If you’ve been following me for some time, you know that I recently began my vinyl collecting journey.

On this musical conquest, I’ve already acquired some outstanding hardware to add to my growing collection, but none quite as sentimental as this one.

Notice that I did not say “valuable” because value has different meaning depending on who you ask and what it is you bring to the table. Everything I get my hands on holds a special place in my heart, be it a record my parents put on while I was a child or an album I’ve spent extensive time listening to.

This record in particular is one of those ones I’ve had in my rotation for years, hence the reason I made it a priority to get it as soon as I could.

This album found me at a time when I was still very much trying to find MYSELF and figure out who I was as an individual. While trying to do so, I was also enthralled in a very intense family court case. At times it felt the only real peace and quiet I got was ironically, when I was listening to my music.

This project quickly became a favorite of mine. I was thrust into the world of “neo-soul”, a term I had never heard up until that point, but quickly came to interpret as “new age soul”, but this wasn’t The Internet. This wasn’t “Cherry Bomb” or The Roots. This was jazz with elements of R&B and hip hop strewn throughout.

It was the perfect blend of everything without being too much. It was upbeat, it was fast paced, but enough slow pace and blues to keep me grounded. It was pro black and beautiful and everything the culture was built on with a little bit of rock sprinkled in at the end for those just like me who weren’t necessarily familiar with this kind of sound, but might get a bit of enjoyment out of what they DID know, spun in a way they could learn to like if they’d give it a chance.

It goes without saying, but this album in a lot of ways changed my life and exposed me to a world of music up until that point that I had never heard. At least not quite like this.

I’m so fortunate to be able to say I was born at a time where this project exists and not a second too early or too late. I’m so excited that I was able to add this piece to my library and I can’t wait to show you all the other things I find as I find them.

I hope you’ll enjoy this video that I’ve spent the better part of 3 hours trying to upload to this site. If you did, I hope you’ll stick around to see what else this site and blog has to offer. In the meantime, kickback and enjoy the show. I’ll see you in the next entry.

Sincerely yours,