Thursday, January 15, 2009

The Gap Between Us and Our Baby.

In 2004, when I was 21, I took one of those digital pregnancy tests & discovered that for the 1st time ever there was a baby growing inside of me. J. and I weren't necessarily official then, but we were best friends who figured we could make it work. Our little girl is 4 yrs old in 6 days & I'm almost freaking the fuck out. LOL.

Music stimulated her in the womb, but even then she was crazy particular. She loved John Legend (still does); I'd put it on in the car & she'd dance around in there. This was before he officially dropped, I had the audio of him performing at the Knitting Factory that year from a PR friend. She has perfect pitch when she sings Jazmin Sullivan, or anyone else for that matter. Keiko can hear a song two times and remember the words, she can listen to half a song and catch the melody. She gets down to Colin Munroe and Black Milk with her mommy.

We figured being young parents, we'd be able to relate to her better than my parents related to me. But I've recently begun to realize that eventually the gap will widen, especially as she gets deeper into discovering her own personality. Who she is... I'll always be aware of what the youth is "into" because that's how I hope to make my living, but I'm not always gonna feel her on what she's into. Gush about Biggie, Pac or even some living rappers to kids today and you're an "old fogie". Damn, I'm like, 25. But that's the cycle right? At a certain point we're all "old fogies" but 1994 doesn't seem like that long ago (pout)!

In 10 years, when & if Soulja Boy becomes the tycoon (i.e. 50 Cent, Puffy) that these folk are touting him as, my baby will be a high school freshman that views Jay as retro. In the car the other day, she told me to "turn the radio loud" when "Kiss Me Through the Phone" came on. And commenced to singing through the refrains & humming through the raps, doing a little diddy-bop with her head & shoulders.

0 comments: