I think it's pretty clear by now that I love hip hop. This love has led to me spending more money on music than anything else in recent years. I don't mind spending $10 -$15 on album because, if it's a quality one, because it will last a lifetime.I would definitely say it's worth it. So, spending isn't the problem. The problem is the rate at which I consume the music. For years now, I have tried to find the albums of yesterday in order to help me better understand and appreciate the music of today. At the same time, I have tried to stay current with the albums that are dropping now. It wouldn't be a problem if I just bought a record or two at a time, but for some reason I find it hard to do that. I buy 2, 3, even 4 albums at a time. I really do try to hold off on buying so many, but I can't help it. I guess you could say I'm addicted. Not only do I buy too many albums at a time, but I do it every few weeks. Alas, we come to my dilemma...

How in the world can I possibly soak in and fully appreciate all of this incredible music? Every time I buy an album, I want to be able to recover all that it has to offer. But it's hard to do that when you want to do it for multiple albums at a time. Of course I enjoy it all, but it becomes more difficult to really pick up on everything in the music. Every time I buy three or four albums, I try to play them all an even amount of times; cycling through the same few albums two or three times in a row. But then, I buy some more albums and so I do the same with those albums; play the same two to four albums in in the same rotation two to three times. But, I can't forget about the music I already have; the music I have come to love and fully appreciate. So, I play these albums, throwing off my previous rotations. I listen to a few albums that I've owned for a while, but then I want to go back and listen to some of the new albums again. I do that, but by this time, I want some more cds, causing the whole process to start over. After a while, I look up, a month or two has passed, I have anywhere from 6-12 new albums (some released years ago, some recently released), but I've only been able to listen to them three to five times. (Note: it's easy to buy that many albums in a couple months when multiple artists are releasing albums around the same time and you get the older albums at a discounted price).

It used to be that I would only buy one or two albums at a time and I didn't have too much other music to listen to, so I could spin the same album ten times within a short amount time and be able to really take in everything that was said. I would memorize nearly every word from every song, becoming completely familiar with the album. However, as time has gone on and I have accumulated all of this music and I buy it at such a rapid rate, I've noticed that I don't memorize words as fast as I used to, which also causes me not to be able to analyze and pick up on everything as quick as I used to. Of course I can still pick out highlight moments from each album, and eventually there are come cds that I am able to really become familiar with, but I feel that others get lost in the cracks; not because i don't enjoy them or they're not as good, but just because there is too much music to go around.

I haven't even mentioned all of the free mixtapes and singles that can be found just about everyday on the net. Throw one or two of those in there every month or so, and the amount of music that I have come to own has grown substantially. I want to be able to pick up on every word and detail of every album I own, but at this point, it seems to be impossible. I could if I stopped buying music for a while, but as I mentioned at the beginning, I'm addicted. I crave the new music and I love this thing we call hip hop. Although I feel as if I'm not able to become as familiar with an album as I used to, still find and gain so much from each one. This only increases my appetite for more music.

People recommend new artists to me all the time. Some I will check out right away and others I may not get to for a while. It's not because I don't trust their judgment, but simply because of the reasons I mentioned above. Often times, once I am able to give them a listen, I'm upset that I hadn't checked them out earlier than had, but you have to understand that it's because I hadn't gotten everything from the other music I just acquired. It is just a matter of "fitting them in" (as bad as that may sound) to my every growing catalog of music.

Listening to new artists, supporting artists I'm already familiar with, downloading mixtapes, and buying older cds in order to have an understanding of hip hop history, all while trying to listen to each an even number of times and getting as much from each as I can, can become hectic. But you know what, I wouldn't have it any other way. The abundance of good music is a great thing. Sure it may take a little longer for me to grasp everything from a new album, but I have a lifetime to grasp it, and in the interim, I will gain something else from another album. It is a beautiful struggle to have. It means that I always have something to look forward to. This is the exciting thing about music, and hip hop in general. There are so many hidden codes and messages within the songs that you catch something in a song ten years down the line. What's not to like about that?

So what do you think? Do you have this same problem of balance? Do you have a way you handle it? How often to you buy music? I hope I didn't confuse too many people with my "rotation" explanation. Let me hear it. Comment and as always, you can email at straightouttahiphop@gmail.com.


Peace.