What a Long Strange Trip it's Been 3-D

So now we are to the point where hip hop entered my world. I mentioned before that my parent's wouldn't let me watch MTV. Well now that I think about it maybe they were just too cheap to get cable. However right before I went to college I got a little taste of what I had been missing. The Box music television debut in Fresno. If you don't remember how this station worked here is how it went. It was much like a juke box only with videos and higher prices. Because the mass public paid for the videos you would often see the same video 309 times a day. I always wondered who was the type of person who would pay for these videos I imagine they were young kids who got in trouble for calling 900 numbers. In fact my parents soon blocked all 900 numbers from our phone when the Box came out just in case we were tempted to call.

Again back to the point, it was thank to the Box that I was exposed to the world of hip hop. You might think going to a high school on the west side of Fresno would do that but it didn't. What really sticks out for me during this time was Ice Cube's video for Wicked with Flea and Anthony Keidis in the video. Then came Dr. Dre and Snoop's chronic videos. After that I wanted to be a real G. I loved the video battles between Dr. Dre and Eazy E. I also liked some not so great acts like SVW, Onyx, and Apache. Soon i fell in love with T-Pac. I get around was my guilty pleasure and when I heard Keep your Head Up I decided I wanted to be a psychologist. So thanks for the inspiration Pac. It was a few years until I was exposed to more hip hop and found an appreciation for more underground acts like Public Enemy, Black Star, NWA and a Tribe Called Quest.

Soon after this I went College where most people expirement with lots of things including music. Unfortunately for me right before going to college I had a spiritual awakening. In my misguided religious zeal I trashed all my "secular music" and committed to listening only to Christian music. This could be a whole other topic but I will just say that after a 1 year I just couldn't say no to all the great music out there. What changed me the most was I met Ed and started to chill with his Crew (Tom, Dave, Steve, Justin, Chris, Scott). Even though these chaps had a soft spot for the Christian Music Scene (Tomfest, Tooth n' Nail) they also loved Music in generally. Well Ed has a large influence in my life and when we started dating I started smoking, drinking and listening to "devil music" again. Thanks for saving me Ed.

We're not done yet kids. I've still got to tell you about finding my musical groove (1998-2002) and my transformation into an ageing hipster.