I remember in the second or third grade my friend Colin said something to me about the song where they say, "Shake it like a Polaroid picture". I had no idea what he was talking about. Years later I can name that song, and say that "Hey Ya!" was probably one of the first, if not the first, rap song that pulled me in, off of Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.

But at that point in my life I was listening to more alternative and rock music than anything else. I moved to upstate New York, and my tastes changed from my parent's music to genres and artists that I discovered myself, or were shown to me by my older sister. Listening to Spoon's "The Infinite Pet" still reminds me of biking to school in below-freezing weather. Franz Ferdinand's "Lucid Dreams" was constantly blasting from my speakers while I modded Nerf guns in my room. In the barn behind our house, my dad had wired the lightswitch to turn on not only the lights, but also the radio, and as I spent a great deal of time out there I was always hearing The Rolling Stones and Tom Petty.

I moved again, this time to Brooklyn, and on the drive from upstate New York to the city, and I listened to Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' Empire State of Mind for hours on end. Upon my arrival, someone showed me Wu-Tang and Mos Def, and my sister bought me Matt and Kim's Sidewalks for my birthday. I read about Aesop Rock in the book The Mission. I heard a friend listening to Das Racist's Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Even now, listening to any of these artists reminds me of home. I had an iPod shuffle at the time, and the hundred-song limit it had was as much space as I needed for my music.

Highschool came, and with it, new rap and a new home in Manhattan. OFWGKTA. Childish Gambino. All shown to me by friends, a source of music less biased against profanity and sexuality than anyone else. I got on a dubstep fix, and primarily listened to electronic music on my next move, from Manhattan to LA. This served as a rather effective method to drown out the bluegrass my mother was playing in the car.

Now that I'm in LA, I'm sure I'll move again. With every move providing a new source of artists to discover, I relish the opportunity. And with the development of my own musical tastes, I've posed myself a question: Why not rap, myself?

- $pecial K: The Corduroy Kid

Association

I like to associate music with memories.
So it's no doubt a lot of these memories involve rap music.

How in eight grade, almost everyday in the Winter I walked to school listening to Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. And every day that Spring, I either listened to Childish Gambino's EP or Culdesac. Listening to Das Racist on the Q train. Kendrick Lamar on a Thanksgiving spent in New Jersey. Wu-Tang Clan at my grandparent's house in North Carolina. Madvillainy on the band trip bus to Albany.

Let's backtrack to the very first rap album I bought. I bought My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy on a whim and from some insistence from a neighbor who was a New Zealand native. See, before I had MBDTF the only thing close to rap on my iPod was Papa Roach. I was also mad that Pitchfork made MBDTF number one on their best of 2010 list and not Titus Andronicus' The Monitor. So, I really mean it when I say I bought it on a whim. And I loved it. The horns of "All of the Lights", the Bon Iver guest spots and RZA's crazy verse on the end of "So Appalled".

Yet, the rest of the rap coming out that year didn't compel me like MBDTF did. But then I read the Spin story on Donald Glover's rap under the name Childish Gambino. Listening to Gambino threw me into the world of underground rap. From there, I even bought Tyler, The Creator's Goblin on vinyl.


And now, it's 2013 and rap has already changed since 2010. Das Racist have broken up. DOOM sent even more DOOM posers to shows. Big Baby Gandhi quit rapping. On the Christmas Eve of 2012, young up and comer Capital STEEZ killed himself. He was 19.

But hopefully with a new year, the positives will outweigh the negatives. There's many new faces, and plenty of rappers who have been around, ready to make 2013 their year. Joey Bada$$ and his Pro Era crew, bring the N.Y.C. sound back to the days of boom-bap. Milo, who could be considered nerdcore, but his worldviews and philosophy make you think of more than just his quirkiness. Le1f, who makes murky dance beats and raps over them. Cities Aviv, who's excellent Black Pleasure  was one of my favorite rap albums of 2012, raps through a wall of noise and makes his voice another instrument. Antwon, who's excellent End of Earth was also one of my favorites of 2012, divides his albums between sweet cloud rap, and what could be considered "industrial-hardcore-punk-rap".


Here's to a new year.
And hopefully, Madvillainy 2 will be released.

-P $wag

The Coastflow is the sound from coast to coast, run by two teenagers. One in Brooklyn, center of the earth. One in Santa Monica, beachfront. Equally influenced by Biggie Smalls and the prophet Dapwell. Mos Def and Cities Aviv. Outkast and Busta Rhymes.

We like rap music.

Do you?