for the record...

I miss record stores.

I mean...I REALLY miss record stores.

Back in the day when I was a kid, I would spend countless hours in record stores. Especially once I became a teenager and I could go to the store on my own. Music is one of the few mediums that brings people from different backgrounds together. I grew up on everything from R&B, soul, and pop. By the time I became a teenager, it was all about hip hop. I came up during hip hop's Golden Era. I feel blessed because I was exposed to so much great music. I was turned 16 in December in 1988. That year these albums dropped...

Biz Markie - Goin' Off
DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince - He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper
Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Boogie Down Productions - By All Means Necessary
Big Daddy Kane - Long Live the Kane
Eric B & Rakim - Follow the Leader
NWA - Straight Outta Compton
EPMD - Strictly Business
Marley Marl - In Control Volume 1
Eazy E - Eazy Duz It
MC Lyte - Lyte As A Rock
Slick Rick - The Great Adventures of Slick Rick


Just to name a few.

Back then, you could go in a record store and actually LISTEN to the ENTIRE album before you bought. And you didn't have to buy it...but more than likely...you would buy it because the music was so dope.

Fast forward to 2014...

Where are the record stores? It's hard to have a record store when you don't have records anymore. Technology has been the gift and the curse. Everything is digital. I used to buy cds. I have hundreds of them. I probably should have converted them to mp3 files (i have done it for my favorites). But now, you buy the cd on iTunes and it's on your phone. No cd. No album. No liner notes. The game has changed. And the music has gotten worse.

Maybe there is a correlation here.

It feels go back to my hometown, Florence, SC, and see the same record store that I went to as a kid, Rays. It's still open. I wish I could say the same for Tower Records and some of my other favorite spots. Shoutout to Electric Fetus in Minneapolis. I love that place.

Call me old skool...or call me old. I miss the record stores.