10 Things I’m Sick Of Hearing Rappers Say
1: I never claimed to be a role model: There’s not exactly an application process for this position homie. In a country where celebrity is held in the highest regard and the Black community’s agency historically has been heavily relegated through years of structural oppression and marginalization you actually happen to be extremely relevant, particularly to the youth. Is this extreme relevance deserved? Debatable. Regardless, it is real and has little to do with personal choice and will not disappear due to abstract questioning of its social injustice. It simply is true and, yes, you are a role model. Now perhaps this responsibility could be embraced as an opportunity rather than disregarded as a costly burden.
2. Don’t blame me. The parents aren’t doing their job: Maybe so…but ya’ll sound like some Reaganite Republican or something. “Just pull up your boot straps, cut that long hair and take care of your family, lazy Hippies! Just say no!” The bold statement does little more than deflect blame in a very pretentious and grandiose manner. The statement only seems concerned with keeping one’s hands clean and appears indifferent to struggles of family and youth in America that hip-hop once boldly cleared its throat to address. Neglecting to even recognize issues of divorce, children born out of wedlock, one-parent families or even issues of blue-collar living, the job of the parent is simplified and harshly judged. Hip-Hop was once a community and this quote makes that time hard to remember.
3. Know What I’m saying? Nope.
4. When I say Bitches and Hoes I’m not talking about all women just women who are like that: I’m going to let my man Bryan Hurt (Creator of “Beyond Beats and Rhymes”) handle this one. “If President Bush went on air and said our country is in a terrible position because of all these N words out there, would black people be like- “well in which case I know he’s not talking about me, so whatever” (well maybe I paraphrased but you get the point). Claiming to be specific when you are blatantly not only weakens the argument and makes the words seem more inclusive and bigoted.
5. Movies are violent too so why don’t you attack them? Trust me we don’t want Jadakiss equated to “Snow Dogs” shit get real on set, I heard that Cuban Gooding took 3 hot ones to the chest over some stupid beef over some carrot sticks at the catering table. Hip-Hop should never be equated directly to the standards held of other mediums because to do so dilutes the distinctive and intrinsic reality of it’s voice.
6. Hip-Hop is just a reflection of America, if you don’t like what you see don’t blame us, blame yourself: First let me say, much like the quote above, this has real underlying promise and raises a good point. However, I simply don’t buy this statement as it stands today, maybe 15 years ago but the transformation of hip-hop into a global enterprise makes not so simple now. Hip-Hop used to reflect the emotions, conditions, and struggles of people; however, the commodification of hip-hop has put image at the forefront and consequently left people looking to replicate hip-hop in the creation of their own reflection. Images of aspiration and impossible dreams have replaced the poetic personal narratives that spoke for the voiceless (in terms of mass relevance – but I’m a backpacker so I only listen to Vegan rappers).
7. Why would I freestyle? I rhyme to get paid: Can’t freestyle huh? Broke huh? I understand it’s tricky, not too much shit rhymes with “no homo”
8. Blah Blah Blah first week record sales:. How the hell is hip-hop going to emphasize record sales when the record selling game is a wrap? Our ultimate standards of success are no longer even mildly the standards in the music industry at large. Ideals of critical acclaim, musical progression or experimentalism that could help advancement at this time are disregarded and replaced with limp statistics of units pushed. Somehow the rap game reminds me of the crack game.
9. East Coast dudes are biased: You’re damn right we’re biased! Why do you think Bill Cosby got his multi colored sweater in a bunch? Or W.E.B. Dubois became a socialist when he was like 120? When you are directly connected to founding ideals, principles and elements of something and after all you’re hard work the shit you spent your life working at doesn’t even resemble itself anymore you’re entitled to be a little grouchy -
holler at me! (In my best Internet gangster voice)
10. Hip-Hop is dead because of the South: Hey Cosby, Dubois, Crush Groove! Uh huh, yeah you with high top fad and zippers on your kicks stop whining, start applying yourself to changes you want to see and stop pointing an embittered old finger. Placing blame only creates defensiveness and divides a community in need of rebuilding.
Ok ok check it check it check it out. I know it’s kind of dangerous to be an emcee and all that but stop ducking and dodging the issues and questions with formulaic clichés. Stop casting blame to avoid the revealing face of one’s own responsibility.
