Old School Gal

Dear Anyone,

Most of my closest associates think that I don't appreciate any type of music if it isn't soca. That's so untrue though. Admittedly I love soca. I like music I can dance to, because I really enjoy dancing, I can't help it. But the main reason that it seems it's all about soca for me is that I just don't think current R&B and Hip-hop are as good as they were in the 80s and 90s.

These days when I download music to my iPod, it's the old school jams that excite me. The radio stations in Ghana played a lot of old tunes, and I found that I knew all the words to most of them - something I don't think I can say about songs now. I think part of it comes from my first year at University. I lived in student halls, and we didn't have a television, so it was all about music as entertainment. I don't think I've ever listened to so much music in my life! Back then the singles would be released on Monday and would cost 99p or £1.99 at Our Price (remember that??) so with a student loan in my account, they were easily affordable. Now of course it's all about downloading and what-not. I'm a very old school girl, I still have my cassettes and my VHS tapes and video recorder that I don't ever intend to throw away. But I digress...

I think all original beats have been used, so it's all about recycling. I'm sick of the silly dirty south songs, because they all sound the same. I'm not into concious or hardcore hip-hop or Neo-soul, maybe one or two random tunes, but generally they bore me. Sorry. My friends make fun of me saying that I wouldn't like certain songs because they're too slow, but when did I ever say I don't like slow jams? I do, just not all of them all the time.

I even find that I can relate to the lyrics of old school songs. Back when I liked Boy Wonder, I randomly heard Brandy's 'I Wanna Be Down' somewhere, and the realisation of what she was saying was like an epiphany! It was exactly what I wanted to say to him. I also related a song called 'It's The Falling In Love' on Michael Jackson's 'Off The Wall' album to.... someone else recently. Not literally off course, but the gist of it.

So I do appreciate other types of music, people. I'm just a bit bored of it nowadays, and I like to go back in time to the days when music was fun!