Lose Yourself

So last week I gave you a few song suggestions for both exercising and for relaxing. I purposefully left off one song in the "being active" list because I think it deserves it's own blog. Quick history: I grew up listening to a very large array of different types of music...all except one--hip hop. I'll go ahead and admit that I'd never put in the time to try to engage in this genre...the idea of listening to someone just talking, sometimes disturbingly vicious, without a melody or harmony of any kind wasn't appealing to me. So it's my own fault that it took me till I was a junior in high school before I really made the effort to listen to a hip hop song (I was actually forced to listen to it by my opera-singing voice teacher, of all people), and actually pay attention to the lyrics from start to finish. And of course, by the end, my mind was completely blown. It was an Eminem song, unfortunately I don't remember which song it was, but my entire view of hip hop changed after hearing his perfect rhymes, creative phrasing, catchy hooks and arrangement. I'll go out on a limb here and assume you've all listened to a hip hop song, and I mean really listen from start to finish, but if you haven't, I highly encourage you to. I still have so much to learn about hip hop, but I'll wager that if you aren't already a fan, the lyrics alone will leave you at the very least, a little more intruiged by the genre.

Ok back to this one song I left off last week's list. It's by Eminem titled "Lose Yourself." What can't I say about this one? Well to state the obvious, this is THE hip hop song I encourage you to listen to if you've never heard one before! And for most of us, we are all pretty familiar with it because it's the hit theme song from the movie 8 Mile. It even won an Academy Award in 2003 for Best Original Song, the first rap song to ever receive this award...and it's arguably Eminem's best song in the past 10 years, or ever. (If you don't know who Eminem is, please look him up. He is a highly talented white rapper and producer from Detroit). This song is motivation. It's provocative and pushes on pressure points, powers momentum. It applies to every circumstance, and ties in to life as a whole. We get one chance.

Please blast this song when you are: exercising, going somewhere with headphones and want to tune out the world, feeling antzy, wanting to make a change in your life, needing a kick in the ass, needing a push in the right direction, feeling lost, feeling down, feeling energized and/or excited about something, wanting to make something count, preparing for an interview, preparing for a show, wanting to tell someone something important, just wanting to have fun.

I can't stress this enough: If you need some motivation in any aspect of your life, listen to "Lose Yourself," hear his lyrics and message, let it penetrate you, and go get 'um!

Much love,
Genevieve