Old School

While borrowing a car from my friend, Jeromy, a few weeks ago I put a CD of his in the stereo, Kickin' It Old School. It has a bunch of hip-hop classics from the 80s and 90s. I'm definitely not a hip-hop/rap fan with the exception of a few songs here and there. There were two songs on the CD that I actually do like, though. Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" and Puff Daddy's "I'll Be Missing You." Since listening to them in Jeromy's car, they've been stuck in my head, so I downloaded them from the iTunes store tonight.

I suppose my enjoyment of these hip-hop songs (and a few others like Eminem's "Cleaning Out My Closet" and "Lose Yourself") is because they aren't celebrating violence, drug use, and misogyny as so much of rap does. They are songs about real emotions and real moments. I can get behind songs that do that in any genre. Even country. Well, sometimes, anyway.