6 Things I have Learned from HipHop music

Being a fitness instructor who teaches class to songs between 120-140 bpm, I hear a lot of hip-hop dance music nowadays. As I have been exposed to many more hours of hip-hop dance music than ever before in my life, I have learned a few things that I feel compelled to share with you.

1. One wears a Speedo in order to "tan [the] cheeks". I had no idea this is why fellows wore the tiny suits, but now that I think about it, it does make sense. I mean, how else are you going to tan that area? Still, it's unfortunate that they have to do it where I am forced to see them.


2. "My girl has a big ol' booty, Your girl has a little booty". In this scenario, the big booty is preferred. When the singer points out that your girl has a little booty, that's not a compliment to her, as one might originally think. Please do not tell my clients this, as they are paying money to make their bootys smaller.


3. The singer believes that you should prefer him as a suitor over his competitor because he has more money. Regardless of the fact that he is addressing a woman as a "ho" and already talking about the other women he is simultaneously entertaining, the money really will make up for all that. Girl.


4. If you want a man to go crazy, drop it down low. I am not 100% sure how this is done, but it's clear that it's typically done on a dance floor. One day I should be capable of a move like this since I've really been working on my thigh and glute strength, right? I believe I could find examples of how in music videos.


5. Mick Jagger is an icon of sexiness even though he looks like this:
   
   

   

   photo from 102.3Bob

   
   I know this because MULTIPLE songs refer to him as such. I never would have guessed.


6. Personal responsibility is overrated. Many of the songs refer to waking up not know where you are, who this person is, where various articles of clothing and electronics are...NO BIG DEAL. Let's do it again tomorrow night!! On the other hand, it sounds like if you followed one of these singers around, throughout the evening you could accumulate a good deal of expensive cast-off items that they'll never miss.

I know there are more than just these nuggets of wisdom buried in hip-hop dance music. I'll let you know what else I find out as the weeks go by.

What am I missing? Have you learned valuable life lessons from hip-hop dance music?

Writer's Workshop: Quote

"Smile, like you've got nothing to prove. No matter what you might do, there's always someone out there cooler than you. 
I know that's hard to believe, but there are people you meet - they're into something that is too big to be expressed through their clothes."
- Ben Folds, "There's Always Someone Cooler Than You"

If I had one song lyric to share with my kids, this would be it.
True, the song also includes reference to beer and uses several curse words, but I think the message is important. Also, Ben Folds is brillant.

I had a pretty good high school experience overall, not because I was popular (I was NOT), but because I didn't care. I think I learned about halfway in that there's always someone cooler than me.

"Now that I've got the disease, in a way I'm relieved
Cause' I don't have to stress about it like you do.
I might just get up and dance or buy some acid washed pants
If you don't care then you got nothing to lose"

It is a huge relief not to do things because you wonder how it's going to look to your peers, or how it will affect your social standing. Now, to authority figures and people who were my actual friends, it's always been a different story. I am definitely a people pleaser in that regard.

Then again, that's what makes this song remain important, even now!

I need to remember this as much as ever now that I'm a mom. I'm never going to be the coolest mom or the hippest, or whatever. My children will most likely not do calculus at 3 years old, or even read early or be super artistic.

I hope that they are original, and that they don't fear the opinions of people who don't matter.

Rock on, Ben Folds.

This post is a part of the Bloggy Mom's Writer's Workshop.

Biobag, "Flavors of Entanglement", and TMI

Several people have asked me about the "side effects from medicine" that I mentioned in my last post, so this is the TMI (too much information) part of the post, feel free to skip ahead. It turns out that at the age of 30, I have developed the beginnings of adult acne. When I realized this I went immediately to a wonderful dermatologist who has me on the Retin-A cream. This makes my skin peel. Its very tiny peeling but I feel like it makes me look like I have a kind of peach fuzz, and it is embarrassing to me!! I have been trying to remind myself that this means it's working. Hopefully it will stop soon.

OK, so now for a few reviews.

