Growing up, I had free reign to any type of music I wanted to listen to. The only music my mom raised an eyebrow was some punk music and that was because she never understood it and just thought it was devil worshipping heavy metal music (or as she called it, “musica del diablo”). Music was a huge part of my life. My dad played instruments all the time! Our living room was set up with huge speakers, a variety of instruments and walls of records that he got for free for working at CBS. On weekends, we would sit at parks and listen to live jazz or Latin Cuban bands. It was the freedom that my parents gave me that led to my intense love of music that I still have this day. It’s also the reason why I let my kids listen to just about anything they want; until last weekend when Dylan my 12 year old grabbed my phone and turned on Tyler the Creator.
I know of Tyler the Creator and just thought of him as my kids version of Eminem in his early days when he was actually good. I dont mind profanity I curse like a sailor and most of the music I listen to is still rap with some profanity but it’s more melodic and I found Tyler the Creator to be flat out vulgar. Maybe it was that one song he chose to play, but it was the first time I have ever stopped, turned around and said “you can’t be listening to that! It is too inappropriate.” It pained me to say that because it felt slightly old and hypocritical. So we met half way and decided that he can listen to Tyler the Creator but the clean versions.
In the future I’ve decided to express my opinion, love and concern with music but keep the musical doors open for me to check in every once in a while. Times aren’t like they use to be and I guess you can say that this is my version of Musica Del diablo.
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