Regrets

 Most of us have some sort of regret in life.  We either did or didn’t do something that every now and then comes back to haunt us.  Personally, I have a few regrets that center on hip-hop.  Albums that I shouldn’t have bought or a concert I missed for some unnecessary reason.  Some of these regrets are embarrassing and others are ones that I believe any person could have made.  So, I’ve decided that every now and then, I’m going to share some of these regrets with you.  Please don’t judge me…

Midnights Marauders for Mokenstef 

 

A Tribe Called Quest had released Midnight Marauders in November of 1993 and the album was considered a classic by most fans.  I was a Tribe fan.  I enjoyed their previous album, the Low End Theory, but back then, I didn’t have the appreciation for Tribe that most of my friends had.  Midnight Marauders had joints like Award Tour and Electric Relaxation, but I had never fully got into the album.  The main attraction of the album for me at the time was the dope album cover that featured a who’s who of hip-hop stars at the time.  I don’t believe I bought the tape when it was first released, but I bought the CD some time during my senior year in high school in ’95.

Check out this article about the making of the album cover.

Now, I’m not sure who I completed this transaction with, but I’m pretty sure it was my boy Shun because there’s not many people I would have traded music with.  There was this R&B group that had come out in ’95 named Mokenstef and their first single was called He’s Mine.  At the time, I thought it was dope.  Almost twenty years later, not so much.  Anyway, Shun had their CD and we were talking one day and I must’ve mentioned how I wasn’t really into the Midnight Marauders album.  So, Shun suggests a trade.  Midnight Marauders for Mokenstef.  Like I said, please don’t judge me and forgive me for my ignorance, but I really liked He’s Mine at the time.  I thought the song was dope.  I would like to say that it took some arm twisting and pleading by Shun for me to agree to the trade, but it didn’t. 

In retrospect, this trade was as lopsided as the Lakers trading Vlade Divac to the Hornets for Kobe Bryant in ‘96.  A Tribe Called Quest is considered one of the greatest rap groups of all-time while, if you weren’t a fan of R&B music in ’95, you probably have no idea who I’m talking about when I say Mokenstef.  As time passed, I would grow to regret my decision and wouldn’t bring it up in fear of damaging my reputation as a connoisseur of fine hip-hop.  Last year, I did finally buy the Midnight Marauders album again and after giving it a thorough listen, I cried in shame at my mistake.  I can never go back and erase my mistake, but in an effort to redeem myself, a couple of years ago, for my acknowledged nieces and nephews, I started buying them classic hip-hop albums for Christmas and Midnight Marauders will most likely be the choice for 2014.  In closing, I tell this tale not for you to ridicule me as some of you will, but to be a cautionary tale of what can happen when making haste decisions.  So, please, I implore all of you, if anybody ever approaches you about making a music trade (although with downloading, who actually trades CDs anymore?), remember this story and choose wisely before making the trade.