Hip-Hop Made Me a Better Dad
Solid parenting advice from a world I’d never appreciated.
I completely missed out on hip-hop — its birth, explosive growth, transformative cultural influence — all of it. Part of this was growing up in places where black music was either ignored or demonized (Boston suburbs, overwhelmingly white liberal arts college…). Folks I grew up with took their love of rock and roll seriously. People didn’t just dislike disco, they were so threatened by it that they burned records. The first time I heard hip-hop was at college parties, but I assumed songs like Rapper’s Delight, White Lines and The Breaks, were novelty songs akin to ’70s hits like The Streak and Convoy. Later, black music became something I was supposed to fear, lest I be corrupted by obscene acts like 2LiveCrew.
Fast forward to 2010, and the day my playlist had nothing left to offer me. For the first time in my life, I was bored with rock and roll. What were my options? I’d tried jazz and classical music, but they didn’t grab me. They felt like adult homework.
Then I remembered seeing “A Tribe Called Quest” on a t-shirt somewhere. I found their music online and chose The Low-End Theory because I liked its cover.
It was nothing like I’d expected. Energetic, playful, intense, funny, deep, provocative and inspiring. I can’t…