More and more it appears that hip-hop feeds its patrons willingly while their self-motivated gluttony gradually eats away at their forgotten lover now turned unappreciated provider. The narrow minded corners we back ourselves into often act as delusions that seem to protect ourselves as from imminent attack but in actuality they do nothing more than lead to the continued avoidance of needed reevaluation.
/Art by Rory Panagotopulos
6:34 pm on December 20th, 2007
You are Da Man, ZACH!!!
7:52 pm on December 20th, 2007
Great points and extremely well written. I’m not used to seeing content that deep in blog posts, it was a nice read.
9:40 pm on December 20th, 2007
well thought out, but it seems rationale does not appeal to those under 25, and really what else are you gonna play to the generation that only knows one thing.
10:05 pm on December 20th, 2007
Interesting, and I agree with it, insofar as it applies to the majority of rappers who I don’t consider true artists (you know who you are – full of beats and lacking anything good to say). However I think we (i.e. anyone with a say in promoting music – that’s you Palms Out Sounds) should give more dues to those rappers who are trying to stand out in a polluted industry. Chamillionaire put out what I think was the best album of the year and he was both politically on point and made a great album without one single curse word. That alone should earn him the respect of anyone who bashes hip hop for its language – this was no “Will Smith I dont curse but I also dont say anything” album, it had guts and respect for its listeners. The rest of the hip hop industry should pay attention. I will stop my rant for now, keep up the great work.
2:11 am on December 21st, 2007
good stuff, i really enjoyed reading this
12:03 pm on December 21st, 2007
so many problems with this post… Where does one start?
eh, oh well. Keep trying. It seems as if you’re impressing like minded people.
For example, point 8, You don’t seem to understand the natural progression that occurs in mainstream hip hop in general. Backpacker shit is the new reactionary conservative mindset. Meaning, your average backpack hero is tying to re-capture an old sound/style… boring rehashes… Whereas, in order to sell units within the first week, a mainstream album has to present something fresh, otherwise it just won’t sell. blah blah blah…
you backpackers never get tired of even rehashing the same arguments year after year.
12:29 pm on December 21st, 2007
cashless clay-
the point of number 8 seems to be that all hip-hop artists continue to emphasis album sales as a point of relevance while the music industry at large increasingly dismiss these sales as true test of relvance or success. No to mention I did’nt see him draw any comparsing to mainstream and backpack rap in that point at all…
he also seemed to be being facetious about being a backpacker
man those mainstream artists have been so fresh lately to your spot on with that
1:11 pm on December 21st, 2007
@Anonymous
So is it wrong for me to point out that ‘something’ is driving mainstream sales? Let’s face it, a top selling album in 2007 can’t sound like one made in 2005.
and to the point that he didn’t explicitly mention backpack rap… we are talking about the rapgame here, where does the innovation exist if not where sound/style is rapidly changing?
and the use of “backpacker” on a whole isn’t a meaningful title outside of tongue in cheek commentary.
nothing to see here.
also, if you know who I am, why not reveal yourself. :D
1:11 pm on December 21st, 2007
no backpackers around here cashless, as far as i’m concerned being preached to by so called “conscious” rappers about how i should live my life- is just as boring as being bragged to about cars and money. same lack of content, same lack of originality.
1:12 pm on December 21st, 2007
Well said Haldan…
1:15 pm on December 21st, 2007
For a blog that largely ignores hip-hop, and black music in general, you sure have a lot of opinions…
1:18 pm on December 21st, 2007
who dat: you probably havent read this blog enough. btw what’s black music?
1:27 pm on December 21st, 2007
Not saying that “Who dat” is right or anything, but I feel the same way. Hip hop isn’t covered very much at all, and I’m fine with that. I come here for everything else but hiphop. Just looking at the RSS Feed, the only hip hop artist mentioned for the past few weeks is Devin, and that’s more in relation to Teki Latex who’s kinda sorta hip hoppy. I guess I can’t take dude too ‘hip hop and you don’t stop’ serious when he says that he and TTC are pop.
but hey, I like Teki and TTC… :(
and the real question should be, “what popular music isn’t or wasn’t at one time, Black music?”
1:34 pm on December 21st, 2007
i dunno bout you, but i come here for remix sundays, and about half of what i get are remixes of hiphop songs. am i alone in thinking this?
busta, t.i, and chew fu all make hiphop
kid sister is maybe black? she does makes hiphop though.
saigon, hurricane chris, qtip…
i’m not going to go thru every remix sunday artist, but hiphop is very much here.
