How hip-hop shaped my life, and how it can shape yours in Charlotte
Music has always been such a love of mine. My priorities have shifted the past handful of years with starting a family and raising little kids. This puts a lot of what I love doing on hold, so I’m unable to dedicate as much time to discovering new artists and money to going to concerts. But I still try to get my music fill as much as I can.
Music is a release. It’s freedom. It’s art. It strips the stress of daily life as you dance and sing and reconnect with who you are at your core. The genre of music I’m drawn to the most is hip-hop. That, R&B, and Phil Collins are my three favorite genres. Yes, Phil gets his own category.
Hip-hop has been an ongoing theme in the story of my life.
It’s what started the bond with my best friend of over 20 years.
It’s crazy to think about knowing a friend longer than I haven’t. I moved to Hickory, NC, the summer before eighth grade. I still didn’t have many friends going into high school and was doing my best adjusting to being a new girl in a small town.
Megan Baxter and I were both freshmen at Hickory High School. I’ve heard her tell the following story countless times as I don’t remember it precisely. She says we were on the school’s track during cheerleading practice one day early in the year. A car drove by and all we could hear was a bass line booming from the passing vehicle. (Having a good audio system in your car was everything at the time.)
Megan recalls that I identified the song by the bass. “You said it was C.R.E.A.M. by Wu-Tang Clan and I was like ‘What! You like rap?!,’” she says.
We’ve been besties ever since.
Hip-hop got me my college job.
I will never forget the moment I saw the flier in the Atrium on the campus of UNC Greensboro promoting internships for the local hip-hop radio station, 102 Jamz. I called that number ASAP. I started as a promotions intern at the station for a summer and was then hired on part-time in the marketing department where I worked throughout college and graduate school.
That afforded me the incredible experience of meeting dozens of famous artists I greatly admire, and being backstage and attending concerts of some of the best rappers in the industry including LL Cool J, Ludacris and Big Daddy Kane.
Hip-hop got me through graduate school.
Hip-hop is poetry. If you take the time to study the lyrics of some of the great rappers of our time — Nas, Jay-Z, Notorious B.I.G. — they’re poets, storytellers. I was getting a Master of Arts in English at UNCG and I used hip-hop as an art form as the subject of all my major research papers. Those papers doubled as fun moments where I got to stand in front of university professors and fellow graduate students and quote cuss words.
Hip-hop is the reason I met my husband.
About eight years ago, Megan, my friend Cedric and I went out in Charlotte on a Friday night to a bar where one of our favorite local DJs was playing. We didn’t know that it also happened to be an album release party.
My not-then-husband John was there for the celebration because he was on that album. He was a hip-hop artist and producer at the time. We talked some that night and exchanged numbers. Then, Megan and I unexpectedly saw him out again the next night. Needless to say, it was meant to be.
Hip-hop has given me perspective.
Throughout the years, this genre of music continuously facilitates friendships, conversations, and experiences that I hold dear. Because of hip-hop, I have been in countless settings where I’ve been the minority in the room. I can’t say how often that happens to the average white person.
If you’re reading this and are white, take a moment to reflect. At any point in time, throughout your day, how often are you the minority? Probably not that often. We see white faces most places we go.
That’s not the case for people of color. It’s obvious, but I don’t think a lot of white people consciously think about the fact that people of color are forced into these settings every day of their lives. Places where they are not represented. Places where they don’t see a face that looks like theirs. Places where their voice isn’t heard because people choose not to listen to them.
I’m grateful that hip-hop has opened my eyes to this in addition to giving me many life-changing moments.
Here are some resources to help you find the art of hip-hop in Charlotte:
RADIO REHAB CAROLINAS: This is a group that puts on parties and events showcasing hip-hop music outside of what’s typically heard on the radio.
Knocturnal: This is a hip-hop event every Monday night at Snug Harbor in Plaza Midwood. It’s a mix of party, breakdancing and musical performances.
Hip Hop Orchestrated: This is a performance group and program that blends classical music and hip-hop with the intent of bringing people of different backgrounds together to help build connections.
SlamCharlotte: This is a monthly poetry slam that’s been active locally since 2003.
Breakin’ Convention 2017: This is an international hip-hop festival that happens at Levine Center for the Arts in October.
Su CASA: This is coined as a “premiere Afro-fusion dance party” that happens monthly at Petra’s in Plaza Midwood.
Off the Wall: This is a regular party that typically showcases hip-hop’s “golden era” of the ’80s and ’90s that has been happening for six years.
The Sol Kitchen: This is a promotions company that brings to Charlotte both big hip-hop and R&B names and also the more underground or up-and-coming artists.
Photo: Courtesy of Katie McKiever
This story was originally published August 20, 2017 at 10:00 PM with the headline "How hip-hop shaped my life, and how it can shape yours in Charlotte."