Finding Music By Quinton Sifford

            When I was thirteen I was in the seventh grade. At this age I was just beginning to find who I am, and who I still am now. I was on google one day, searching up god only knows, when I found an ad for this app called Spotify. When I got the app, I started listening to artist I liked at the time, like Drake and Lil Wayne. My friends had told me about this artist named Tyler, The Creator. So I looked him up and his top hits were “Yonkers”, “Martians Vs. Goblins”, and “Trouble on My Mind” at the time. I of course look up the one with the most familiar connections, and that was “Martians vs. Goblins” by The Game featuring Tyler, the Creator and Lil Wayne. That was the song that really started my love for music, along with finding my favorite artist of all time. After that I listened to “Trouble on My Mind” by Pusha-T featuring Tyler. That song was in a movie my friends and I had watched called Project-X. Afterwards I listened to “Yonkers” Tyler’s most popular song to this very date. “Yonkers” was completely different and I liked it at lot at the time. I listened to his second studio album called “Goblin”. This was the beginning of my passion and love for music.

            Today I listen to a wide variety of artist; like Tyler, the Creator, Kanye West, Wu-Tang Clan, NWA, Odd Future, Notorious BIG, Mac Miller, School Boy Q, etc. My taste has really changed and evolved. I am a big fan of the “jazz vibes” that Kendrick Lamar, Tyler, and Mac Miller use. The vibes usually use a trumpet, piano, or sax. Tyler uses jazz in most of his new songs. Kendrick Lamar used all jazz vibes in his second studio album “Section 80”, which was about growing up in Compton in the Ronald Reagan era and the late 80s early 90s. Mac Miller uses a ton of “stoner jazz” in his music. His most recent work was “Faces” which contained a ton of the “stoner jazz”. My favorite songs on “Faces” are “Friends”, “Rain”, and “New Faces V2”.

            I’m also really into the “gangsta” style of rap, from groups like Wu-Tang Clan, to anyone signed under Death Row, to NWA I enjoy it all. Wu-Tang came out with their first album in 1993. On Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers they had a great deal of success from songs like “Method Man”, “CREAM”, “Bring the Ruckus, “The Mystery of Chessboxin’”. NWA is a gang that’s “Straight out of Compton”, they have artists such as Dr.Dre, Ice Cube, Arabian Prince, Eazy-E. Their biggest hit was their album “Straight out of Compton”. Death Row Records consisted of artist such as Tupac, Snoop Dogg, Dre, and Suge Knight.

            I escape to music on the daily. Most of the time you see me I will have my headphones or earphones in trying to block out sound and just escape to a world that fits any mood or state I’m in. The music I listen to is based on the mood I’m in. I listen to Tyler based on any mood I’m in, his music is very relatable and inspirational. The album “WOLF” puts me in the best moods just because it’s so feel good. If I’m sad like most generic people you turn on Drake or The Weeknd. The songs people fall towards are “Doing it wrong”, “Marvin’s Room”, “Valarie”, and “Gone”. If I feel kind of pissed off or angry I listen to “Gangsta Rap” because of the violence.

            I use music to make me feel goof and be able to relate to artists I like and know they have felt the same. People listen to artist like Eminem or Tyler, the Creator because they don’t have fathers or they have relationship problems. Those types of problems seem to be the most impactful and relatable nowadays. How do you listen?