Pop Music

I was a two year old toddler,
Still sucking on my bottle,
When my parents got divorced which was the pits like avocados.
Pops' hopped in his auto,
And he drove off, full throttle.
Only child, single mom,
Not many male role-models.
Not a lot of father figures once my pop duke split,
So, I had to swap him out and adopt a new pick.
My surrogate Pops' was hip-hop music,
So now I don't call it "rap,"
I call it "pop" music.

Rap music was the father figure that raised me,
So I say "pop" music because I feel as if I'm it's son.
My uncle Alan said it off when he gave me two cassettes as Hanukkah gave to 1991.

Now, one of those tapes was by "Naughty By Nature,"
It's their self-titled debut album, "Naughty by Nature."
And there's a song on there called,
"Ghetto Bastard,"
About the absent father of Treach, their lead rapper,
Where he says, "I was one who never had and always mad,
Never knew my dad,
Motherfuck the fag!"
And using the word "fag" is not my bag, no,
But dag, yo, that sentiment was powerful and agro.
Treach also felt lost and alone,
But unlike me, he was filled with testosterone,
Like Sylves-tost-a-lone!
And from then on, class was in session.
I was basking in masculine rap lessons from men like,
Method Man,
And Redman,
And Beenie Man,
And Birdman,
R.A The Rugged Man,
LA The Darkman,
And the Sunz of Man,
And Paul Barman,
And father figures like Big Poppa and Puff Daddy,
And Snoop, the Dog Father,
And Kane, The Big Daddy.
Not Kris Kross, exactly,
Daddy Mac and Mac Daddy,
But, Father MC and Trick Daddy.

I learned about male bonding from the Wu-Tang Killa Bees,
Eminem taught me craftsmanship and productivity,
LL showed me how to be smooth with the ladies,
And I learned Jews could be dope MC's for The Beasties,
And I got opposed to anger, violence, and misogyny,
'Cause your Pops' doesn't only impact you positively.
But, most importantly, I learned I wanted to be an MC,
The rap apple didn't fall far from the tree, – the "Rapple!"

I never had a daddy rockin' my cradle,
I just had Pop Music to rock the stage and the microphone.
Pop Music raised me up like I was the roof,
Not a boy from the hood,
But this meant from the hood brought me up from boyhood into manhood!

So, here's the epilogue,
I was a college kid in Boston,
And my friend at Tufts called me up when class started that autumn.
And she said there was a concert at her school for welcome back,
And Naughty By Nature was the headlining act.
So I go to the show and two thirds of the way through,
Treach says,
"Here's the deal, y'all. Every concert we do, we like to showcase local talent.
So, come on, Tufts,
You know who your best MC's are; send 'em on up!"
The next thing I know, I'm waiting onstage in a line-up.
I stood there in a panic, cue'd my best run and made my mind up,
Til Kay Gee, their DJ, looked at me and pointed,
And he dropped the instrumental,
And I totally destroyed it!
Treach said, "You blew up the place!"
And put his arm around me and what I can only describe as a fatherly embrace,
And I felt a joy that can't be expressed,
As Treach pressed my Old Navy T-shirt against his bulletproof vest.