Music is Music

I moved to Maryland when I was six years old. I lived in a mostly white neighborhood by Long Gate Shopping Center and went to a mostly white elementary school. Growing up, majority of my friends were white. I never acquired an African American friend until I moved out of Worthington Elementary district and started going to St. Johns Lane Elementary School. I went from living in a mostly white neighborhood to a mostly African American neighborhood. There is nothing wrong with that. Being that I had mostly white friends for almost all of my life, I guess you could I say I became submerged in the supposed “white culture” Mostly the music such as Britney Spears, NSYNC, or the Backstreet Boys. I honestly believe everyone has loved one of the three of those artists at one point or another. After I moved, I was surrounded by kids that loved rap and hip-hop. But, that didn’t change who I was as a person. I am the type of person that doesn’t change what they like based on what’s “cool” at the time. In middle school, I was the “oreo” (black on the outside and white on the inside) because I loved Nirvana and not 50 Cent. I was the girl that liked “white people music”. What is white people music? To me, music is music, doesn’t matter if you’re black or white. It got to a point where I tried to justify it just so people wouldn’t pick on me. I went from this ‘I don’t give a shit’ attitude to “well, I love Jimi Hendrix and he’s black so can you leave me alone now?” But, in the end that didn’t change anything. Today in 2011, I am open to more music such as a Tribe Called Quest, which I love very much, but Nirvana is still my favorite band and I have no shame about that.