I Am Hip-Hop

I want to start this story off with a question/quote I once heard from a love story centered around Hip-Hop. The question is “When did I first fall in love with Hip-Hop?”

I really can’t give you an answer to this question. The truth is Hip-Hop has played a major role in my life since the day I was born. I can’t even remember the first time I ever understood the significance of Hip-Hop and role it plays in my life. I just remember it always being here. For me, the history of Hip-Hop in my life has no beginning and has no end. This year marks 50 years since Hip Hop was first born. I’ve always celebrated Hip Hop, but I feel like this landmark year is a cause for celebrating Hip Hop more than ever.

As a lifelong lover of Hip Hop, it has forever been woven into the fabric of my everyday life. From being a little kid who was running around the house and playing outside while my mother blasted our favorite Hip Hop on the stereo in our living room until the neighbors complained, to riding around with both of my parents listening to the greatest rappers’ music on road trips and just doing everyday activities. Of course I can’t forget the family get togethers like cookouts and house parties where we were dancing to best party music that Hip Hop had to offer.

No doubt has Hip Hop played a big role in all my friendships going back to childhood. Enjoying the music of the greatest Hip Hop with my friends at get togethers and school dances are the definition of timeless memories. Of course we would bicker over who we enjoyed the most and who we think is the best, but that’s all part of the competitive edge that drives Hip Hop.

I’m a child of Hip Hop who was born and raised in the inner city it came from, I was raised on its craftings in my daily life and last but definitely not least, I myself am a Hip Hop B-boy. Everyone who knows me best can tell you that I have been rapping since I was just eight years old. It started with me just joking around with my friends and play-rapping when they would play instrumentals to the biggest rap songs on the radio, but then eventually I unknowingly started taking my freestyling seriously. I got to a point where when I would freestyle around my friends and family members they would look at each other after listening to me with an understanding that I seriously had a knack of talent for this rapping thing. Eventually I started free-styling to myself more often and discovered that I could really rap.

Rapping eventually became a serious hobby for me. Whether I was hanging out with my friends in the neighborhood or kicking a little flow at the lunch table or the playground at school. The word had spread that little Joe could rap. When I was in the third grade I met my brother from another mother, Torron Williams. As we became best friends I discovered that he was a musical brother who had knack for the Hip Hop art of beat boxing that was equal to my talent as a rapper. One day at school our third grade class performed this Jamaican dance routine in front of the entire school, the event was called “Folk-Moot”. After the performance went good we celebrated by rapping and beat boxing together in front of everyone in our class, making our talent known.

My teacher walked in and heard us and in a serious voice she told me “Joseph, come with me to the principal’s office.” This made my heart race because I was sure that I was in trouble. We get to the principal’s office which was packed with teachers and both principals and as they all focused their attention on me my teacher looked at me with a smile and said “Show them how you can rap.” I looked at her and then back at them with a sharp hint of nervousness in the pit of my stomach. Then I started with the first real rap lines I’ve ever recited:

“See I came home and started watching tv.

I had some mash potatoes without the gravy.

I was walkin’ down the street and saw this old lady.

She walked past me acting so crazy-“

I forget exactly how the rest of it went, but I do remember everyone clapping and giving me a standing ovation when I was done. From then on I thought I was the greatest rapper of all time. Every piece of Hip Hop that I enjoyed inspired my rapping style. From the conscious lyrical rappers like Ice Cube, Tupac and DMX, to the rappers who were the life of the party like Missy Elliot, Lil Jon and Nelly. So much of Hip Hop’s multi-dimensions have flowed through me forever and I showed that versatility off a lot rapping with my friends and battle rapping with my fellow peers at school and in the neighborhood.

When I was 20 years old I went to visit my family in California for the summer like I always did growing up. Many of my cousins are Hip Hop active out that way and my first cousin Floyd allowed to step in his studio and record three songs over instrumentals to some of my favorite songs ever. I felt like a superhero after that. I sent the songs to everyone I know and they all loved em. Ever since then I’ve had the privilege of stepping back in the studio and recording more music with some of my best friends/fellow Hip Hop heads and have made more great Hip Hop music.

In the 50 years since Hip Hop was first conceived, 30 of those years helped to mold my own life. Hip Hop artist from every region of the earth have inspired me and will continue to inspire me. Hip Hop has been a voice for me when I was happy, angry, sad and even determined. Hip Hop has given me vast knowledge of the world around me and has taught me some of the smartest ways to go about dealing with the world and sometimes those ways just mean fighting with your pen instead of a sword, in Hip Hop’s case this always requires a microphone and a poetic mind. Hip Hop has brought me through the worse times of my life and has been my victory dance in my best of times. I’ve had a number of nicknames as a Hip Hop B-boy including: Lil Joe, J-O-E, J-Nasty, and most notably, Jaybows. No matter what name you know me by in my Hip Hop identity, the thing that matters most is that you know I am Hip Hop, always and forever.

~~This article is dedicated to Hip Hop. Thank you for molding my life.