BioBag

In our efforts to go progressively more green, we have stopped using plastic grocery bags altogether for our groceries, but were still using plastic in our kitchen trash. I had read about BioBags, which are biodegradable and compostable, so I picked some up at Green Living last time we were there. This is my second week to use them. Due to the amount of things we can recycle and our curbside recycling program here in Dallas, we only go through about one kitchen trash bag every 7-10 days. I am not actually composting anymore but that is a different and longer story. The first week, right before I took the bag out of the trash can and to the trash bin behind our house, I emptied an entire kitty litter box into it in addition to the trash already in it. This was a bit harsh, I know, but I wanted to test it to it's limits! FAIL. It sprayed a fine line of kitty litter throughout the house on the way out the door. I thought, OK, that was a little too much. This week I only put our regular trash into it. (I guess there were some wooden BBQ skewers too) But when I went to pull it out of the trash can - it had already started decomposing! Oh no! Half of one side of the bag had disintegrated into nothingness. I had to carry the whole kitchen trash can out to the trash bin in back. Then I had to hose out the kitchen trash can. Gross!! I have 10 more bags left in the box, so I am going to keep using them. If it gets any better, I will let you know. But my early conclusion is that these bags would only work if you change out the trash every 3-5 days before the bag has had a chance to disintegrate.

"Flavors of Entanglement" by Alanis Morissette *

OK, so I love many of the songs on this album, currently my favorite is "Straitjacket", because it talks about someone who drives her crazy because they don't listen and I feel like that at work sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love my work, but I do work with some completely insane people, too, mostly because they don't listen. I think that Garrett would like the song "Citizen of the Planet". The song about missing someone ("Torch") is so real and sad that I can hardly listen to it without being extremely glad I am married and won't ever have to go through that again, but also filled with sadness thinking this might be how I feel if I were to be widowed when I am old. She still has several songs about her struggles with people-pleasing ("Tapes", "Moratorium") and control ("Incomplete"), which I think is what I always identify with in her albums. Anywayz, thumbs up to this album! :-)

* rant * Look here, if you start reading this thinking of Alanis Morissette as only the artist who sang "You Outta Know" in 1995, you might as well stop reading. In my opinion, although that was her biggest hit, it was the worst possible portrayal of her music and her attitude toward life. Even if you only listened to the rest of that one album "Jagged Little Pill", you could tell that she is actually a spiritual and peacefully seeking person. She has had many albums since then, all of whom have outlined her increasing spirituality, if not her continued failure in love. This is not to say she is a Christian artist, far from it. But, I think the way she writes of accepting things and letting go is very much a characteristic that those of us who follow Christ should have. * rant *

Recent books and music

So, here's what I've been reading and listening to lately

Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller
I loved this book so much. I got it from the library and now I have to go buy it so that I can own a copy and force other people to read it. Donald Miller writes just like he is having a conversation with the reader, and when he talks about his views on Christianity, he doesn't use big words or theological language, he just talks about his experiences. He was looking for truth and he found it in the Bible. He has difficulty separating what he sees in the Bible with what he sees Christians do sometimes, and that makes him sad. I completely identified with it. I think a lot of people in my generation would.

Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings - Counting Crows
First of all, I love Adam Duritz and I own everything Counting Crows has ever done. They are right up there with Ben Folds to me. Because I do own (and have memorized) all the other Counting Crows albums, I can tell when he recycles his lyrics. He has always written beautiful and poetic lyrics and I love the way he merged them in the concert I attended in 2006. However, with this album it seems like he has gotten depressed (OK, I realize he is always depressed) and decided not to write anything new but just string together lyrics from previous albums into a narrative about how he goes out at night and then he feels crappy in the morning. At least the album is cohesive and he keeps that theme. But still, I was expecting more lyrics like those in Hard Candy and Recovering The Satellite. He didn't really write any new and brilliant lines that I could ponder over and put in my Facebook Quotes. I am so sad that I don't like this album that I am going to keep listening to it hoping that maybe it will grow on me.