"I've got the power!
That wasn't just the hook to Snap!'s 1990 single, it was also the punchline to a popular joke that made the rounds throughout my 3rd grade peer group (according to the joke, it's what a particularly mean teacher said after a vengeful, heroic student shoved a live extension cord down her pants. We were 8-- don't judge). Dated as the song is now, the refrain tells you everything you need to know about the power of music.
I've got the power! Over your mood, self-esteem, relationships and faith. The intricate workings of your mind manipulated through simple synths and beat machines. I've got the power!
It's easy for me to link every major point of growth or change in my life to the music I had on my CD player/iPod/phone at some point. The content of the lyrics and persona of the artist behind them reflected who I was (or wanted to be) at the time and also foreshadowed who I was about to become. These are the albums that, for me, defined the peaks and turmoil that have shaped my worldview and taught several lessons along the way.
Big Boi and Dre Present... OutKast, Outkast (2001)
"...out the Point, to Campbellton Rd."- Git Up, Git Out (Remix), Track 15
A routine Sunday morning drive to Church first made me realize that a big part of my life experience was shared with two mega stars. Before hearing the shout outs to Campbellton Road and Southwest Atlanta littered throughout Big Boi and Dre Present, OutKast's music made sense to me only as an assortment of radio hits and occasional words of reverence from my older cousin, a Tri-Cities High School alum who scolded me for "not knowing nothing about the Dungeon Family" and then jokingly asked me for directions ("how to get to") Sesame Street.
That ultimately serendipitous route to church, through the SWATS and past Campbellton Road on the way to East Point felt mundane to me until I recognized that these places were abstract and fascinating enough to be the subject of hot records for worldwide audiences. Atlanta wasn't just home- it was a place to be proud of, Northern transplants and their unwanted opinions be damned. While the uninitiated who popped in Big Boi and Dre could only imagine slamming Cadillac doors outside Greenbriar or walking through Underground, I had been there, done that and had the MARTA card to prove it.
This album, viewed as a throwaway greatest hits compilation by some hardcore 'Kast fans, was much more to me. It helped me see that culture and a unique upbringing didn't exclusively exist in a far away place- I could be significant right where I was.
The College Dropout, Kanye West (2004)
".. I turn tragedy to triumph/make music that's fire/spit my soul through the wire"- Through The Wire, Track 19
When album releases were still exciting, The College Dropout was the one I anticipated most. I was 14 when it dropped and promptly listened through each track during marathon sessions of Madden '04.
Before it drew public scorn, Kanye West's confidence was absolutely contagious. He was simply apologetically different, a personification for everything that a rapper wasn't supposed to be at that time. Suddenly me and the other black dudes in Honors classes didn't have to exhaust ourselves by existing in two worlds, dressing like trap stars while scuffing our Air Force's to make Lit class on time.
Most of Dropout's themes didn't touch on personal experiences I'd had by 9th grade. Even still, I figured that the road I was headed down was more likely to contain job disillusionment (Spaceship, Track 6) and seemingly insurmountable creative rejection (Last Call, Track 21) than the jail bids and drug deals gone awry other rappers were talking about. If OutKast let me know that I had a story, Dropout made it clear that I didn't have to be embarrassed about it.
