Can I Get a...

"Dude, check out the old guy bumpin' Jay-Z in that dented out Protege with busted rims. Is he really singing out loud?" I said to myself as a caught a glimpse of the rearview on my way to practice.

Did this pathetic reflection of the 90's glory days stop me? Hell no! I finished the song, even if I didn’t know all the words. What's a playa to do? I'm on the front line of a generation that is going to be playing video games, telling bad ‘yo mama’ jokes and listening to N.W.A. well into their silver years. I can't deny who I am: a balding, thirty-something, white, wanna be hip-hop star, refusing to grow up while training for the Olympics. As I think about what I must look like when I roll up to the video store in the Princeton shopping center, leave the car running to return the Jim Carey movie that is a day late, while Redman's "Jersey Yo!" is blaring loud enough to hear it inside, I can't help but smile. Nothing left to do but get in, turn it up, let the monkey out and smoke the 13’s I’m rolling on. I'm a menace, which is kind of like a gangsta, and will have to do for now.

Lucky for me I have Jay-Z. It seems like each quadrennial the H.O.V.A. has made a hit that plays like a mini soundtrack for my rowing situation. In 1998, leading up to Sydney, it was Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life. It was my first team. I was new in the game taking my hard knocks, making my way to the top. In 1999, Vol. 3...Life and Times of S.Carter came out. "Big Pimpin" was the hit track and I was fortunate enough to be in the eight, we were undefeated and on top of our game. Definitely, big pimpin. I'm not sure what happened in 2000. That year Jay-Z released The Dynasty, and album where he gave most of the artistic control to the up-and-comers on his new label. Basically, we weren’t in the hands of the master and we paid a tragic price.

After that came The Blueprint, possibly his best album yet and if you don’t know, now you know. H to the Izzo, V to the Izz A! Over the next couple years I set out on a quest for redemption. There were a few of us that needed to erase certain haunting memories. As time went by, however, I began to wonder what happened to the young H.O.V.A. Then, as if out of the darkness, he dropped The Black Album with anthems that spoke to me as though it came from my own soul. “99 problems” pretty much sums up what any true baller is going through. With “Lucifer” I realized the best strategy was to strike first. And then there was “Dirt off your shoulder”, the battle cry of the decade. When I got to the medals dock that was the first thing I did.

But, like all good things it eventually came to an end and just like that the Best Rapper Alive was gone. He retired. I flounder for a year and eventually so did I. However, it was not to last. I got the spark again and began my comeback. I was rowing with a new pair partner, Scott Gault, a promising young baller with mad game. One day he gave me a ride home and when I climbed into his ride there was a familiar voice, like a prophet singing down from the hills. “Scott, what is this?” I asked. “The new Jay-Z CD.” He answered, smiling and bobbing his head. It warmed my heart to see that the youth was still being touched by the magic of this special rapper. The album was Kingdom Come and the song was “Thirty Something” and it was like going back to church. He had done it once again, justifying my decision to return to the game. A new calling for the aging rap fan, “Thirty’s the new twenty, I’m so hot still!” What else needs to be said? I mean, besides…
You ain’t got enough stamps in your passport to mess with young H.O.

For further reading here's a short list of some of my favorite songs from the mid 90's:

Goodie Mob-Sesame Street
De La Soul-Baby Baby Baby Baby ooh Baby
OutKast-Wheelz of Steel
The Pharcyde-Runnin'
Redman-Brick City Mashin'
The Roots-Double Trouble
Talib Kweli-Soul Rebels
A Tribe Called Quest-Oh My God
2Pac-All About U