Introductions

Introductions 

GanGreene—I think names of artists are over-analyzed or taken too seriously sometimes. I picked this because it not only represents me in name (last name: Greene), but also because it’s funny—it would catch people’s attention and hopefully give them a chuckle.

Growing up in Oakland, California, hip-hop was almost inescapable. It engulfed you wherever you went and if you didn’t like it, too bad. For a while it was “too bad” for me. I was more interested in angsty punk songs and learning to play guitar. Mainstream hip-hop was king of middle school dance parties. (I realize now that I didn’t like dances not because of the music, but because it was a middle school dance). Most of my friends would put on Wild 94.9 or KMEL JAMS on in their parent’s cars and I would scoff  and focus on something else.  Eventually, I stumbled onto Eminem. A friend had smuggled one down into his basement away from his parents and we put it on; nodding our heads and giggling. Somehow his stuff didn’t sound like what I was hearing on the radio or seeing in music videos (excluding his hits). It was vulgar—but simple. A looped beat and straightforward lyrics. It wasn’t overly complicated or flashy. Eminem just the type of thing a 12-13 year old boy would like (“oh, the bad words!”). From there it was 90’s gangster rap. N.W.A., Wu-Tang, Public Enemy, etc. My mind was now opened to a whole collection of hip-hop that I was interested in. At some point I realized it wasn’t “hip-hop” that I didn’t care for, but merely certain genres within it. My interests were in good beats and and emphasis on lyrics. A Tribe Called Quest was really important to me in highschool. They were the first "consciousness" hip-hop I'd heard and from there there was no turning back.

 I tried to pick songs (see: below) that were representative of this "beats/lyrics" ehtos but weren’t all the same style. A Tribe Called Quest and Das Racist are very different elements of hip hop, but they both speak the same language to me. MF DOOM is king.

(This video is also pretty great--and goofy)