Almost everyone has a playlist of their favorite songs. Whether it’s guilty pleasures or songs played on the radio, these songs get us excited and ready to hit those high notes or rap the whole verse. When you look at someone and think of their taste in music, a generalization is made. The main stereotype is that all black people listen to hip-hop and rap. The harsh language and the stories they depict are the realities of all black people so we all have to listen to the same music. No, we don’t. Yes, we do listen to hip-hop but no it’s not the only type we listen to and that’s not the reason either. My taste in music expands to all different genres. No one song can define my music taste. I like everything from rap and hip-hop to alternative rock. I listen to all different types. My playlist contains music by Kanye West and Miguel, but also Rex Orange County and Panic! At the Disco.
I feel like the ideas expressed in Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself quote, “Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)” accurately represent the ideas I have about my playlist choices. The portion, “Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself.” applies because as a black person, it’s assumed that my playlist consists of songs in hip-hop and rap by black people and in that stereotype, I contradict myself. Reality represents another and so your appearance contradicts your personality therefore you contradict yourself. But that’s okay because I want to contradict myself. By doing so, I can show that my tastes are expansive. The second half of the quote,”(I am large, I contain multitudes.)” applies because it tells of how I listen to many different types of music and enjoy many different artists.
My playlist has a lot of Mac Miller song on it. I don’t listen to all of his songs from all throughout his career, but I do really like his most recent album, The Divine Feminine, in particular. I liked this album because his lyrics talk about love and intimacy but not like the beginning or end of a relationship as much as the middle and the constants that keep the relationships going and the struggles faced. I can’t say that I personally relate to these songs’ topics but I like the way he conveys his emotions in them and that’s why I relate.
The playlist is 6 hours and 54 minutes long and has 100 songs so it’s a pretty good sample of the songs I listen to in general. But the reasoning behind liking such a wide variety of music isn’t to force diversity upon myself. It like what I like because it sounds good. I don’t go out in search of music by a specific person or in a certain genre. If I hear a song in the background of a show or movie or even in someone’s snapchat, I’ll look for it because it caught my attention. Or maybe, it’s a new rendition of a classic that may be better than the original. I really, really like songs that make me think. Songs with clever lyrics. Whether it’s puns or double entendres, I like lyrics that stick in my mind or that I may not understand immediately, but as time goes on and maybe I’ll have a new experience that makes me realize a new meaning being expressed in a song.
Our Philadelphia, Our America 