It's Bigger Than Religion
Blu & Exile
I'm not a religious person by any measure. Beyond some vague agnosticism & basic morality, it never really made a big impact on me. I'm picking sleep over Sunday mass every time, despite Catholic school & my parents' best efforts. In the interest of family unity and tradition though, I do willingly join the rest of the family in going to church for Christmas & Easter.
This year, someone had the idea to attend a service at 10 pm on Saturday. It sounded reasonable enough- get the church part out of the way, so Sunday would just be the family dinner. I had a concert ticket that night to see Blu & Exile, but given the number of opening acts listed on the flier I decided it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if I missed an hour or two. The show started at 10:30, so even if I didn't get there til midnight, it'd be alright. Really should have known better than that. The church service started on time...and finished up an hour and a half later...except it didn't. Everyone stayed in their pews...the choir continued standing by the microphones, and the priests remained at the altar. It slowly dawned on me that what I'd just sat through was a special Easter celebration...and the actual mass was just about to begin. I had at least another hour left...probably more. This concert that I'd been looking forward to the entire week was suddenly turning into wishful thinking. It was happening a mile away, and I was stuck listening to the Bible passages being read in 4 different languages. The sermon was equally slow & deliberate: "Jesus is resurrected! If you can't find joy in today then you're not really alive!". The clock ticked past 12:30...I sat with a scowl on my face, cursing myself over and over- 'you should have known better, you should have known better...'
The ordeal finally ended at 1 am, clocking in at an impressive 3 hours total. I said bye to the fam & ran downstairs to the bathroom to change into jeans and a t-shirt (What? I wasn't about to wear a shirt & tie to a hip-hop show). Hopped in the car, drove as quickly as possible, found some nearby street parking, and was inside the cub 20 minutes later, leaving a little over a half hour of set time for my concert experience.
The diverse crowd around me seemed to be having a great time- drinks in their hands and smiles on their faces...the music sounded excellent live, confirming Blu & Exile among my favorite new acts...and I was content. It really didn't take long for the infectious beats, clever rhymes, and joyful atmosphere to erase the painful last three hours from my mind.
Now perhaps a few hastily downed beers had something to do with it...or maybe I was just glad to be somewhere other than a church...but when the show ended, I was in a genuinely great mood, feeling like I'd just experienced something wonderful. Given where the previous three hours had been spent, a curious thought popped into my mind- quite simply, these 35 minutes of an underground hip-hop show the night before Easter were more life-affirming than all the countless hours I'd spent in church in my life.
2 months later, and I still can't think of anything that would make that statement false.
Hip-hop......it's bigger than religion...