Cassettes, Identity & More

It’s Oct. 1998. I just turned 16 and was bored with puberty. It was 8 months prior to the infamous journey to Dubai. &  it’s precisely two months after I scooped up the last copy of Mosdef & Talib Kweli are Black Star…. I sat down on the floor, faced the wall and wrote poems for the invisible ones whilst playing Respiration and Thieves in the Night back to back. Remarkably, this album was the key to another mysterious world. Far away from my lily white neighborhood, rusty bike and Latin exams. It helped me explore The Invisible Man, Haruki Murakami, Ngugi and Nikki Giovanni’s Egotrip. Matter fact, sole reason why I read the Bluest Eye by Toni Morrisson was because I loved the chorus/quote below to death:

Not strong
Only aggressive
Not free
We only licensed
Not compassioniate, only polite
Now who the nicest?
Not good but well behaved
Chasin after death
so we can call ourselves brave?
Still livin like mental slaves
Hidin like thieves in the night from life
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice ( Thieves in the Night)

Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star stayed in my daily rotations for the years to come. I remember the digital debates and other tongue-in-the-cheek commentaries amongst the tribes of backpackers. So, I dedicate this to the past glories of the Jansport backpackers, roots.com lovers and napster huggers.