“Whatever music you was listenin’ to when you first started gettin’ laid is always gonna be your favorite music!“- Chris Rock
I wish I could start off by telling some elaborate story of how I contemplated and formulated some grand idea for this blog. Closer to the truth, I suddenly decided that I’d create one and then wondered what in the hell I could base it around. After giving it (very) brief thought, I decided that the thing I’m best at talking about is the thing I love most: the music I grew up on.
Props to movies and TV (which I’ll also be covering), but music was THE thing for me, first and foremost. As a child in B-More, I grew up in a house where the radio STAYED on. At 8:02 a.m., I got dressed for school with music in the background. At 3:57 p.m., I’d come home and hear it before I got in the door. At 7:45 p.m., I came in from playing outside to the sounds of whatever song V103 was playing. As a result, it was only a formality for me to become hooked on music myself. By ’87, I’d taped so many videos, my upstairs neighbor referred to me as “Video King”.
I loved (and still love) a lot of ’80s music of all genres, but I REALLY got locked in during the ’90s. It was the decade in which I not only listened to music… I also made it, spun it at parties, read about it, wrote about it in my school newspaper, talked about it, and simply LIVED it. I woke up and went to sleep to it. I got smoked out and intoxicated to it. And YEP, I even got laid to it. There’s music of other genres that occasionally struck me, but the Hip-Hop and R&B of that decade was (as they say) the soundtrack of my life during the coming-of-age stage.
I’ll be quick to admit, I’m not as crazy about it as I once was. I’ve long ago reached that point that most adults eventually reach, when they’re nowhere near the fans they were at say, 15 or so. I do feel like there are some things SORELY missing from today’s Urban music that shouldn’t be. On the other hand, I’m not as concerned with “mourning the death” as are many who prefer to ride the lame-ass “Hip-Hop Is Dead” train. If it is, in fact, dead- I’d rather do just as they implore us to do at funerals: celebrate the life.
Annnnd so, here is DanjLovesThe90s. I hope that you find it entertaining, reflective, celebratory, critical, comical, and anything else it happens to be depending on the entry. Whether you were a Hip-Hop Head or an R&B Swinger, a pre-teen or an adult, East Coast or West Coast… this is for those who either remember the decade fondly or are curious as to what was so great. I plan to chronicle not only my youth, but that of many others like myself who experienced some of these things firsthand. From calling up videos on The Box to seeing Menace II Society in the theater, I will be speakin’ on it.
In honor of the jumpoff, here’s 10 to grow on (if you want ‘em, click ‘em). For the record, I coulda gone a lot harder than this, which I will in many coming entries. Butt In The Meantiiiime…
LL Cool J “Around The Way Girl” (1990)
The Notorious B.I.G. “Guaranteed Raw” (1991)
Mary J. Blige feat. Grand Puba “What’s The 411?” (1992)
Snoop Doggy Dogg “G’z Up, Hoes Down” (1993)
Aaliyah feat. R. Kelly “At Your Best” (Remix) (1994)
Faith Evans feat. Puff Daddy “You Used To Love Me” (Remix) (1995)
Crucial Conflict “Hay (Smokin’ On)” (1996)
Christion “Full Of Smoke” (1997)
Mya feat. SisQo “It’s All About Me” (1998)
DMX feat. Drag-On, Jadakiss, Styles, & Eve “Ruff Ryders Anthem” (Remix) (1999)
Posted by Danj! 