1:46 pm on December 21st, 2007
Hipster hop maybe? Raw uncut hip hop? no. A bunch of remixes that make a lot of people’s guilty pleasures, hip hop, a lot more acceptable to their electro-biased tastes? Definitely. This site has a definite electro bias. That’s cool. I like that, I don’t expect otherwise. In fact, I wold greatly appreciate it if P.O.S. never changed their ways.
I pull every mp3 on this site and all others that it links to up to levels deep and out of maybe 200 songs posted, 3 or 4 will be straight hip hop cuts. I’m not sure where you’re getting your hip hop on P.O.S.
If you’re so convinced that P.O.S., has a gang of hip hop, put up some posts with the relative dates.
1:51 pm on December 21st, 2007
wait wait wait…. i thought hip hop was dead???????
if you get to define what hiphop is- fine, then you’re right. but in my opinion- if even 5 of 20 songs on a given remix sunday are remixes of hiphop songs, then i don’t think this site “largely ignores hiphop”.
1:57 pm on December 21st, 2007
You have a very odd way of calculating “half”… There are 4 hip hop artists here, IF you count Kid Sister (which I wouldn’t). The total amount of tracks is 23. Half of 23 is 11.5, there’s an 7.5 unit deficit before you get to %50. You’re looking at closer to %17. Either way the tracks didn’t make it to P.O.S. because of their hip hop vocals, they made it due to the remix/remixer.
Just a minor point of difference here, but IMHO, hip hop is more than just the vocals.
Busta Rhymes & T.I. – “Hurt” (Chew Fu Refix)
Kid Sister – “Pro Nails” (Chico Love Remix)
Dolby Anol – “Heather, I’m Dry” (Anol Edit)
New Young Pony Club – “Get Lucky” (Riton Rerub)
Mr. Spastic – “Net” (Alf Alpha Club Remix)
Amari – “Le Gite Fuori Porta” (Herr Styler Peaches With Sugar Remix)
Depeche Mode – “Master & Servant” (En Masse Sweaty Rework)
These Electric Lives – “We Should Be Believing” (Vitaminsforyou French Kidney Remix)
Nid & Sancy – “My Rave” (SLUTTT Don’t Fuck Remix)
Junkie XL – “Cities In Dust” (Glimmers Remix)
Ocelot – “Lo Sforzo” (Loud Pipes Remix)
The Dirge – “Good Ones” (Fun Bongo Remix)
Dan Deacon – “Wham City” (Lempel Remix)
The Cansecos – “Raised By Wolves” (Btown Remix)
Saigon – “C’mon Baby” (DJ Beware Remix)
Eddie Murphy – “My Girl Likes To Party” (Degree Remix)
Hurricane Chris – “A Bay Bay” (DJ Amadeus Meters Remix)
Cassius – “Toop Toop” (The [An]architects Remix)
Simian Mobile Disco – “It’s the Beat/Hustler” (Everything Continues Fidget Hustle Mix)
Chemical Brothers – “Galvanize” (A-ux Remix)
Sebastien Tellier – “Sexual Sportswear” (Tempest’s Asexual Remix)
Friendly Fires – “On Board” (Nightmoves Remix)
José Gonzáles – “Remain” (Mike Sheridan Re-Edit)
1:59 pm on December 21st, 2007
i’ll just repeat myself here…
if even 5(or 4!) of 2[3] songs on a given remix sunday are remixes of hiphop songs, then i don’t think this site “largely ignores hiphop”.
2:00 pm on December 21st, 2007
btw, originally i said half of what “i get” not half of what “is posted”
2:16 pm on December 21st, 2007
can i clear this up a little maybe?
i take some offense to the idea that we “largely ignore hip-hip” – that being said, however, we’re not a hip-hop website. as kids who all grew up on hiphop nearly exclusively, i think we have as much right as anyone to air our opinions on rap music. it is, after all, pop music- isnt it?
“and black music in general,” – to me this is just some twisted kind of racism, or racial hypersensitivity. plus its just plain incorrect.
“but hiphop is very much here.”-certainly not as much as it used to be, but yeah it still makes its mark consistently, in some form, at least.
“A bunch of remixes that make a lot of people’s guilty pleasures, hip hop, a lot more acceptable to their electro-biased tastes?”
i kinda hope this isnt true, but maybe youre right. i just kinda wonder… for whom is hiphop actually a “guilty pleasure”? isnt hip-hop a pretty acceptable thing to listen to these days for your average 12 year old white girl?
i don’t think remixing busta&t.i. makes it more “acceptable” for anyone- i think it just made the song better, and club ready.
i think it’s about to time to stop pretending hip-hop is still taboo. in america at least, it’s the status-quo at this point.
