Haske

Tomo Haske
Professor Campbell
UWRT 1103 M/W
September 14, 2015
Music To My Ears
I discovered the power of written communication through music. Someone can prove a
point through conversation. However, they can almost always express themselves more
effectively through well formulated written thought, to earn the trust and respect of their
audience.
I can remember being four or five years old. Just old enough that my mom thought it
beneficial for me to have my own room and no longer share one with my older brother. I can not
vividly remember her reading to me at night even though I know she often did. What I can
remember, are the late nights my mother sat beside me on my bed and sang to me. I remember in
particular her tearing up as she sang Daniel by Elton John. At the time, I didnt understand why
she was crying. Sure its a sad song, but that wasnt the true reason for her tears. All I can
remember saying is how beautiful her voice was, and throwing out every compliment I could
think about her singing capabilities to take her mind off of whatever was making her sad. Years
later as I reflected on that particular moment, I realized how difficult of a time it was for her. My
dad and her had just gotten a divorce and she was working nights as a supervisor at UPS. She
was scared about the future and didnt have anywhere near the amount of time she would have
liked to spend with my brother Dylan and I. It was this particular instance that sparked my
relationship with music and made me aware of the emotional impact that song lyrics can have on
people.

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Music has always been a large part of my dads life, and by nature of association mine
too. My dad graduated from a music and art high school in New York City and played the drums
in several punk rock bands growing up. Years later he got a degree in sound engineering from
UNC Asheville. For the first fifteen years of my life, I always viewed my dad as a hippy. Hes
had long hair for most of the time Ive been around, and was the type to bring his acoustic guitar
along on camping trips and sing songs by the campfire. Given my dads relationship with music,
it was only fitting that he bought me a portable Sony CD player for my seventh birthday. My
first means of bringing music with me everywhere I went. The CD player came with two albums.
One I cant remember the name, but know that it was a Jurassic 5 album and that I wanted
nothing to do with it, and gifted it back to my dad upon listening to a few of the songs. However,
the other album instantly caught my eye. Demanding my attention on the album cover, was the
image of a buff, tattoo covered black man, wearing a gucci gun strap, with a 45 pointed right at
me. It was 50 Cents debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin. It was probably not the most
appropriate album for a seven year old to be listening to and forming his views of the world off
of, but given my dads laidback nature and experience based approach to parenting, he let me
listen to it. With lyrics like, Keep thinkin Im candy, till your fuckin skull get popped, and your
brain pop out the top, like jack in the box, one can only imagine the scenarios I had in mind
while documenting the journey in my second grade pioneer project. This album had a huge
impact on how I viewed the world as a kid. It expanded my vocabulary, in a bad way. I would
greet my fathers co workers with remarks like, Whats up motherfucker? and other
inappropriate phrases. News of my new found vocabulary quickly reached my father and was
just as quickly corrected by some severe, butt blistering spankings. This album brought to my
attention that through powerful lyricism and equally as powerful audio, one can easily be put in

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the shoes of another and emotionally experience similar feelings. This album also provided the
initial spark that started my love of rap music.
Years later, in a dim lit classroom, in my senior year of high school, my history teacher
Mr. Hertzinger, asked our AP government class how we form our political ideologies. I said
music. I was wrong, the answer was through our parents. Regardless of there only being one
right answer in the AP curriculum for this question, it was still right. Or mostly right. The point I
was trying to get at was that music can really engage us and make us see things from different
perspectives. I was speaking from experience. I think that our original political ideologies are the
same as our parents or role models, but as we get older and experience more things, we begin to
form our very own tailor fit beliefs of the world and politics. I know for a fact that my political
beliefs have been greatly influenced by rap music.
Music is a strange thing. It is part of pop culture. It is an industry. A way of promoting or
selling ideas. It is also something that everyone needs in their life to help deal with certain
emotions. For the majority of my life, rap has been the most popular genre of music. There are
many sub genres within rap that all serve their individual purpose. Songs can be emotionally
powerful through their rhythmic qualities and audio, with little to no spoken lyrics. They can also
be emotionally powerful through the content and depth of lyrics. I enjoy both styles in different
situations, the more wordy style is what has had the most influence on how I see the world.
For the more lyrical content based style of rap, my favorite artist is J. Cole. Reason being
that his music is far more relatable for myself than any other rapper. As hard as twelve year old
me tried to relate to the stories in 50 Cents gangsta rap, as I strolled through the hallways of my
private school, it just wasnt happening. 50 Cent got shot nine times in a failed attempt on his
life. The worst physical damage that had happened to me, was when I accidently stabbed myself

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in the leg with a box knife. J. Cole was rapping about beef with his step pops, worrying about his
mom as she worked late into the night, and making it to college on a scholarship. These topics
were much more relatable than those of 50 Cent and I quickly realized that because it was more
relatable, I was able to experience deeper emotion while listening to it and therefore enjoyed it
more.
In certain situations less is more. What isn't clearly explained is left up to interpretation
and can sometimes have a larger impact. This is what Ive found as far as the type of music I
want to hear when physically exerting myself. Listening to music while working out is a great
way to stay energized during physical exertion. Probably the last thing I want to do when I squat
down to the ground with 315 pounds on my back is to use my focus trying to decipher what I just
heard in a song.
I am not surprised that music has played such a large role in my life. Music engages
people more than conversation because youre not thinking about how you are going to respond.
The rhythmic tones of music make us emotionally engaged with what someone is saying. Your
only job for those few minutes is to listen to the music. In no other way than with written
language, is someone able to express a thought all the way through and provide the most
effective means of delivering a message. Growing up as a shy, quiet individual, the ability of
song lyrics and poetry to grasp someone's undivided attention always interested me.