gravity-burst.

…more formspring.

i received another formspring question about albums that have shaped me and why. instead of reiterating myself, i linked all of the following to old tumblr entries.

TOP 5 ALBUMS THAT SHAPED ME.
in no particular order:

- one day it’ll all make sense by common.
- the miseducation of lauryn hill by lauryn hill.
- let love rule by lenny kravitz.
- electric youth by debbie gibson.
- the orginal debut album by the stylistics.

THE 5 RUNNER-UPS.
they didn’t quite make it, but they still matter:

- s.c.i.e.n.c.e. by incubus.
- labcabincalifornia by the pharcyde.
- ooooooohhh… on the tlc tip by tlc.
- the beacon street collection by no doubt.
- west side story, the original 1957 broadway cast.

p.s. excludes anything michael jackson. he alone would kick the crap out of this list —

juuuust sayyyin’.

5 albums that shaped me — part 5.
THE ORIGINAL DEBUT ALBUM BY THE STYLISTICS

the short, sparks-note version: my dad played this album… all the time. it’s all i knew for a long while. i owe it to the stylistics that they are the reason why i fell in love with the smooth grooves of r&b to begin with.

it only makes sense. just think about how many times “you are everything” has been covered and/or sampled… i’m not the only one who loves them! :)

and if i think about it enough, it was a big chain reaction. r&b is what got me into hip-hop. hip-hop is what got me into rock and jazz. aaand, you can catch my drift.

5 albums that shaped me — part 4.
ELECTRIC YOUTH BY DEBBIE GIBSON

my infatuation with bad 80s music (fizz-electro-theatrical-pop and the more frequent than not rocked-out attempt) paired up with my slight love-hate relationship with synths got the best of me on this one.

this album is everything i love in bad 80s music: super croony power ballads, cheesy-ass giddy instrumentals, and unbelievably catchy centered-around-love (or the idea of it) lyrics.

plus, i always thought her voice was distinctive. no mariah carey range or anything, just distinctive. i loved her then and i love her now (oh yes… the present broadway days!).

truth is: i grew up on this girl. my cousin raquel would blast this and the out of the blue album getting ready to head out for a date or something. she got me the cassette and even got me the vhs of the debbie gibson tour as gifts — i played the shit out of both of them.

looking back i think she’s the reason i got interested in songwriting when i learned she wrote and produced the majority of her stuff (my miserable fail, but it’s still one of many life occurances so i can’t deny it).

the opening “who loves ya baby?” always gets my attention, but i’d have to say “should’ve been the one” is my fave.

5 albums that shaped me — part 3.
LET LOVE RULE BY LENNY KRAVITZ

it took me a while to come to this decision. in all honesty, this isn’t even my favorite lenny album, but it’s the first i got exposed to, and that takes the most credit over all.

okay, so maybe i’m biased because i have this thing for 60s rock that i can’t explain… but maaan, he kills it with the fusion. and his voice? i was sold.

i really believe he’s underrated as an artist (i.e. all vh1 seems to talk about is his effing sex appeal). plus, i barely even read that much hype when he made his comeback with it is time for a love revolution in 2008, or at least the kind of hype i expected/wanted.

musically, it’s hard to argue how the chord progressions make this album… they’re simple, but sick. lyrically, he always gets dogged for his preachiness and heavy use of clichés, but somehow [i think] it works for him. like marshall says on how i met your mother “a cliché is a cliché for a reason… it’s comforting” (hot damn, i watch that show way too much!).

whatever. the raw passion in his voice makes up for everything. swoon.

and “be” is definitely one of those songs i blast when i’m overdosing on contemplation and in one of those inspiration-hungry moods.

5 albums that shaped me — part 2.
THE MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL BY LAURYN HILL

oh hip-hop soul, how i love thee. and to me, lauryn hill is the epitome of it.

i mean, do i really need to explain this one? this girl is hands down amazing, i just wish all this columbia bullshit would brush off to the side already; i’m so antsy for a new album already (my 2 cents on the unreleased/rumored “khulami phase” here). but with that aside, miseducation was and will always be stellar.

hill’s velevty voice is amazing across the board — through rhyme and through melody — something that very few artists attempt, yet alone succeed in doing. and for me, a girl heavily attached to lyrical stimulation, this album is plenty full of it — just the right amount of swag, coated with this sense of confidence & vanity without being narcissistic, with a dash of a kind of vulnerabilty we all can relate with… to make the whole shabang work.

it’s almost hard to grasp that hill was my age now when she dropped this album — way to kill what’s left of my tiny ego, haha.

oh, and “superstar” is hands down my favorite joint.

5 albums that shaped me — part 1.
ONE DAY IT’LL ALL MAKE SENSE BY COMMON

for those of y’all who’ve kept up with my other formspring answers, you’d know this. if not, one day it’ll all make sense is how my love for hip-hop sparked. i would also come to learn a few years down the line that it was the last common album to feature no i.d. production.

it was a good ease into the hip-hop scene, as it seemed more light and poetic in comparison to all else i knew (which, at that time in the 90s, was whatever the radio and mtv would spit at me). plus, i was hella young! if anything, looking back, i probably was more hyped over the fact he was from chicago over anything else -.- but nowadays, it’s one of my go-to albums to de-stress.

my favorite joint on the album is “g.o.d. (gaining one’s definition).”