My son is in love for the first time. Not with a girl or a
boy, though he has mentioned a young lady that he admires greatly. He smiles
when he mentions her, but I can’t divulge more because he would be mad if I
did. What I mean is that we share our first love together. He loves it and so
do I. I’m talking about hip-hop.
As I sit playing the instrumental to
this classic, I can’t help but feel
nostalgic and somewhat emotional. He actually likes it.
How do I know he’s in love? (I’ve written about him rocking
out before, because he was about that
“Twisted Sister” life for real) I know
because he has an uncanny ear for memorizing songs, lyrics, and melodies
quickly. When I play records, and I play them a lot I know he’s listening
closely because he’ll ask to hear this or that again. I took certain records
like
“The Message”, “
The Biz Mark”, and “
Sucker Mc’s” down from the higher
shelf so he could play them and look at the covers. And he did! He picked out
LL’s “
I Can’t Live w/out My Radio” and put it on. He took out “
King of Rock”
and put that on. The other day, I put on a record…I can’t even remember which
one. But I felt so much pride seeing him just nod his head to the beat. I mean,
he’s playing with his lego’s and setting up an imaginative battle scene from the
“D-Day Invasion” (yes , he’s that specific about them) and I put it on and he
just starts nodding his head. I look at him and smile, he smiles back, and goes
back to what he was doing.
I don’t want to
overwhelm him,
but I
have so
freaking much
I want
to show him and tell him. This music and this culture the sounds,
attitudes, codes, rules, herstory, past, present, future. agggh! There’s so
much. I mean, I’m giving him little pieces right now of “
Ladies First” and
“
Kriss Kross”, but I cannot wait to play him “
Nautilus” or “
You Must learn”
when he’s ready to really hear it, you know what I mean? Right now, its all the
catchy choruses which is fine, because I used to buy an LP and listen to the
single over and over.
He loves the
songs he hears on commercials, video games, and at Warriors games so I have to
tell him who this or that person is, while at the same time playing old funk ,
jazz, or boogaloo records too. There is so much knowledge, wisdom, and beauty
in the music and culture that got me through tough times, decisions, cross
roads, failure, happiness, and triumph. I know there are plumbers, nail
technicians, and veterinarians somewhere that are passing down knowledge and
love to their little ones. What do you absolutely love that you hope your child
appreciates when s/he is grown? Holler in the comments.
