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Tyler Carter
English 104- 15
Professor Trudy Walsh
September 28, 2015
Hip Hop Changed My Life
Growing up an only child allowed me to open curiosities through listening to music,
reading different forms of literature, and writing short stories. Literacys purpose is to help
people communicate a theory, idea, or even a feeling. These three forms of literacy have allowed
me to connect to other people, fictional or not, in a way that is nearly unimaginable. Any form of
literacy has been and always will be my necessary escape from reality because it allows me to
gain perspective on new ideas and be able to express my opinion towards these ideas in a
different and effective manner.
My mother had several bookcases overpopulated with books by Alice Walker, W.E.B
Dubois, Maya Angelou, and a variety of her other favorite authors. I wanted my personal
bookcase to emulate hers so I spent a lot of my time in bookstores and libraries. I spent my free
hour during the school day by the classroom book nook every Friday. My Aunt Olga is also one
of the people who emphasized the importance of reading in my childhood. My dad and I would
visit her every Christmas and I never failed to leave with five or more books in my suitcase. Year
after year I visited my aunt and returned with more and more books, but soon they started
becoming less read and more used to hold my wobbly coffee table in place. The desire for
unimaginable places was replaced with irrelevant words from page to page and a greater want to
be with friends. Reading became a task, a mountain to be conquered, and my feet became

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heavier with each step. By the sixth grade, my desire for literacy reached an all time low and my
aunts words on the importance of reading turned mute.
As I continued through the sixth grade and struggled to find the purpose in reading again,
I began to explore different genres of music. I dove deeper into jazz, soul, and hip-hop. My
music choices began to inspire me to do more within the arena of literature. It also taught me the
power music, specifically hip-hop, has on people through its rawness. I define hip-hop as the
language of the unheard. The poetry that flowed from my headphones gave way to delving
deeper into the lyrics of Jay- Z, Lauryn Hill, and Eminem to name a few. Jay-Z and Eminems
collaboration on the song Renegade provided me with a personal theme song by simply
describing my frankness in the hook, Never been afraid to say/ whats on my mind any given
time of day. Slowly reading lyrics to classic hits from various artists and reciting the poetic
verses from my favorite artists began changing my mind on literacy.
The power of music and the passion of poetry intertwined with me and caused me to
discover more poetry. The works of Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou flowed from my
mothers library into my hands, expanding my horizons as a reader and engaging me in ways the
books from my many trips to my Aunt Olgas had not before. The imagery and conscious
thought that went into each of the works, no matter how short, always made me want to explore
more poetry. Then we began the poetry unit in my seventh grade language arts class. This unit
was a combination of reading and writing poetry. We read some of every influential poet so we
eventually came across Langston Hughes, which excited me. Covering his works in an academic
environment allowed me to reconnect with literacy because my English teacher opened my eyes
to more poets such as James Baldwin and Toni Morrison. Reading these poets work provided me
with perspective that no history class ever had at that point. It helped me look through the lens of

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people living during the Great Depression, World War II, and the Civil Rights movement. After
the reading portion of the poetry unit came the writing portion. The writing part was not as
exciting to me because academic writing was never one of my strengths; I had never enjoyed any
writing assignment I had. Little did I know writing poetry would become the outlet I needed to
express myself in a way that I never had before. It taught me how to say what I am feeling
without using the actual words through imagery and symbolism. Moreover, writing poetry
deepened my yearning for more literature. Upon completion of this unit in seventh grade, I began
looking for books on some of the topics covered during the poetry unit.
Over the next few years, reading for pleasure became easier and easier for me because I
began reading things that had purpose for me. I was reading romance, historical fiction, and any
other genre I could get my hands on. I thought that most of these books affected how I perceived
certain aspects of the world. That is, until I picked up The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Reading
this book completely changed how I feel and think toward everything. It instilled the strongest
sense of black pride and self-pride that I had ever felt in my life. It provided me with a global
perspective that I never experienced through Xs vivid description of his hajj to the other
Mecca. I read this book at the peak of racism in my lifetime that was happening in the news
from Mike Brown to the tragic Charleston shooting. Xs words provided me with more purpose
by helping me understand what I truly want my contribution to the world be. Outside of my
personal growth, this book also helped me grow as a scholar. X mentioned many black studies
titles that I felt the need to read, including works by W.E.B. Dubois and Carter G. Woodson.
Once I read The Souls of Black Folk, I researched more titles essential to understand black
studies. The words that resonated most with me referring to the importance of reading were,
The ability to read awoke inside of me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive. (X,

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Haley) The Autobiography of Malcolm X allowed me to deepen my understanding of myself as a
human being and to understand those around me.
Literacy has provided me with much more than a fantasy world. It has provided me with
the ability to express myself completely and honestly. It has allowed me to dive into all forms of
expression, which led to my greater understanding of those different from me. Through reading
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, literacy has also allowed me to understand the black struggle
on a more profound level than any history class ever has. It has allowed me to understand the
world we live in from multiple perspectives. Most importantly, literacy helped me find what my
purpose is at this point in my life.

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Work Cited
X,Malcolm,andAlexHaley.TheAutobiographyofMalcolmX.NewYork:Ballantine,1992.
Print.
Carter,Shawn,andMarshallMathers.Renegade.JayZFeat.Eminem.Eminem,n.d.MP3.