What does it mean to Filet Mignon a Kitten? My Journey In Hip HopWhat does it mean to "filet mignon"? My Journey with Hip Hop

Anyone who has ever had the quintessential hip hop conversation with me knows that my very first hip hop albums were gifts from my pappy. I received on vinyl, as a random surprise, Hip Hop Hooray by Naughty by Nature and Around The Way Girl by LL Cool J. Who knew that a simple gesture would later become a life long obsession, that I share with both my left and right brain - as well as others.

I say left and right brain because I feel that enjoying music is a thing of the working mind. There are people who listen to music. There are people who play music. But there is a select group of individuals who ENJOY music. Enjoying music, particularly hip hop, requires a knowledge of jazz/ the blues/ old school R&B and world music like Brazillio-Funk and Afro Jazz. Respecting and absorbing these genres is when you can enjoy a beat, enjoy production and enjoy a song for what it is teaching, pulling from you, and giving you.

Wonderful example: I grew up with a fond and grave appreciation for house music and electronica. Somewhere between St. Germain's Acid Jazz and Technocratic's Pump up the Jam, I found the beat and often practiced popping my hindparts to it when everyone else was sound asleep in my Harlem apartment. The appreciation for these genres of music rendered me a conneseiur for an appropriate use of BPM (beats per minute), and so when I heard Bombs Over Baghdad for the first time the 155 BPM rate was mind-blowing to me. I ENJOYED the first time i heard B.O.B. I knew what i was listening to, and I liked it.

I grew up surrounded by a respect and appreciation for all genres of music, and I did not even meet another person who did not enjoy music but just "listened" to it until I attended college. Now i'm not snotty with my ish. If you just "listen" to music, look - do you. But I once heard a small, frail woman tell a room full of people that we were just too old to flat out "not have an opinion on something". She said "how can you go through life interacting with things and living in a world with things you just don't have an opinion on?"

Good question.

So I've often refrained on giving my opinion on the total foolishness of hip hop today. But my journey in hip hop, my appreciation for music and my humble beginnings of left and right brain use has led me to the following opinions:

1) Most mainstream music is not real music.
Real music is not created for monetary gain. Real music is not created to control capitalistic influxes - meaning its not used to sell a brand of alcohol or denim jeans. Real music is not always deep, but you can bet your bottom britches that real music comes from people with real experiences. Mainstream music is not real music. We should not waste our energy on combatting something that is not real.

2) Most people don't/won't/shouldn't understand young people.
Young people make a bulk of the music we are exposed to. And no one understands young people except youth advocates, guidance counselors and other young people. They're not meant to be understood. Old(er) people did not understand Louis Armstrong in his prime when he was singing about Mack the Knife, or James Brown when he was talking about a sista smokin in her hot pants. Beat It was not written or sung by Michael Jackson for old(er) people. It's just not done and not intended to be that way. Thats the beauty of being young, no one understands you but your own kind. Google "What does Filet Mignon mean?, lil wayne" and see what comes up. Because I still don't know what it means to Filet Mignon a kitten.

3) Most musicians today are afraid to deliver a message.
Not to cite him twice in one article - but because I feel he is the greatest entertainer of all time he's big enough for me to do it - James Brown had some of the greatest message songs of all times. Equally so; Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye and The Beatles. Early 90's artists hip hop has so many message artists its ridiculous to count. I can only concretely link the lack of messaged music in this generation to one thing - the lack of self determination and ownership of music. Now granted, most musicians have massa on their back dictating how things should look and go - but when you are the ish and have a long-hair-don't-care attitude, when you OWN YOUR CRAFT, or in the case of many early hip hop artists: when you are establishing what a genre of music will look like, you have the liberty and cajones to say what your piece of art will look like. But only under these circumstances. Don't have any of these things going for you? You're in rented space. Please see Opinion #1.

4) Most people are scared of evolution.
Music is evolution. It is the same note, warped, twisted, sadly currently auto-tuned, and shaken up - served ice cold or piping hot. Music is what you don't want it to be and what you don't expect it to be. Music may not be your cup of tea, but stick around for a few years and its of my opinion that music may just be something you could stand to tolerate.


I'm actually an opinionated young lady and so I could go on all night.
I wanted to introduce myself to this blog in a way that would help me put my foot in the door and let you all know that there is much more to come.

My inspiration for this article? I am not lying when I say that I do not know what it means to filet mignon that p****y. My love of hip hop hasn't changed in light of it, but that certainly marks a solid milepoint in my journey within it.


Peace and Light

Nailah , aka Nai boogie, aka Ms. New Yorleans , aka Misses Big Stuff, aka Yvonne Sheikyabootie