Transcendentalism at its best: My Love of Music (Pre-Grammy Night)

On the eve of the 2009 Grammy awards, it seems appropriate for me to discuss one of my life's loves (other than my current partner) : music.

I seriously can't imagine life without it. To say that I love it is putting it mildly because it is such an integral part of who I am. I've been thinking for some time about what specifically I wanted to blog about as it relates to music. As I was making breakfast this morning, I felt that I need some background noise and decided to watch Dave Chappelle's Block Party while I cooked. An oldie but goodie any day of the week if you are a hip hop fan.

The movie itself is a concert movie where Dave walks you through the steps he took to put this concert together in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. Dave visited his hometown to recruit past neighbors (some with little to no exposure to hip hop) to attend the Block Party including the marching band from Central State University. Dave's premise for organizing the Party was that he wanted to create a concert composed of artists that he wanted to see and share that concert with the world.

For true hip hop fans, you could die after seeing this because it just doesn't get any better: Kanye West, Common, John Legend, Dead Prez, Talib Kwali, Mos Def, Big Daddy Kane, Erykah Badu, Cody Chestnutt, Jill Scott and The Fugees all backed up by the musical stylings of The Roots. Pure magic! I can't help but watch this movie with a smile the entire time because the respect and love that these artists have for each other is breathtaking.

While all seasoned veterans in the music industry in my book, I am continuously impressed with each new album that is released. With that being said, I am so excited about this year's Grammy nominations. Although I could go on for days about this, I won't. But I will share with you my Top 4 this year:

Adele - I was home on a Saturday morning cleaning when I decided to download some music from Ruckus. That day, the "artist to watch" was Adele. I wanted something new, it was free so I figured "why not?". I was almost moved to tears. The clarity of Adele's voice is unlike anything I've heard before. Her delivery presents a range of emotions that we can all relate to. I'm so glad that she is getting the recognition she deserves. Watch her performance of "Chasing Pavements" at the Grammy's. Trust me, she will be a legend.

M.I.A. - (Warning! Her website will give you motion sickness.) Over the past six months or so, I have fallen in love with music from the U.K. M.I.A. is no exception amongst the number of dance music goddesses hitting the U.S. scene (i.e. Kid Sister, Lady Gaga, etc.) Hailing from Sri Lanka, her music is as intoxicating as she is gorgeous and has caught the attention of rap mogul, Jay-Z, in a number of collaborations. Don't be to dazzled; she is incredibly intelligent and strong-willed and uses her music to tell her personal story and the story of other Tamils facing genocide. Watch her perform (pregnant!) on Grammy night with nominations for "Paper Planes" featured on Pineapple Express and Slumdog Millionaire.

Lil Wayne - I am a self-proclaimed Lil Wayne and I don't care who knows it! Admittedly, this was not the case until the release of his last album, Tha Carter III. Not to say that I didn't listen to his music before then, it did not speak to me the way this album did. If you're a true hip hop fan, you recognize real hip hop for what it is; and it's not always guns, drugs and disrespecting women. Hip hop, more specifically rap, is an expression of thoughts and feelings that must be captured that same way an author writes a novel. In this album, his metaphors are clever and fresh yet complex - all vital ingredients for a hip hop masterpiece. With nearly 10 years in the music industry already, 2009 proves to be another great year for him. Welcome to Wayne's World.


Jazmine Sullivan - As much as I love music, I am admittedly a music snob. I love a ballad just as much as the next person but it has to be quality. This is the approach I took with Jazmine. I had no problem downloading "Need U Bad" from iTunes but felt that it wouldn't go much further than that. Her album did pick up momentum but I still wasn't sold. On Thanksgiving, after numerous requests from him to listen to it, my uncle gave me a copy. Very unfortunately, I listened to it for the first time 1 week ago. Very unfortunate for me to have missed out on some of the most soulful, heartfelt music I've heard in a long time. After learning that Jazmine is only 21 and was the primary songwriter for her album, she is more than a force to be reckoned with.

Watch the Grammy's tomorrow night on CBS at 8/7 pm central. Check out your favorites at http://www.grammy.com/