Riding Blues

It was truly a sad day; I realized that listening to loud rap music kinda made my head hurt. I had long before (a few months ago) decided that I no longer wished to drive around blasting offensive rap music or listen to it. Part of the allure of such a thing was seeing the shock on the faces of middle-aged progressive white people. Imagine...January 2009...a 23-year old black female, who looks 16 driving through downtown Amherst, MA with its two stop lights and streets lined with liberal white people who probably voted for Obama, but still clutched their wallets and purses in the presence of a black male. I found that an appropriate song for such an occasion was "My President is Black" by Young Jeezy. The irony, right?



Downtown Amherst, MA


But on this particular day, I chose a less offensive and more lyricallly enlightened album, OutKast's Aquemini. Growing up this was my favorite album of all-time...EVER IN LIFE (added significance). And as a former marching band head I always found the horns in Spottieottiedopaliscious to be extremely infectious. So I turned my BOSE speakers up, popped my sunroof, rolled down my windows, leaned my seat back and rode. Mind you, as I rolled through campus I felt a bit subconscious and I didn't get that feeling I normally get when I ride listening to my music. To add to that sinking feeling was the fact that as my journey progressed what began as a slight tingle in my head was becoming a numbing headache and my loud music was spurring my decline in condition. By the time I turned around to head back home, I'd turned off the entire system and rode the rest of the way home in silence.

Disheartened but not deterred and determined to enjoy my music the next sunny day I regrouped decided to try again. This time I chose more mellow and more acoustic John Mayer songs. Agian I turned my BOSE speakers up, popped my sunroof, rolled down my windows, leaned my seat back and rode. I rode, and I felt good. That is until I reached a stop sign, and suddenly remembered all of the drama surrounding John Mayer and his comments surrounding black women. I shrunk in my seat and I immediately turned down my music. What did it look like me as a black female blasting John Mayer??? When the incident occurred I personally wasn't offended my the comments. While I didn't agree with him, I applauded the fact that he gave such a candid (perhaps too candid interview) unlike many celebrities...Beyonce. I still listened to his music But blasting his music was different, right? I have yet to resolve this issue...more on this later. I hope there are more sunny days left.