The song “Glory” and the video that goes along with it reminds me a lot of the readings in the book “When Rap Spoke Straight To God”. Throughout the book Erica Dawson refers to life as a member of the black community. Whether she is mentioning struggles or commitment to a better more fair future. This music video depicts exactly that through the song. In the last class we were asked to break down page 44. This page specifically brought me to this song. In the passage on page 44 Erica Dawson speaks to pride, that one should be proud of being black, proud of the history of the black community. Later, further down the page she reiterates her message by saying one shouldn’t be afraid of being proud of their history.

This music video shows clips from the movie Selma, a movie about black history. More specifically about the 1965 marches from Selma to Montgomery to raise awareness for black voting rights. The song by Common and John Legend sing about historical moments in the black rights movement. Rosa Parks sitting on the bus and the march on Ferguson Missouri.

Throughout the book “When Rap Spoke Straight To God” Erica Dawson refers to life as black man or women, and this specific passage was about how being a member of the black community is something that should be honored rather than frowned upon. I feel that this song and music video go hand in hand with that message.

“First Date” is a song by Blink 182 off their album “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket”. The song reminds me of a time in my life where I wasn’t so busy, wasn’t so stressed, and long term goals weren’t the driving force for every decision I made. The band had been around for some time, and had just recently made the transition from a punk style underground band out of San Diego to this mainstream band played on the radio and MTV. My group of friends and I had started listening to them in 7^thor 8^thgrade and did so tirelessly. What attracted us to Blink was the same that attracted everyone else. They sang about dumb stuff, they sang about rebelling, and they sounded good and had catchy songs while doing it. Blink 182 was the epitome of what myself and my friends thought of when we thought about Southern California or any beach town, which is something we all so desperately wanted at the time. They put a sound to all of the activities we did as a group of friends. We would sneak out at night before we were old enough to drive. Wed do dumb shit around the neighborhood or sneak out to a friend of ours that was hosting a girls sleep over and hang out all night. The best way to put it is, Blink 182 was and sang about everything we wanted to be while we were in a young teenage years. First Date, has a special place in my heart because it is my favorite song by a band I grew up with. When things get stressful now that I am older, listening to First Date helps take me back to a simpler time when I didn’t care about much outside of what was for lunch and who I would be hanging out with after school.