Memory Lane

I woke up this morning like I do every weekday morning, to the sounds of Mike & Mike on ESPN Radio. Sadly, both Mikes were out on vacation so there were subs in. Anyway, the show often delves into various topics that aren't sports related for brief periods of time. This time they happened to mention that today is Michael Jackson's 50th birthday so they were talking about his album Thriller and how they both agreed that it was definitive album of the 80's. They went on to also agree that Nirvana's Nevermind was the definitive album of the 90's. Now I completely agree in regards to Thriller and although Nevermind wouldn't be even in my top 10 albums of the 90's I can understand why they chose it. The Grunge Movement basically took over the decade and that was the album of the movement so I definitely understand the logic. But it got me to thinking, what was my definitive album of the 90's? I was torn between 2 albums, Nas' Illmatic and A Tribe Called Quest's's Midnight Marauders. Midnight Marauders is the album that not only made me fall in love with Hip-Hop, but with music in general. Before that album I wasn't a huge music listener. I basically listened to whatever was on and it didn't really have any impact on me. Their album was the first album that I had to have. On the other had Illmatic was the first album I heard that completely grabbed me. I had never had an album grab me musically as well with it's voice, both figuratively and literally. I saw Nas' voice as the voice of an observer more than a tough guy. He never came off to me as a menace or a badass. He just seemed like a cat discribing his situation the best he knew. Not to mention his words painted the perfect picture of his environment, which was mine.

Wipe the sweat off my dome
Spit the phlegm on the streets
Suede Timb's on my feet makes my cypher complete

My window faces shootouts, drug overdoses
Live amongst no roses only the drama for real
A nickel-plate is my fate, my medicine is the ganja

If you couldn't tell by the title of the blog, the winner is . . .



At the end of the day Midnight Marauders opened my eyes and ears to the world of music, but Illmatic made me really take a look at the world I was in.

Now, my song of the decade it's not from either ATCQ or Nas, but from 3 artists that kind of defined and era within an era. They definite what was 90's underground or backpack rap. The song described your average American city. When I rode the 84A to class every morning I would ride through the Burrows Projects, where my late grandmother used to live. When I started college they were just beginning to be torn down and this song described my bus daily bus ride through those projects. By the middle of my freshman year the fences were up around all of the vacant projects as they were preparing to tear them down.

Sat by the window with a clutched dome
Listenin' to shorties cuss long
Young girls with weak minds, but they butt strong
Tried to call or at least beep the lord
But didn't have a touchtone
Its a dog eat dog world, you gotta mush on
Some of this land I must own
Outta the city, they want us gone
Tearin' down the 'jects creatin' plush homes

I would listen to this song on my nightly bus rides home from work, also. At night the song became that much more powerful. It's the definitive night time song for city dwellers. I always got goosebumps whenever I would listen to this song while my bus would turn up Crawford ave on my way home. I would have a phenomenal view of the Pittsburgh Skyline while this played . . .



*Not to mention it had one of, if not, the greatest hook ever!

What would you consider YOUR definitive album & song of the 90's? What made you choose that album/song? Did it describe a time in your life? Was it just a song that never left your cd player or walkman?

p.s. This isn't about any genre. It's whatever YOUR album is. It could be rock, country, afro beat, techno, garage . . .