- Express Yourself by N.W.A
I picked Express Yourself by N.W.A as a part of my mixtape because I really like this song. I love the the beat. It makes me happy and want to get up and dance. I also love the message that this song sends. It talks about how important expressing yourself is in everything in life. Dr. Dre has a line where he says “If you wanna start to move up the chart then expression is a big part of it.” It can help people in situations like where Dr. Dre or Ice cube grew up to start expressing themselves and begin to climb the ladder out.
- Make Some Noise by Beastie Boys
I chose to put Make Some Noise by Beastie Boys in my mixtape because this was one of the first hip hop songs I ever heard. I heard it on the radio when I was a kid. It was in my old van and It was just me and my dad in the car. He loved the song so he put it really loud and we rocked out to it. After that I would always ask him to put it on for me.
- Me To We by Public Enemy
I chose Me To We by Public Enemy because I love the message it sends. I hear this message “me to we” a lot in my daily life. I think it was Mr. Luff who gave a chapek speech on it last year, and it was one of the most meaningful speeches and has still stuck with me today. The saying “me to we” just makes me think about how much more I can do with the help of other people rather than being alone.
- Walk This Way by Run-D.M.C.
I chose Walk This Way by Run-D.M.C. because it is an original hip-hop song that I love. The contrast in this song between the rapping of Run-D.M.C. and the singing of Steven Tyler is so large that from one to the other it sounds like a different song. My mom was a huge fan of Aerosmith but not so much rap music, but she loved this song. I heard it a lot as a child and my sisters and I used to rock out to it.
- Tougher Than Leather by Run-D.M.C.
I picked Tougher Than Leather by Run-D.M.C. because of the crazy rhyming that goes on throughout the whole song. In each line there is internal rhyme, and the end rhyme is AA, BB, CC… This rhyming shows just how great a group Run-D.M.C was. They had to have a lot of talent to rhyme like they do in this song.
- No Tears by Jeezy
I picked the song No Tears by Jeezy for my mixtape because I have lost so many people either in my family, or very close friends. If I spend everyday crying about them, I would never accomplish anything. I think about them all everyday, but I don’t cry because I know they would not want me to. This song reminds me to stay strong and to let “no tears” fall out.
- Champions by Kanye West
I chose Champions by Kanye West because it made me think about what we talked about. We talked about how hip hop has changed in class and this song is a perfect example. Instead of singing about Adidas shoes everyone can have, Kanye sings about “gucci” and “louis” and having tons of money. This is the opposite of what hip-hop used to do, and it separates people. It doesn’t have a good meaning but it is an entertaining song, and Kanye made tons of money off of it, which shows how hip-hop has changed to be more about money than sending a message for some.
- Black and Yellow by Wiz Khalifa
I didn’t pick Black and Yellow by Wiz Khalifa because I necessarily love the song or love the meaning behind it. I picked this song for my mixtape because of the memory it brings to my head everytime I hear it. In 2014 I went to Spain with a team for a soccer tournament. When we were driving across Spain in the bus from barcelona to San Sebastian, one girl played this song. I had surprisingly never heard it before, but it became our song of the trip. We kept playing it over and over and eventually everyone knew all of the lyrics including the parents so we would all sing it.
- Started From the Bottom by Drake
I picked Started From the Bottom by Drake as a part of my mixtape because the message it sends is something I have experienced myself. I have always played soccer and I have always been pretty good, but my team has not always been the best. When I was 8, my team did not win any games during the season. We had about 6 of us that were very good, but the drop off after us was huge. Instead of changing clubs, the 6 of us began to try to build a team around ourselves. We started from the literal bottom, and last year we won state cups and went to regionals. Now we are at the top and I don’t think we would have gotten here if we had moved clubs. This song is one that I listen to alot before my games because it shows me that when my team puts our minds to it, we can do anything.
- Alright by Kendrick Lamar
Alright by Kendrick Lamar has a very strong meaning. He is talking about all the things that are wrong and everything he has to go through, but he always says “we gon’ be alright”. When I hear this song I realize how fortunate I am to have the life that I have. When I think i have things bad because I can’t do something stupid, this song brings me back to the reality. People in much worse situations than me “gon’ be alright” so I need to pull through.
It's so cool that you include a lot of artists that we learned about in Jterm! I really like how you have an interesting mix of older and more contemporary artists.
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