Thread by @EsotericCD

Never gonna be mistaken for a serious hip-hop fan but I loved this song when I was 11 and I love it to this day.

The way hip-hop broke thru to white suburban kids like me and my brother from the late '80s onwards and became truly *national* American music, as opposed to niche, is actually a really fun cultural story. I remember all the beats. C'mon, if you were around back then you do too.

For me, it began with Run-DMC (and, ugh, Aerosmith). Sugar Hill Gang, all that was when I was an infant. But "Walk This Way?" Conquered every kid's headspace. Then the Beasties. Public Enemy. NWA to piss mom off. Wu-Tang, Tupac. And on and on.

I mean, it's more than a bit funny that what my brother and I would do literally just to passive-aggressively get our mom's goat--rap every single verse of N.W.A.'s "Fuck Tha Police" from memory, WHILE PHYSICALLY BEATBOXING--would get us cancelled today. Can't say that no more.

But oh, was it ever funny. Me doing the "fbbbt-prhbtbt!" record scratches in that goofy pre-pubescent high-pitched voice while my brother confidently shouted "FUCK THA PO-LEEECE!."

Man you had to be there.

Every now and then I'll chance upon a random "Yo! MTV Raps" clip on YouTube from the early '90s and it feels for a second like I'm drinking from the fountain of youth. God that show was great.

https://twitter.com/NatlSecCnslrs/status/1506088228197216263

Can't go to bed without posting the "clean" version of "My Mind's Playin' Tricks On Me," which is the one I knew of as a kid and is also remarkable as one of the rare "clean" versions of a hip-hop track that utterly demolishes the original. HEAR THIS:

Some might say 'take a chill, B'
But I can't, G
'Cause there's somebody tryin' to kill me.