(i knew him, horatio... *joke*)

but as long as we're sharing...

like maybe about 10 others here on okp, "rappers delight" was my intro to hip hop too. heard it first on the radio in my moms '76 cutlass, on the way to school (i missed the bus that day). i thought it was chic, but what came after the familiar intro was instantly mind-blowing. those nonsensical rhymes changed music for a little kid from oklahoma; shit was never the same after that. i remember listening to the radio all day, waiting for it to come on from the beginnining, and holding a tape recorder to the speaker. after that, "play/pause/play" until i had the whole thing transcribed in my spiral... necessary, cuz we'd spit lines at lunch and argue about who had the best ones (i was a master g double e kinda kid myself). after that...

well, i *was* in oklahoma. not quite the cultural crossroads back then, if you know what i mean. if the radio didn't play it, i couldn't hear it, so i got a few snippets here & there, "space cowboy", "the message", "perfect beat", "apache". a little kurtis blow, with a lot of 80's rock & pop and prince and george clinton to fill in the gaps. rap was just rap. i liked it. it was all music to me, but then-

my mans, fat joe weeble webber, hit me with a tape. "d, listen to this..."

popped it into my clunky sony knock-off jawn, and heard: "two years ago, a friend of mine..." wow.

before "sucker mc's", rap was kinda corny. but these cats... they ushered in the "golden age" for me. they led in cool j, the beasties, utfo, the boogie boys, whodini, force md's, joeski love, slick rick, dougie fresh, shy-d, shan, kool moe, whistle, both roxannes, dana dane, krs, rakim, hell, even bobby jimmy. i even got to see most of them live and in color in okc. and it was beautiful.

as i type all of this in a figurative b-boy stance, i reminisce about these times; deejaying parties with weeble, tagging shit, manning the 808 at talent shows, seeing beat street and krush groove 20 times, ghostwriting for my boy, cheering on the lunch hour break crews... webber probably doesn't know this, but he tossed me head first into a culture. in a way, i've lived it, and loved it. it's mine, and it always will be.

i just hope nelly and chingy and the ilk don't fuck it all up.
this was waay too long, and i'm done now.

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doodle for sanity...