Boston, Massachusetts has been my place of residence since May 14, 1996, my birthday. To be more specific, Roxbury, MA (an urban neighborhood of Boston) is where I have spent the majority of my life. My mother emigrated to the U.S. from Haiti with her siblings a couple of years before my birth. I identify as a Haitian American; however, I have stronger ties to the American style of music. This is partly due to my lack of contact with Haitian popular music. American and especially hip hop sounds blasted in my radio headphones in my teens, but my few encounters with “Haitian music” have been directly linked with church. My family is predominantly in one of many forms of Christianity. My grandmother ensured that her children (and grandchildren)
…show more content…
This is what played on my Nokia phone radio app as I went to school in Mattapan listening to Jam’n 94.5. Unlike the hymns, this musical style followed me as I went to a private SDA high school called Greater Boston Academy in the Suburban town of Stoneham, MA. Between Berea and Greater Boston Academy, my family did not come into contact with money. However, my mother and I valued SDA schools so much that I did not mind traveling 1 hour by train and bus to this foreign town. Surprisingly, the school was pretty diverse and the musical taste of the teachers and students were not too far from mine. My English teacher did introduce me to older sounds like Sam Cooke. My Bible teachers joined in this love for music as they picked varying contemporary Christian songs for our sign language performance …show more content…
I co-wrote one of the songs sang at my high school graduation, but I generally do not perform in public. Why? Well, the reason is because I am simply not a good singer. Nonetheless, I will continue to express myself through music in writing and listening. Besides my upbringing, I feel like I relate with the African American soundscape because the topics they mention have relevance in my life. Sure, virtually everyone sings about love, but how many songs truly empathize with the struggle of young black Americans in urban neighborhoods trying to make a positive difference. This is one of reasons why conscious-rappers like Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West (who heavily samples gospel music) speaks to
This is what played on my Nokia phone radio app as I went to school in Mattapan listening to Jam’n 94.5. Unlike the hymns, this musical style followed me as I went to a private SDA high school called Greater Boston Academy in the Suburban town of Stoneham, MA. Between Berea and Greater Boston Academy, my family did not come into contact with money. However, my mother and I valued SDA schools so much that I did not mind traveling 1 hour by train and bus to this foreign town. Surprisingly, the school was pretty diverse and the musical taste of the teachers and students were not too far from mine. My English teacher did introduce me to older sounds like Sam Cooke. My Bible teachers joined in this love for music as they picked varying contemporary Christian songs for our sign language performance …show more content…
I co-wrote one of the songs sang at my high school graduation, but I generally do not perform in public. Why? Well, the reason is because I am simply not a good singer. Nonetheless, I will continue to express myself through music in writing and listening. Besides my upbringing, I feel like I relate with the African American soundscape because the topics they mention have relevance in my life. Sure, virtually everyone sings about love, but how many songs truly empathize with the struggle of young black Americans in urban neighborhoods trying to make a positive difference. This is one of reasons why conscious-rappers like Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West (who heavily samples gospel music) speaks to