The Batters Box

I’m a lucky man. Sure. Things in my personal life aren’t stellar right now but I’m blessed to have had the experiences and smile about the lessons learned. Sure. I work at a place where I have to throw on the monkey suit every day but I’m blessed to have co-workers that I genuinely get along with. Hell… I’m blessed to have a job at all. Sure. My truck has to go into the shop, yet again… but I’m blessed to have it (and the job to pay for the repairs). Sure. I have to move out of the condo because the owners got foreclosed on and I may have to couch surf but I’m blessed to have friends that will help me out and family that comes through no matter what.

My biggest blessing is that I am still in love with music. I’m still has crazy about Hip-Hop as I was when I discovered it. Beats, rhymes, djs, b-boys, writers…. I still get excited about new music coming out whether it be the new Blu record or the Rick Ross/Big Boi mixtape collabo. I still get goosebumps sometimes. It’s amazing to me that I’m still on this ride. That I still care. That when I don’t want to put one foot in front of the other, Hip-Hop reminds me why I should. It’s magical.

I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of hours listening to patterns and reciting lyrics. I can tell you how many songs I have stored in my head that are taking up space that could be used for the cure to hives or assholitudeness, but the songs are just as important to me, if not more so.

Good Hip-Hop music doesn’t have to be complex or complicated to get my heart racing. It just has to be honest, heartfelt and of a high quality (see T.R.O.Y which was dedicated to dancer, Trouble T-Roy who’s death anniversary just passed. R.I.P.). It doesn’t have to be a deep ass concept. It just has to be right. Rather than get caught up in the pontification about the Illuminati or the plight of the North-traveling Sneech, sometimes you just wanna hear some muthafuckas spit with some genuine passion for this art form. Sometimes it feels good to just rap for the sake of rapping. No deadlines. No concern over sales and where will it fit on the album. Just rapping because you love it. Hopefully you can hear it in this song.

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