Michael’s playlist

Ever since I was a small child I had this fascination with New York City. There was something special about this city 4,000 miles from home. When I was about 5 or 6 me and my older brothers used to watch “Comin’ to America” on vhs tape everyday, I’m not even exaggerating, I must have seen it 1,000 times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJZauKQd5Wo

1) I remember how happy I was when I first heard this song by  Snoop Dogg and R. Kelly because it sampled the Comin’ to America soundtrack. It reminded me so much of my childhood. (the first 10 seconds are actually from the movie)

2) My family is Colombian so of course all my mama used to play at home was Salsa Music. Interestingly, Salsa wasn’t born in Latin America but in a place everybody called “El barrio”, for me it was always mind blowing to know that the predominant art form of South America was actually born in the streets of Harlem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53cyxr74GuU –

Willie Colon & Hector Lavoe – Che Che Cole, a famous Salsa Song from the 70’s. In the background you see some New Yorker Bridges, I have no clue though which ones. You guys from here probably know immediately.

3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd0cl2d2ziU  El Gran Combo – Un verano en Nueva York

another one my mother used to play like crazy, it basically tell us how great the summer in “Nueva York” can be.

4) Sometimes things happen that change your life and the way you see the world forever. For me one of those moments was when I was 11 and a friend gave me a burned dvd he put some basketball videos on.

Luckily I found the exact same video on youtube. It makes me kind of nostalgic. I remember how mesmerized i stared at the screen. Seeing Vince Carter dunk is always amazing but the background music captured my attention way more. I remember how I thought that I never heard anything as cool as that in my entire life. And I still do, to me it’s the greatest song of all time. Nas – It ain’t hard to tell

5) From that point I really fell in love with Music. I’m obviously not from America so whenever I hear somebody mention the respective boroughs, the first think I associate with them is music. So the next 5 songs are the first ones that came to my mind when I thought about the respective boroughs.

BROOKLYN – Return of the Crooklyn Dodgers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opWYnUpNtG8

QUEENS – Nas: Memory Lane: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXBFG2vsyCM – Nas – Memory Lane

..It was surreal for me when I arrived at NYC, took the F train to get to Manhattan from Jackson Heights and one station the train stopped was called “21 St Queensbridge”.

MANHATTAN – Big L: Holdin it down: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aQgNE3pa9I

I think New York is pretty much the “Mecca” of everything, the story of the Rucker Park and the And1 Mixtapes, for example, had a huge influence on my childhood.

BRONX: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wPSGbf7zww

There are only a couple things that I hate more than reaggaeton. So having a fellow Latino that made great rap music always made me proud in a sense.

STATEN ISLAND: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pavirm8YClQ

It’s crazy how popular the Wu-Tang Clan was in the 90’s among immigrants in Germany so I can only imagine how big they must have been in New York City.