Music and Songwriting: A Little Thing Called Music
I can consciously remember listening to music since I was 2, which would date the time back to 1993.
- Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You
- Digable Planets – Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)
- TLC – What About Your Friends
- Janet Jackson – That’s The Way Love Goes
- 95 South – Whoot, (There It Is)
- SWV – Weak
- 2Pac – I Get Around
- Mary J. Blige – Real Love
- Zhane – Hey Mr. D.J.
- Ice Cube – It Was A Good Day
- Anniversary – Tony! Toni! Tone!
Those are just a few songs from that year that I definitely remember bobbing my head to or danced to with no coordination. Lol. But at 3, I can remember one song that caught my attention that pulled me into music even more. I probably saw this video on Flava TV (music video show that came on regular TV in Dallas, TX on Saturday nights hosted by Skip Cheetum), but it was ♪Creep♪ by TLC. I thought that everything about the song, beat, melody, dance moves, colors, editing were just perfect. I didn’t know what all those components were at the time, but I knew I liked them a lot! I knew I wasn’t going to be able to ask my dad for this type of music so instead I got the ♫Pocahontas♫ and ♫Lion King♫ soundtracks on cassette, along with a cassette player. To this day I still jam the ♫Pocahontas♫ soundtrack. Anyway, I just kept listening to the radio and watched a lot of music videos. And of course I jammed Brandy, Monica, Aaliyah and started getting into Mariah Carey’s music. All talented musicians, but it wasn’t until I was 7, in 1998 that I was introduced to a female artist that I just really took a liking to. I saw this video on The Box. The Box was a music video channel on the “B-Side” (cable used to have this box that had an A and B on it and you would have to get up and go click the letter that contained the set of channels you wanted to watch) that let you call and request videos. The video was ♪It’s All About You♪ by Mya featuring Sisqo. The video starts with Dru Hill picking a girl out of the crowd as they are leaving a venue. I was a fan of Dru Hill so automatically I kept watching. Then I saw this pretty chick with long hair. I was like, “I have long hair, but hers is longer than mine.” So I kept watching lol. Then the light shines on her wearing this Chinese styled outfit, which I’ve always had a liking to…so I kept watching. She starts singing and it was over me for. I fell in love with that song and said, “I have to get this album!” Then she came out with ♪Movin’ On♪ featuring Silk the Shocker. I used to perform that song alone and even in front of my friends at sleepovers. I probably thought I was Mya back then. So that Christmas my mom got me a portable CD player along with Mya’s ♫Mya♫ CD. I was in heaven! I was finally listening to the music I liked. My older sister (5 years older than I) was listening to all that Master P, 2Pac, Mase type stuff. I just wasn’t into rap music like that then. My uncle was always listening to DJ Screw, Chamillionaire & Paul Wall (when they were a group), Lil’ Flip, Scarface and stuff, which I also had no interest in. I was like no; I don’t like my music slow, and stop chopping and repeating the same line! Lol. My mom was into Brian McKnight, Kenny Lattimore. My dad was still jamming his crates full of records and cases full of cassettes from the 70’s to early 90’s. I just couldn’t do it, I needed my own music. But I remember having to write about what we wanted to be when we grew up in my 1st grade class. I had told Ms.Foster (Mrs. Moddiset) that I wanted to be a singer like Mya. I remember my friend Asanti and I used to sing after school. We used to see who could hit the Deborah Cox’s ♪Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here♪ note. She always won that contest. It wasn’t until later that I accepted that I was an Alto and never could be a Soprano like her. But, I was in everything that had to do with choir. I had always picked choir practice over band practice (Saxophone, Clarinet) and TAG (Talented and Gifted). Luckily Terpsichorean (Dance) and Girl Scouts didn’t interfere because I probably still would have picked choir over them too. My choir teacher was this man as fat as Mr. Klump who would always fold his ear in his ear lol! I guess that was comforting for him. But my next big purchase was Christmas of 1999 when my mom bought me a CD/Cassette boom box with the ♫Double Platinum: Soundtrack♫ on cassette. I loved that Brandy and Diana Ross movie back then. But I remember my dad telling my mom that I was too young to be listening to a soundtrack like that. I didn’t get it, and still don’t see what the big fuss was about then. That’s the day I learned that my father and I were going to have a few differences on what my favorite type of music was and what he enjoyed.
P.S. Oh yeah, I tried the church choir thing. It didn’t work out for me. I made it to the rehearsals but never made it on time to church to actually perform…blame it on my slow, everything must be perfect on Sunday type parents. They are so not like that now though lol!