Nelly Before Jay

Earlier today I had an epiphany: I was more familiar with Nelly before I was "properly" introduced to Jay-Z. How in the world did this happen?

In elementary school, I did not really listen to music; however, the music I was exposed to Top-40. During that period, some of the artists that dominated the airwaves were the Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, Britney Spears, and 'N Sync. My parents did not really allow me to listen to hip-hop music because they were uncomfortable with the featured themes of misogyny, violence, and inappropriate language for an adolescent boy. Looking back on it, I think they made the right decision for a few reasons. First, I was too young to really understand anything about hip-hop including the technique, metaphors, and most importantly the context i.e. where the artists were coming from. Moreover, coming from "the old-school" my parents probably did not understand too much about hip-hop either. Secondly, I attended a school with a fair number of suburban white kids (with actually soccer moms - not kidding) and hip-hop did not really have a place in the culture. My parents also did not want want me to be stereotyped for my aesthetic decisions.

Up until middle school, I had only heard hip-hop in passing or when it crossed over into pop/Top-40. For instance, I clearly remember Puff Daddy's (or Diddy's) "I'll Be Missing You" because it was played on Top-40 radio. And of course, my favorite rapper at this time was... Will Smith - so typical (Quick sidebar: Will Smith's first solo album "Big Willie Style" was actually a great album, but it was pop-rap). By the time I had entered 6th grade in 2000, I found that I was listening to more hip-hop, but yet it was still pop-rap. By "pop-rap" I am talking about hip-hop that is relatively radio friendly and appealing to a mainstream audience and for me, no artist better personifies pop-rap than Nelly.

"Country Grammar" - http://bit.ly/ripuWK

"Ride wit Me" - http://bit.ly/rv30Xa

"Hot in Herre" - http://bit.ly/r1Mr8o

"Dilemma" - http://bit.ly/n7kiB4

"Air Force Ones" (the WORST song ever, behind "Pimp Juice") - http://bit.ly/nis0xx

What do these five songs have in common? They all came out while I was in middle school (2000-2002) and charted in the Top-5 of the Billboard Top 100. Each record is catchy, but in my opinion, does not possess the rawness present in a lot of hip-hop music. Here's the key and it's something that I can't blame any rapper for: mainstream America either cannot relate to a lot of elements of hip-hop culture and/or they don't want to hear about something (borrowing from DuBois) so deeply entrenched within the Veil; so they make music that is accessible and somewhat relatable. By my standards, this is cool... as long as the rapper is willing to accept the label of being pop. So, I would have no problem with walking up to Nelly or Will Smith and calling them pop artists to their face.

On the other hand, while I was in middle school I got my first snippets of Jay-Z. The very first hip-hop song I fell in love with was Jay's "I Just Wanna Love You" - http://bit.ly/pjnmj1 - I just had to listen to this track even chance I got! Also, the track's smooth hook also made me a fan of Pharrell and the Neptunes. I didn't understand what Jay-Z was rapping or anything - it was just my track. While I was exposed to Jay-Z in pieces, there were two more hip-hop acts that really broke through into the Top-40 scene: Eminem and Outkast. Of course as a white rapper (a lot of his biographical and socioeconomic background could easily be black - easy) Eminem was a fascination and it's easy to see why he broke through into the Top-40: he was an anomaly and was as a creative a storyteller as Slick Rick. Outkast was so smooth with "So Fresh, So Clean" and "Ms. Jackson" (http://bit.ly/ruchLf) that they had to break through. Both of these artists had tracks that any one could relate to, i.e. the familiar themes of "hating your mother" or "getting a girl pregnant" - the difference between artists like Eminem/Jay/Outkast and artists like Nelly or Ja-Rule was that whereas the latter made rap-pop tracks to make Top-40 hit money, the former's talent and ability drew the mainstream to their material; Eminem/Jay/Outkast did not change a thing (at least not at that time).

By the time I had entered high school, I was actively listening to and learning more about hip-hop music. One thing particular moment that stands out in my mind was the day I went to Circuit City and brought my first two hip-hop albums: Outkast's "Speakerboxx/The Love Below" and Jay-Z's "Black Album."

But of course, there's another level to this story and that involves The Roots, but that's for another day!