sometimes got upset with me.
One day we all in the neighborhood chilling; me playing with my friends in the street with toys and shit (Hood) and my sister is chilling with the older kids on the porch dancing to music to the stereo (Speaker out the window = hood).
All of a sudden “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” comes on and I immediately run and jump on the AC unit and started reciting every line. Kool-aid socks and all. Then some older dudes started rapping with me. It was on ever since then. – B-Easy
Insightful right? So of course the question is now presented to you: When did you fall in love with Hip-Hop? You can comment here but to honest, on this go around, you might as well jump in the forums and join the fun there. Our forums is awesome by the way (Shout out to Infamous F).