Personal Narrative: My Interest In Rap Music

Prior to birth, my mother and my siblings were living in north Nashville. Their interest in music was between R&B and 90s rap. The rap music kind of discussed growing up in a rough neighborhood and it was easily relatable for them because that neighborhood was not the best. My mother was working multiple jobs to take care of her then three kids. As a single mother, music was sort of an outlet that expressed the emotions she was feeling. When she finished her exhaustingly long day she would enjoy listening to some soothing R&B. Mary J. Blige, LL Cool J, and SWV were a few of her favorite artists.
The first songs that I am able to recall from my early childhood are gospel songs that I heard at church. Although I do not remember the words to the songs I can remember hearing

I based what I liked off of what my family listened to. R&B music became a part of my everyday life. My favorite artist was Aaliyah because of her unique style. When she died I could not fully understand what had happened or how it would affect me. It was my first time ever experiencing death. The last video she released was Rock the Boat and I clearly remember dancing to it a few times a day for a while. My mom tried to explain why I would never hear any music, but I still could not fully grasp the concept of death.
Jumping forward to age twelve, I was in the beginning stages of developing the genres of music I actually picked on my own. As many preteens my age I had Bieber fever. Justin Bieber’s hit One Time was the song to shape my musical future, and it sounds kind of odd saying it now. The lyrics, the beat, and the melody all came together and it was like a light flipped in my head. I became a super fan pretty much overnight, and it kind of took my family by surprise because they were not use to that genre of music. I had posters all over my room of him, and my older sister hated it because we shared a