This may be hard to believe, but back when I was about 12-13, I was one of the few white kids into rap at my school. Like, very obviously into rap.
I was listening to Dr. Dre's The Chronic months before it blew up. Really.
Unfortunately, at that time and place, that didn't give me the coolness points it might have a few years later (or earlier). The black kids were mostly bemused, and the white kids mostly wanted to kick my ass. Maybe it was more about me than my music and clothing tastes, though.
Shortly afterwards, I got into punk and alternative rock and other more Caucasian-oriented music for a bit, leading me eventually to Can and krautrock, at which point I stopped giving a fuck about music scenes, and just listened to whatever I wanted to.
I occasionally revisit some of the stuff I listened to when I was young, and I've found I enjoy the rap more than the punk/alt-rock stuff I listened to. There's an experimental edge to even mainstream rap that a lot of the rock stuff didn't have. Also I like hypnotic grooves and I'm not afraid to admit it. That hammering punk/metal drumming stuff doesn't do much for me these days.
Anyway, I find myself listening to Kokane's Funk Upon a Rhyme pretty often when I get in a nostalgic mood. It was one of my favorites when I was a kid. It's developed a reputation as a kind of oddball example of 90s g-funk.
So, um, yeah. Here it is. Language warning!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-ry_9ck8OQ
