i am in love.

nope, you read that right. anniemosity is in love. big surprise, seeing as i'm in love all the time, but this, my friends, is real, true love.

it happened gradually, of course. it started out as a superficial attraction, but i was hooked without even knowing it. it quickly escalated to an incredible infatuation, where there were days where it was all i talked about. infatuation and obsession grew into deep affection and appreciation, where i knew that i genuinely cared about the other party, and the other party genuinely cared about me. affection has evolved into love. i am in love.

i am a twenty year old white girl from suburbia, minnesota, and i am desperately in love with hip hop.

it would seem to me that this is common knowledge for those who know me, but every once in awhile, i believe you deserve to be reminded.

i can tell you exactly where it began. it was september 13th, 2003, the date of my first mason jennings concert, my first norshor visit, and my first duluth concert experience. as i entered, i saw a hip hop group setting up. "wtf," i said. i didn't want to hear any crappy rap; i just wanted mason. they introduced themselves as heiruspecs. halfway through their second song, something came over me. i grabbed glen's arm. "lend me twelve dollars," i said, urgently. he obliged, and i found myself walking out of the norshor's concert area and back towards the merchandise table. i was soon the proud owner of "small steps," my first hip hop album, after only hearing 1.5 songs (to this date, that was my most impulsive music purchase).

after that, i bought "speakerboxxx/the love below" by outkast. i was then introduced to underground hip hop (atmosphere, brother ali, etc.) by someone much more culturally hip than i. i don't remember how it happened, but it spiraled out of control after that. i was obsessed. i needed everything. old school, new school, de la soul, mos def. i was enlightened to the fact that ice-t wasn't just a beverage (he's the "o.g.") and ice cube wasn't something you put in your "ice-t"... that arrested development wasn't just an awesome television show... that no, coolio did not come up with the chorus to "gangsta's paradise" all by himself (although i also learned that as my general music catalog expanded). i learned about russell simmons and rick rubin. i learned about ll cool j's career before that godawful sitcom. i learned about sampling and tributes and shoutouts. i learned about east side vs. west side and the notorious b.i.g. vs. tupac (and, out of naïveté, even took a side for awhile). i learned why snoop is as rich as he is and why dre is as revered as he is. i learned about run's house and the incredible cultural significance of salt, pepa, and spinderella.

however, out of sheer snobbery and inexperience, i immediately began to loathe new school hip hop (outside of the local/underground scene) because of artists like nelly and fat joe and all the incredibly ridiculous artists out there right now. this passed quickly, though, as i listened to mos def and outkast; i found talib kweli and common as a result, which paved the way to kanye west and the fact that yes, jay-z knows what he's doing and that "diddy" is pretty lame, but he used to run with a solid crowd.

most of all, i learned that there was good hip hop outside of bitches and bling and hos. there was hip hop with a message: challenging the government, spreading AIDS awareness, and trying to bust down racial barriers. hip hop is an important outlet, and it gets overlooked because of its high profile diamond-encrusted cristal-soaked "i'm the greatest" pimped out image.

i love hip hop. and hip hop loves me. we no longer have to hide our affair from roommates who make fun of us. we will live in the sunlight and spit our rhymes together. let's face it, what's better than watching a twenty year old suburban white girl who knows all the words to snoop dogg's "who i am (what's my name)" or the fugees' "how many mics" try to prove it? because i can.

and those who lived with or near me last year surely remember my spot-on flava flav impression.

god bless hip hop.


ps: on an unrelated yet equally important subject, yes, apparently demi & ashton got married. however, some people are saying that it's "undeniably creepy that Moore is 42 and Ashton is 27."
fuck that. age ain't nuthin' but a number.