Blog Post 1, Music and Me - Ben Huston

 Hey everyone, my name is Ben Huston and I honestly have never been a musician or played an instrument before. I am from Charleston South Carolina and I am a swimmer here at Converse. I was born in Houston Texas, and my family moved here when I was about 1. I have been a Charleston native ever since and now I am here at converse to pursue academics and swimming. I have a golden retriever named Kenny and he's better than your dog. (He is).

One song that I would consider my current go-to would be "ADHD" by Kendrick Lamar. I would put this into the category of a "go-to" song because it is not a fast or intense song, and it reminds me of back home. It is also a good song to throw on whenever even if its early because it is very chill and helps put me into a postive mood with its catchy and sometimes relatable lyrics. Rap and hip-hop are a big part of the music I listen to because my friends and I always have listned to music like this. But the thing that makes this song worthy enough to consider as a go-to or first aux cord song is how different it is than most new rap music. This is because of the instrumentals and ad-libs being super unique, the message behind the song being unique, and how hearing the lyrics tends to make you think about yourself, life, and the past. At least in my opinion.

^^^^^^^This video isn't the original song or the music video, but it contains the whole song and a sports edit to watch while listening.

My next song that I would consider to be meaningful to me would be "Nutshell", by Alice in Chains.

This song is meaningful to me because I have been listening to it all throughout highschool, and it is a very nostalgic song to me. It is a good song to play when you are feeling tired or down or sad because of it's slow, distant melody and its sad and heavy lyrics. This song may be one of the best songs ever made in my opinion.

A song that I would categorize as something that is hard to understand would be "Baila Ella Sola" by Estabon and Peso Pluma. Im putting this song under this category because for me, it is hard to understand because of a language barrier. The whole song is in Spanish, but I enjoy the flow, beat, and satisfying sounding lyrics of it despite not understanding the song. I heard this song in a little cafe in Honduras a couple of months ago, and it has stuck with me since because of how catchy it is, although it is hard to understand or relate to. But it does make me want to listen to more hispanic music because I enjoy the genre so much.

Another extra song I want to list on this blog is called "Closer To the Sun," by Slightly Stoopid. I am listing an extra category for this post and this song because it is such a great song by a super underrated music group. "Closer To the Sun" is a extremely unique song that I would categorize as reggae, simply because the rhythm and beat of the whole song is very flowy and instrumental, and makes you feel like you are laying somewhere exotic on a beach. I also wanted to talk about this song because the band Slightly Stoopid is not mainstream and many people even from Charleston do not know about the band. But all their music has a certain reggae vibe to it, and every song sounds different than the other, unlike most reggae groups. This allows me to enjoy most all of their songs because they keep that beachy, light and instrumental vibe in all of their music while still making the beat, lyrics, and story/meaning of the song different.

Thanks for reading my first blog