Throughout my whole life, I have been exposed to many different types of music and forms of expression. However, I have also been criticized for the music I prefer and I have been laughed at for the lyrics I didn’t know. I'm from a place where many of the people I am friends with and the people I grew up with, even my siblings, the popular genre we listened to was rap and hip-hop. I think being expected to listen to this kind of music blocked my interest of the music that I heard from the radio stations I passed through while driving or the guitar and drums I heard from the street music I heard while walking through San Francisco and New York City.
I'm not saying that I don’t appreciate hip-hop or love rapping along to the lyrics and jamming to the oldies that played at parties, but it was always sort of final. It wasn’t acceptable to like Justin Beiber or Florence and the Machine, or listen Maroon 5. Songs that had abstract lyrics or guitar solos and not just beats weren't mainstream and if you couldn’t play it at a party, what was the purpose?
I have always loved the rap music I have been exposed to and the amazing lyrics rappers have made, but when I finally began to search for other types of music and discovering music and what I like for myself, I began to grow into my own person. I realized that it was okay to appreciate music for the ability to express different emotions that we as people can’t say for ourselves. I chipped away and found music that spoke to me in different ways; I’ve cried and laughed and danced and sat in a window to hundreds of songs that I was drawn to. Music is the very thing that many people use to escape, to drown their sorrows in, and allows them to be themselves.
Music is this universal platform that streams past the language and instruments being used. No matter where someone goes, music is the thing that brings us together. There is no black and white or yellow and green, it's the embracement of the rainbow. Essentially, to those who are criticized for their music taste or listening to music beyond what others are scared to try, keep doing you. I have discovered to be okay and content in the music that makes me feel something and lyrics that say the things I am too scared to say myself, that lets me feel the things I am too frightened to feel. There is way too much music in the world to subject yourself to one style or genre.
