Growing up I always had pretty strong feelings about different genres of music.. but like many things in life, as I got older I got wiser and sort of zoomed out a bit from myself to see the bigger picture.

Yes, I am an individual. Yes, I have my own preferences and tastes and opinions and beliefs. This is inherent in all of us.

It would be ignorant to present ones preferences, tastes or opinions as ‘truths’ or anything but completely objectional. Like the old saying goes, “Opinions are like assholes; everybody’s got one.”

When I was growing up in the early 1990’s my musical taste lied loyally with hard rock and heavy metal. Guns ‘N Roses, Motley Crue, and later alt/grunge made a lasting impression with me with bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana…you know. And everyone in my 4th grade who pledged allegiance to rap….were the enemy.

Adolescence is something many people don’t grow out of. And for good reason! Being an adult sucks. Sure, there’s perks.. I’ll always remember the last day of 3rd grade when one of the teachers told a friend and I, as we played kickball against a wall, to cherish our youth and make the best of it. I took that to heart that day and never forgot. I’m proud to not have allowed the more jaded aspects of life and responsibility get to my head.. though I may be much wealthier if I had the aptitude to do so, I know I would have been miserable underneath and I’d never lie to myself like that.

But “growing up” and “getting wiser” aren’t the same thing. I ‘zoom out’ as often as I can remember now. It’s sort of like meditation..hard to do, especially if it’s not a normal practice yet.

I respect all genres of music at this point in life. I have my preferences, and one of them is definitely rap now. But that doesn’t discount the amazing talent of every creative artist who puts their true self out there for the world to do what it will with. That’s so fucking inspiring to me that, how dare I act so self centered to say any one genre, artist or song sucks. Ok, I may not like it, but I’ll keep myself in check because I’m not the fucking center of the universe.

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