Rob Base Gave Us Pure Joy


Rob Base Gave Us Pure Joy

In 1988, I left Houston for Howard University and experienced a culture shock I wasn’t prepared for. Back home, my soundtrack was soul, R&B, gospel, and the laid-back drawl of Southern rap. Howard introduced me to East Coast rap, house music, and dancehall. I immediately fell in love with those new sounds because they felt fresh, urgent, and alive. Rob Base’s music sat at the intersection of everything I was discovering.

Sonny Rollins Saxophone Colossus

In college, I enrolled in a course called “Blacks in the Arts,” a survey of the creative output of Black Americans and its cultural impact. That class introduced me to Sonny Rollins. The first time I heard him play, I felt as if I were in a deep meditation, hearing the ancestors speak.


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"It Takes Two" by Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock

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