–
5:25 pm on December 21st, 2007
I love reading your stuff, its been a while. All very good points and they really had to be made.
8:02 pm on December 21st, 2007
Wow this was a great post. Regardless of whose wrong or right, it a forum for debate and the exchange of opinions and ideas. And I feel there is no progress without challenge. Cheers to all of you and Palms Out for keeping that heartbeat alive.
6:27 am on December 22nd, 2007
Interesting post. Some thoughts:
1. The amount of words in the average hip hop song is just more than your average song from another genre because of the sheer tempo of the lyrics. This is a slight point to some, and I already know the argument that one could be far more inflammatory/influential in one sentence then in 20, but think about it. . .You’ve got a whole lot more opportunities to off handedly say some ish you’ll probably have to answer to with a lame PR team composed response as opposed to say a much more conscious choice to lace a whole track with “smack my bitch up” a la Prodigy when you’re prolly spitting 10-15 times as many words per track.
Freestyling:
I’d much rather have a cat be able to perfect a song than simply be able to do a hot freestyle. There’s far more of the latter than the former…and with freestyling…A lotta kids are spitting writtens anyway.
Or perhaps…they are carefully choosing the words and message they are trying to craft and freestyles undermine em cuz they’re not thought out. Let’s face it, being positive, being relevant, and being ‘street’ viable is a balancing act hard to spin off the top of the dome. Image and persona is a lot in any entertainment field, and some people’s written versus freestyling voice(both in character and actual sound) is different.
For L.A. heads…Try listening to Guerilla Black after you heard him sound like Mystikal 5-6 years ago.
For Chi heads- Little weird hearing kick push after remembering the lupe joints from like 4 years ago before the arista deal and right after. I mean, I was even a little thrown just with common sounding country as hell on that bridging the gap chess records documentary thing
I’ve seen a lotta M.C.’s locally here in L.A. and elsewhere begin to fade out of ciphers unless it’s with close fam or for sure not being recorded as soon as they rise to a little prominence. I mean damn, even an adlib could get you dixiechicked hip hop style nowadays.
Mr. Mathers got tricked out by the source from some nonsense when he was what …like 15-16? You’re one slip away from potentially having your career become a blog corpse. You took that picture off your facebook with you edward fortyhanding it with a dutch in your mouth when you realized you might have to apply to jobs somewhere down the road nah’mean?(Yeah, you do).
You spent mad time specializing/getting nice at doing albums…and you’re going to allow something you do more for fun to be scrutinized and detract from your craft? Play to your strengths.I didn’t see supernatural performing his “brand new track” in 10 minutes of set time @ audiotistic…rock the bells…mmm…ever
I’ve seen Mehdi torch a freestyle set for a crowd whereas his labelmates who do a better song/premix/edit floundered a bit in front of the crowd yet I’ve heard them do crazy (heavily planned) sets for high profile shows rather than what I caught. I don’t think anything less of em though.
Who do first week sales matter to again? “I do 80,000, get more money back on a cd, can walk down the block peacefully, and get respect, I’m cool”-Styles P. -from the 50 laughing at supreme and camron tagteam spazzing with the koch ceo interview.
Businesswise, mediawise…all that, it’s a focal point to a gross extent (Common saying never going platinum or doing sales makes acting more viable as something he can do forever, and perhaps more profitably) Money can garner respect in hip hop on gp alone…just like the block…phuk it, just like life… but there are other ways to attain it too.Sales are emphasized because it’s a business. . .ringtones are just as mentioned, as are licensing, sponsoring, and side investments…Album sales focus= media hype. Bun B still gives props to a little brother as Lupe amps 8ball and mjg…All never went platinum(hope that changes with The Cool)
Image.
Is this really a huge departure from the beginnings of hip hop? Image? Shelltoes and Kangols? Down with Afrika Bambaataa, bet you rocked some red black and green zulu all day…But if we really wanna take it back to Herc and what it has apparently turned it’s back on…
We all know it started out as party music that evolved and branched off in many different ways…Ya, a lotta’ originators in the game may have embraced a particular positive style eventually but still…it wasn’t everyone, and it was still just their take on breaks back to back with a DJ/MC hyping the crowd up.
