Remembering 9/11 Through Music Posted by Lucas G. on 09/11/13 | Filed under Opinion

Go back to a time when Petey Pablo’s “Raise Up” was the top charting rap song and Jennifer Lopez’ “I’m Real” was blowing up the radio. You couldn’t listen to either on your iPod or download them from the iTunes store—because neither had been released—but you could get it off of Kazaa, which had just kicked off after its father, Napster, was in the midst of a lawsuit. While we might as well be describing the 18th century, it is actually what the industry looked like in September of 2001. What is striking to me about it is that, while “Raise Up” feels like ages ago, September 11th feels like just yesterday. 9/11 is one of those days that, no matter how much time goes by, you will always remember vividly.

There is no forgetting where you were when you heard the news and what you did after. It is almost hard to believe that it was 12 years ag,o because we are faced with its repercussions on a daily basis and the memory of it is still so fresh in our minds. Looking at what was popular before 9/11 is almost like staring into another universe; our world has changed so drastically that this info feels more like artifacts in a  museum. We often (and rightfully so) think about everything else that happened that day, but as you reflect today and are flooded by the 9/11 tributes, thoughts, and feelings, it's an interesting experiment to take a second to take a step back and look at what was popular and “news-worthy” at the time.

Besides Petey Pablo and J. Lo, there was another big hip-hop story at the time. September 11th also happened to be the release date of Jay-Z’s classic album "Blueprint". If you had told me Jay’s album dropped on 9/11 I would have assumed the sales would have flopped. I mean, considering everything that was going on, who gives a shit about a meaningless hip-hop album? Turns out a lot of people; The Blueprint sold over 420,000 copies the first week and reached number one on the Billboard chart. In the scope of things it doesn’t really matter, but it is pretty incredible that the album did that well. Maybe there were 420,000 people who weren’t very affected by the attacks, but I like to put a more positive spin on thing. I think there were 420,000 people who needed the album as a way to help cope with what happened. The days following 9/11 were littered with questions, confusion, grief and instability, so perhaps Jay’s album gave some a way to escape and tune out the world for just a few minutes. There was a lot of talk about “a return to normalcy” after the attacks, superficially with sports, and I think music, specifically Jay’s album was a part of that; no matter what happens, nothing can get in the way of a hip-hop head and the music.

Nothing like 9/11 had ever happened before and nobody was really sure how to react. There was this new gray area where we wanted to return to our daily lives but it didn’t see quite right. The music industry was no exception to these struggles. After the attacks Clear Channel, a company, which owns hundreds of radio stations, put out a list of 165 songs that station were forbidden to play due to questionable content that might offend listeners. Some songs on the list, like  “Bodies” from Drowning Pool or “Crash Into Me” (Dave Matthews Band) made sense, but there were a few almost laughable ones. “ The Clash’s “Rock The Casbah” and “Walk Like And Egyptian” make you raise an eyebrow and the fact that it says “All songs by Rage Against the Machine” is worth a chuckle or two. If you are curious, with “Sure Shot” and “Sabatoge” on the list, the Beastie Boys represented the hip-hop community.

They werent the only hip-hop artist to be faced with 9/11 censorship either. B.I.G's classic line from Juicy", "Time to get paid blow up like the World Trade," too was censored. I still remember watching some MTV award ceremeony or tribute to BIG and having censor the line; it was surreal. I think this goes to show that it was a weird time and nobody, from 12-year-old kids like myself to multi-million dollar corporations like Clear Channel or MTV really knew how to handle it, we were all going through a drastic, unstable change together.

It is impossible to go through this day and not think about what happened 12 years ago, nor should you want to. I guess my way of doing it this year, since music has become my life, was reflect on it through the lens of hip-hop. I don’t really have a complete underlying message or framework for these stories and facts. They are just a few (less important ones mind you) to add to the narrative of 9/11, were running through my thoughts, and helped me think back to the day when our country was changed forever, and I thought you might enjoy them to as you reflect on September 11 in your own way. 

See Also:  9/11, Biggie & History’s Only Case of Retroactive Censorship
See Also:  Nothing Is Allright: Confronting the Boston Marathon Attacks