I have been on a journey- within the odyssey of my life chapter. This year has been so gratifying. There is a lot to like and a bit to re-evaluate. Plus, I know I have made strides in the 'healing your inner child' arena.
I have listened to a few new artists, but 2026 has been a retrospective. I retraced my steps and went back to 90s then 80s music. This summer it took me to the south. I had gone from 90s NYC rap to 2000s ATL (with a sprinkle of reggaeton of my childhood). Tracing my early years, I see how I gravitate to music in a way that expresses when as a kid I felt like I couldn't. Today, i love the sensitivity of those artists that constantly reinvent. I would not be who I am without hip hop. August is the month to celebrate the genre. Full of conflict and joy and resistance. I look at it like a middle aged man working thru his misogyny!
The women of the genre put up with so much. As it has been for women in the American music industry in general. There are dozens of great books about the genre that raised me as a New Yorker. It is how I remember my old neighborhoods and what I point to as my sister's main influence on me. It was forbidden at times and a life savior at other times. From using 2008 era to walk into school and not feel like an outsider to taking a deeper dive in 2013. Being able to physically buy CDs, and download mixtapes from datpiff during homeroom. Technology has been a double edged sword.
Now, I use it for my next chapter where I need the brash- the shadow, the trap, the raw emotion, and hustle music! I see that Millennial rappers just get me better, but Gen Z has an interesting spin. They may need to dig in the crates and start with the samples...Grandmaster Flash comes to mind.
It took living in the south all those years ago to appreciate that my people created something that the regions could put their spin on. I only got the radio hits till I lived in the deep south. It's a part of me, like motown and staxx records and philly soul. Hiphop heads must teach whoever is next. It has to happen, just as the genre was made from the dejected- we are in a time where the protest music is sorely missing.
