Introductions

I love music, and I love to dance. My whole life I grew up listening to country music, not because it was what my parents listened to, but because, it was the only genre that I could sing a long to. I enjoyed the familiar pop stars growing up such as, Brittany Spears, or the Backstreet Boys but I wasn’t able to distinguish pop from hip-hop until now. Whether it be, warming up to a specific playlist on the soccer field in high school, or just rocking out in my family living room with my siblings, a great fast pace, up beat song is one thing that I have always enjoyed. I come from a middle class Italian family, and live in a neighborhood where everyone is very similar, track homes and all. I went to elementary school, middle school, and high school with a lot of the same people. Until college, I was so unaware of how very sheltered I was. I wouldn’t say that the neighborhood I grew up in was a bad one by any means, it just didn’t do anything for me; I wasn’t influenced at all by my surroundings. Growing up, I have always had a routine and for a long while it was, wake up, go to school, head to soccer practice, come home and do homework, eat dinner, and go to bed. That routine changed up on the weekends of course with added chores, church, and occasional soccer games, but not by much. My family is one that is extremely loving, and supportive so when I say that I am sheltered I don’t mean to say that my family has restricted me from a lot of things. I just feel like my where abouts have not yet been broadened. One thing that I have learned in my 20 years of life is that, “It is not what it is that matters, it is what it can become.”- Dr. Sues

Being a junior now in college I have really gotten involved, I have formed so many different opinions, and made so many different kinds of friends that now, when I go home to the routine, I am able to point out everything that I like or dislike about my surroundings. I am constantly learning here, every class I have taken, every person I have helped, I have taken something from the experience and as whole, all of these ideas and people have made me a more well rounded person. I have not experienced pain like a lot of these hip hop artist have but, just from the little bit of music I have listened to from this class, I have learned and been empowered by their struggles.