Avoid compilation CDs. Stray from the 99¢ model of singles. Support the art of album production. Etc. etc.
Ok, that’s sort of my standard disclaimer that few people agree with today, partly by fault of pop record companies putting hits on bad albums. Anyway, I’ll save that particular rant for another day, because there is a good kind of compilation also. Every few years I get the chance to make a CD for someone, and it’s always a great time. It usually takes me several months to put together, but I’m currently working on two that might not take quite as long.
Past projects include a soundtrack to an old friends’ life, not from my perspective of her but rather my perspective on what I thought she might think of herself. That took me about nine months of sampling tracks and breaking completely out of my relatively narrow musical interests, but I was pretty happy with the end product.
Currently I am working on one for my father, who along with my mother probably instilled in me this love of music you see here. My brother and I remember my dad’s music particularly, because he enjoyed certain songs quite a lot, and I’ve slowly been trying to remember various tracks that we grew up with over the years. (I can comfortably write about it because they certainly don’t read this!)
Additionally, I have one of many friends who seems to have a pretty interesting musical sensibility – including ska and what seems to be any kind of politically active message (of the right persuasion, of course). However her impression of hip hop is, of course, marred by pop radio rappers “gettin’ caught in the trap / for the cash it’s the drugs, basketball, or the rap” (to loosely quote Talib).
But what I hope to motivate is the steady movement of positive and not all underground hip hop that exists. It’s mind-blowing! From Common to Arrested Development, hip hop has been a medium for lyrical propagation of awareness almost as long as the art has existed.
Of course, as Rob Gordon points out in High Fidelity, “Now, the making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art. Many dos and don’ts. First of all you’re using someone else’s poetry to express how you feel. This is a delicate thing.”
And the trick behind this particular compilation is to incorporate tracks that talk about this ill-conceived perception of hip hop as a whole, along with songs that actually practice what they preach. Order of the tracks is critical, and for this one I think I’m going to start it off with Mos Def, with the very same track that kicks off Black on Both Sides, “Fear not of man.” I’ll post the setlist as soon as it’s finished.
I love doing this because I get to think actively about the person for whom the compilation is being made. I get to think about how they might feel if they sit down with my notes and setlist, don their favorite ‘phones, and start listening to a completed shared musical experience. It’s probably one of my favorite ways of connecting with people, however rare the opportunity.