In the so called golden era…there was still a lotta bad hip hop out there, just, good stuff was more pervasive, more at the forefront,much harder to miss ,esp. w/ the native tongues/p.e. fad…If little marshall mathers all the way in detroit could figure out rocking the african continent RBG necklace was the thing to do then…Yup…A fad…
That golden era? This hip hop thang was still small, you still had to seek it out to find it just like you do today…The Source was a little photocopied zine newsletter.
A lot of stuff flooding the marketplace now is not very good, just like other genres…Hip hop grew fast and the race to mainstream “acceptance” and subsequent mediocrity ran fairly parallel. Couple that with the fact that those who commodified it knew nothing about it, it’s understandable.It happens, look at guerilla union and rock the bells as a recent little microscopic version of what happens>Guerilla Union steadily builds solid loyal fan friendly shows for years…The movement is mainstream recognized>catches fire>2-3 year golden era of rock the bells then it’s san disk+10 other companies sponsored, VIP for the first 40 rows, with the artists who built them and the show relegated to a side stage.
BYron Hurt, good hearted dude, but even as someone who wanted to like beyond beats and rhymes and him more…He slants the arguments crazy and isn’t quite “fair and balanced”..More sophistry than rhetoric at times.
All said, I half agree with a lot of what you say, I just feel it goes a lot deeper than this and artists are in between a rock and a hard place…especially those coming up.Good post still…provokes discussion.
-Someone who has at least 1 “I’m wincing at this ugly hip hop moment” every day…but somehow, can never fully turn away.
12:56 am on December 23rd, 2007
7. Why would I freestyle? I rhyme to get paid: Can’t freestyle huh? Broke huh? I understand it’s tricky, not too much shit rhymes with “no homo”
HILARIOUS!!!
12:56 am on December 23rd, 2007
You know, it’s funny. I’ve always thought that this site had a more hip-hop leaning attitude than most electro-biased blogs. Hell, that’s why I download tracks from here, because I like finding out about new artists who are using bass (thank god). I think the points made are good (if not ones that we’ve heard before).
When I was in high school, I had a friend who was in a breaking crew from Detroit, and we would hang out, listen to hip-hop, and I got into hip-hop pretty heavily for about two years. I think that (like electronic music), the underground has always maintained it’s integrity within the right circles. I do believe, however, that mainstream hip-hop suffers from the same ailments as other forms of mainstream musical entertainment.
In hip-hop’s case, I think it is just that much more obvious, because the original movement had so much going for it socially and politically. It was in many ways a revolution, and with it’s mainstream ascendency, that much more is expected from it. As sick as I am of so many mainstream rappers, I feel that we’re going to have to hold up rock and pop acts to the same bar. Hip-hop is an easy target because it is so visible and so identifiable.
In general, though, I think you make very legitimate points.
7:21 am on December 23rd, 2007
I didn’t enjoy this post. Keep the negativity of your blog. It’s a great blog.
2:18 pm on December 23rd, 2007
// my solution is to COMPLETELY IGNORE hip hop – both the music & culture. i have better things to do than listen & watch people act stupid and be unoriginal.
4:25 pm on December 23rd, 2007
since when is stirring up an invigorating dialogue negative? controversy is certainly not equated with “negativity” in my book.
thanks zach for getting us all thinking about the music we listen to!
4:40 pm on December 23rd, 2007
hip hop is dead because pimp c is dead.
1:28 am on December 24th, 2007
Ignorance is bliss. Isn’t it great to judge an entire culture made up of people of all ethnicities, social statuses, income levels, etc. from all over the world? And the funny thing is that everyone has a different definition of hip hop. Thanks for trying to break it down in a few hundred words.
Come on man, books have been written on some of these points. There is so much more to these issues.
And you’re writing this on a blog that is looked at by a bunch of hipsters that have no culture except for what is hot for the day. It’s funny because all these points you made are the same things I’m hearing from people I used to kick it with in college. They loved hip hop but also had an unrealistic, out-of-touch, idealistic view of hip hop. They were all basically guilty white, suburban, bleeding heart liberals that felt something “real” from hip hop. Then when Rawkus went wack and crunk took over the commercial airwaves they felt betrayed by hip hop. Now they listen to Justice and Klaxons and all the hot new “underground” shit, just like when it was cool to listen to underground hip hop. I don’t know if this describes you, but you sound pretty fucking jaded. If so, get over yourself. And making a comment like “Hip-Hop was once a community and this quote makes that time hard to remember” shows how out of touch you are. When has hip hop ever been a community? There has always been beef and violence. It is part of the environment that hip hop came from and where hip hop will continue to live. I would love to spend hours breaking down all of you points but I don’t have the time.
