If I haven’t been a rap fan my whole life, it’s something close to it. When I was three, I’d turn my mom’s hair brush into a microphone and jump onto the nearest chair to rap Naughty By Nature’s “O.P.P.” (needless to say, I didn't know what the lyrics were about!). Mom and my grandmother cheered me on. Back then, I would passively absorb sounds I heard on the radio; it was the ’90s, so the internet didn’t factor into my listening habits. Now, as a music journalist and former rapper who’s online virtually all the time, I rely on a variety of playlists, social media platforms, and conversations to find new music from the wide range of underground and mainstream rappers I love.
My road to music discovery was initially paved in TRL, Atlanta’s V-103 radio station, and playground word of mouth. During those years, music wasn’t as accessible as it is now, and there was a certain thrill to only getting to find new artists through TV and radio, and that turned video countdown shows and trips to and from football practice—with the car radio blasting—into musical safaris. Everything was new and a little magical.
Riding through Cobb County on various side missions with my parents, I remember listening to Justin Timberlake’s “Like I Love You” and Big Tymers’ Hood Rich, belting out the lyrics in my mom’s green Ford Explorer. I discovered Crime Mob’s “Knuck If U Buck” while sitting in my dad’s silver Dodge Neon. I love the radio stations 95.5 The Beat and V-103; their blend of pop and hip-hop was perfect for the sensibilities of a young rapper who was also an aspiring Backstreet Boy. Episodes of TRL and 106 & Park were just as formative for my music discovery habits. Before I understood things like Billboard Hot 100 placements—before streams were a thing—the setups of these countdowns let me know what music other people thought was important, serving as a kind of compass for me.
As networks gradually ended video countdown series and I eventually moved to Brooklyn, making car rides a lot more infrequent, radio and TV stopped being factors in my process. From that point, I became more deliberate, searching YouTube and various mixtape streaming platforms (shoutout to DatPiff!) to find new heat from artists like Curren$y, Wiz Khalifa, Big Sean, J. Cole, and others. Additionally, Twitter and Facebook let me see what my friends were listening to, giving me another rough guide on what was trending.
I don’t use Facebook anymore, but Twitter remains a real tool for me, as are playlists on Apple and Spotify. My work history hasn’t hurt, either. Because I’ve been a music journalist for years, my email inbox is also a solid source of new drops from emerging artists. Publicists shoot me info about acts they want me to cover, and many of them turn out to be excellent.. In my career, writing about new and interesting musicians has given me endless opportunities to explore, allowing me to interact with their material on a deeper level and making me even more appreciative of what they do. And in many cases those explorations lead me to scenes that are new to me.
Between streaming-service deep dives, my job, and social media, I’m pretty much locked in with the newest sounds, and conversations with friends often lead me to catalog artists that I haven't yet discovered. When it comes to New Music Fridays, I log into Twitter and see what discussions are unfolding before I go aurally exploring. Sometimes I'm re-engaging with artists I already know that have put out something new, other times I'm getting to know someone brand-new to me, but either way it's always exciting.
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