Back-words and For-words:
For the past couple of years, I’ve had a burning desire to start writing. I’m not entirely sure where this urge came from, but it’s manifested itself in various ways for some time now. I’ve always had an adoration and fascination for words. In high school, I used to rap, and hilariously enough, I took myself quite seriously. In retrospect, I see infinite holes in my game plan, but the act of scribing my thoughts was a high that left me nearly delusional. Somewhere in my head, I’m sure there’s still a part of me shaking that delusion off, like a retired varsity player reminiscing about their dissolved NBA dreams.
I also had a short stint writing a few pieces for an NBA blog, though that didn’t phase out. The “hot take” life wasn’t for me, plus I’m kind of an idiot. I’m one of those “I know hoop” guys who, in reality, probably doesn’t know shit (I wrote a piece about how Dwight Howard was going to make a cosmic resurgence when he signed with the Wizards in 2018…if that gives you any insight into what I mean).
Either way, I have ideas that have been weighing on my mind, and in the process of getting my graduate degree in English, another path paved by my fondness for words, I need a medium so I can write the way I want to. All that academic mumbo-jumbo can become mind-numbing, and I want to shoot the shit about hip-hop in a limitless, accessible way.
The bottom line: I want to write what’s cool to me. One week, it might be a personal-memoir style music essay, the next, a comprehensive list of intriguing hip-hop engineer interviews, the week after that, who knows, maybe a detailed synopsis of my journey to a record store. This is an outlet for me, and if you enjoy my words, hopefully, I can be an outlet for you too. At the very least, maybe I can provide a momentary break from whatever we are living through as a society currently.
I’m Ian and welcome to Upstated, a weekly newsletter of short hip-hop essays and other related content. Every Sunday!
I’ll send us off with a fitting quote from an incredible producer/rapper whom I am praying for new music from nearly every day:
Word to Benjamins, word to everything,
these words are everything, or maybe words are just my only thing
JonWayne, These Words Are Everything
Sidenote:
I do not want this substack to be misconstrued as any attempt at crafting admissible music criticism or journalism…While I might be writing about music, I refuse to give myself the honor of calling myself a music writer. I have the utmost respect for all the music writers and the level at which they do it. Shout out to all the music writers doing their thing, and RIP Greg Tate!!!!!!