Something Different in Hip-Hop

I made the decision to pursue music as a long-term career in 1996. At first my main reason was to impress my peers and become famous, hopefully eliminating all feelings of being picked on. Of course, as time went by I began pursuing it for a better purpose and a higher cause, not just for myself. Nevertheless, that year was a very interesting year for music, in my opinion. There were so many old and new artists that were coming out with nonstop hit songs. One group in particular was the hip-hop group Outkast from Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to the release of their sophomore album “ATLiens”, they were promoting it with a varied selection of songs from the CD, and the one that stood out the most and really took the group to another level in the music industry, was “Elevators (Me and You)”.

I was in complete awe the first time I heard it on the radio. I remember practicing on my keyboard in the living room during the summertime, and then just stopping in the middle of it to listen to Big Boi and Andre 3000 perform in such a way that was unheard of in hip-hop. Their usage of metaphors caught your attention, and so did the subject matter of struggling and working hard to make it in the music industry. What was most appealing about “Elevators” was how enchanting the music was; the live instrumentation as well as the melodies, chord progressions and drum patterns gave it a very unique sound that stood out from the rest of the music being released that year.

I remember being glued to the radio every time the song came on, while trying to teach myself how to play the song on the keyboard, or at least come up with a variation of it. The way Outkast presented themselves via “Elevators” and many other classics to come inspired me to want to do something innovative, something that has never been done before. And that is what I am doing now with my music.