When I was growing up, I was exposed to different types of music (mostly because of my sister). But the main type of music she listened to, and consequently influenced me with, is punk rock.
Since I was about nine years old, I have been a fan of this genre, but (of course) I have expanded. I listen to rock, hardcore, emo, indie, and music that are somehow related to punk, and I love them all. I love the raw energy of punk rock, I love the catchy lyrics of pop-punk and indie, I think it great to relate to the feelings shown through emo music, and I love the anger and raw emotion shown through hardcore.
Recently though, I have found a new kind of music to get into, and it has brought different emotions from different people. For the first time in my life, I have found an interest in rap, R&B, and hip-hop. You see it’s weird for me to listen to music such as this because my whole life, as I have said, I listened to punk, rock, and similar genres, and it is hard for me to go to the store and buy a rap CD because I am self-conscious. I feel like people are looking at me funny, and thinking negative thoughts about me because of this. I know I should not care about this, but I do. Yet, last Monday, I made myself go to a local CD store and buy one, because I am really into the music and just didn’t care enough to look and see if anyone was watching me. (I really like the CD.)
But that brings me to a point-- with everything anyone ever does, there will be someone there doubting, making fun, or questioning you at every turn (or so it seems).
My first encounter with this phenomena went down like this-- I was hanging out with some of my friends after work one day, and we were all outside putting a new throttle body on my friend's Mazda RX-7. Like me, most of my friends listen to genres such as hardcore, punk, and the like. They were all listening to Brand New, a punk band, when I had to go to my car to get something. While I was there, I turned my car on for some odd reason, and Kanye West, a rap artist whose CD I was currently listening to came on. As you can guess, I got very different reactions from my friends-- First, my friend Kel, who listens mostly to rap, found it very weird, because he did not know I listened to this genre of music. He thought it was very cool, because being one of the only people who hangs out with us who listens to rap, and one of the only people who hangs out with us that is black, he now knows he is not alone when he listens to this kind of music.
Yet I got a very different reaction from my friend Sam. Mainly, my friend Sam is very close-minded, and because of this, he could not believe I was listening to this. He did not like it. Sam thought it was me being fake, because to him, I was the closest thing to a punk rock friend he has. Also, because of this, Sam and I haven’t talked a lot recently. It is really sad how people can change over something as small as the kind of music you listen to.
You see, all I really am trying to get across is you can not let things like the type of music, the way you look, the color of your skin, the place you are from (and the like) affect friendships, and affect the way you treat people. You should not treat people different because of things you cannot help, or because of things you are into. Yes, most people are like this in small ways, but if anyone actively cultivates and nurtures this discrimination in their soul, if they cut people off from their lives like that, it's my humble opinion that they should not be allowed to breathe.
