This idea just came to me randomly today, on fathers day ironically enough. I’m always writing about my preferences on what I think about music. Yet I’ve never really delved into how this came about. Obviously musical influences came from both parents… but this is Fathers day lol.
From the early days my dad was mainly about house, house, house and more house. I couldn’t stand it until I was about 18 (28 now *cries*) For example stuff like this:
or this:
This is all stuff that I love now and would take over ANY of the current tech/deep house that’s exploded in the last few years. Anyways I’m digressing from the story. Back when I was in primary school I’d go round to my dads and be subjected to a lot of this music in preparation for a set. For example at one of the raves he used to hold , in practice for Freek FM at the time or just for fun lol. As you can see below this was during some of my formative years musically.
I didn’t see it at the time but I guess it helped shaped my musical preference later on in life.
But outside of this was where I really flourished, the introduction to all of the hip hop. Nas, Mobb Deep, Gravediggaz, ODB, A Tribe Called Quest and so on. I remember after hearing A Tribe Called Quest “Beats, Rhymes and Life” album I asked my dad to make a mixtape of all the hip hop albums he was into. At this time it was literally a mixtape before CD really kicked off as much and CD Recorders costed Dough! On “Phony Rappers” I remember Q-Tip Talking about taking out a rapper in a battle on the train. “Yo blah blah blah check it out that’s what he said and then I came back and just fucked up his head!”. Bear in mind this album dropped in 1996 so I would have been 9 at the time lol.
I remember hearing the Gangstarr “Moment of Truth ” album around the time it dropped in 1998! Honestly I haven’t stopped listening to this album since that day. When the video for “You Know My Steez” dropped I used to sit there nodding my head and rapping along to all the bars. Obviously this wasn’t the only song/ album that had me like this.
If I actually sit down and think about it most of my favorite early hip hop albums are all in his collection. Pete Rock and CL Smooth ” The Main Ingredient”, Erick Sermon “Double or Nothing”, Mobb Deep ” The Infamous” Nas “Illmatic”. These albums set on my road to find my own style of music I was into, as time I went on I discovered groups/artists like Slum Village/Little Brother and so on. Nowadays I’ve branched out so much as you’ll see from other posts but it definitely helped lay the foundations.
On the flip-side my Dads record collection introduced me to none other than D’angelo. Oh man my mind was blown when I first heard Voodoo (yes I heard Voodoo in it’s entirety before I heard Brown Sugar).
Outside of this were artists ranging from Eddie Kendricks to Maxwell and even early Teddy Riley stuff.
I guess writing this was just to make a point on where/how my dad influenced me and where it’s led me to now. I could write a lot more but you know what I think I’ve put my point across in small amount of words for once lol.
Peace,
Ramblings of a Music Fan
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Ramblings of a music fan 