Please, stick to posting songs that satisfy trend-of-the-day hipsters that have no context to intelligently discuss the subtle controversies within “hip hop culture.” Leave that for people that know and live the culture. Also, read a book, it might help your writing skills and your thought process.
2:04 am on December 24th, 2007
Big up knef/conscience.
I like him even more knowing he’s from Los Angeles.
11:19 pm on December 24th, 2007
total hypocracy…i dont see why a blog with fagget fairy’s and soulja boy ringtone mashups would care what half of the shit these rappers are saying pon di mic….
2:39 am on December 25th, 2007
soulja boy ringtone mashups are awesome!
2:22 am on December 27th, 2007
Honestly, I’m so sick and depressed of the same repetitive cliché lines from some of these ‘artists’. I’m also tired of the used up media image of a lot of the MCs. They are being stamped out like girl pop stars from a gilded mold and the mold is getting moldy. Lets see some more fresh, original, nice shit. Know what I’m sayin, know what I mean?
4:20 am on December 27th, 2007
I agree with some of the dissent on here. This blog has never shown much knowledge of hip-hop (I’m still a fan, though) and some of these complaints come off as ignorant.
Why does the responsibility for probing social commentary always fall on hip-hop? Just because some artists say some political things means that every artist has to insert intelligent political/social commentary into their rhymes?
Why is this argument not made for other genres? Hip-hop has its musical/structural limitations just like any other genre and to single it out as the form that is failing is silly.
11:27 am on December 27th, 2007
all you kids saying pos doesn’t have a “knowledge” of hip hop, obv havent been reading it for long. go back thru the archives, this site used to be a mostly hip hop blog. in fact rocafella.com nominated it for best nyc hiphop blog, and i believe it placed 2nd. everything zach has ever written here has been about hip hop- and they used to post tons of hip hop singles too… get your facts straight people.
11:52 am on December 27th, 2007
woah um, i’m new here, and palms out may post a lot of 130bpm music, but yeah we all grew up thick into hip hop. when we hear mapei we hear neneh cherry. when i hear cool kids i hear q-tip and slick rick. palms out is all about parties with people of all races jukin and doing splits to bass gutter beats, whether it be to the raps of spank rock or the fagget fairys. if that’s not the future of hip-hop…psh i don’t know what is.
have you guys heard the new cool kids. flossin’ -soo good
1:30 pm on December 28th, 2007
wow.. this is one of the coolest articles ive read in a long ass time.. good shit bro.
can i repost this to my blog?
peep it for cool cumbias n mashups..
dj dus
http://www.zombiehalfwayhouse.com
1:45 am on December 30th, 2007
I’m sick of hearing about hittin’ the club.
12:59 pm on December 30th, 2007
very well put. respect. 08 is a new year! peace!
2:22 am on January 11th, 2008
The first six points seemed to be complaints about lyrical content or the things that people say and how they say it.
9:40 am on July 7th, 2008
“East Coast dudes are biased: You’re damn right we’re biased! Why do you think Bill Cosby got his multi colored sweater in a bunch? Or W.E.B. Dubois became a socialist when he was like 120?”
A quick correction, Du Bois had been a {self proclaimed) socialist since the early 20th century even during the time of the “Scottsborough Boys” trial. Du Bois became a communist at age 93
Here is a Du Bois research website:
http://www.duboisweb.org
8:13 pm on March 8th, 2009
希望大家都會非常非常幸福~「朵朵小語‧優美的眷戀在這個世界上，最重要的一件事，就是好好愛自己。好好愛自己，你的眼睛才能看見天空的美麗，耳朵才能聽見山水的清音。好好愛自己，你才能體會所有美好的東西，所有的文字與音符才能像清泉一樣注入你的心靈。好好愛自己，你才有愛人的能力，也才有讓別人愛上你的魅力。而愛自己的第一步，就是切斷讓自己覺得黏膩的過去，以無沾無滯的輕快心情，大步走向前去。愛自己的第二步，則是隨時保持孩子般的好奇，願意接受未知的指引；也隨時可以拋卻不再需要的行囊，一路雲淡風輕。親愛的，你是天地之間獨一無二的旅人，在陽光與月光的交替之中瀟灑獨行。