R.I.P. Michael Jackson (SAD)
R.I.P. MJ
Damn. I am all F'd up from the news that Michael Jackson died yesterday. I still can't believe it. I was out with a bunch of people for some drinks after work and I received a text from my friend that said "TMZ is reporting that MJ died". My first thought was "Which MJ?!?!?!" I am a huge fan of both Michael Jordan and Michael Jackson so either one was going to really shock me. I also thought it was suspect that TMZ was the main source of this information but it turns out, unfortunately, that they were 100% correct.It was so strange because as soon as I told everyone the news, they all started receiving texts themselves left and right and every conversation instantly switched to MJ. It was completely surreal. Everyone was chatting about how shocked and sad they were about the news and most people just couldn't believe it. This was our generations version of Elvis or John Lennon dying suddenly.
I was a little more upset than most people I think because MJ was one of my idols growing up. I learned to dance by memorizing all of his dance moves in his music videos and then copying them in the mirror. I had the one glove, the leather jacket and even a T-shirt with a picture of him from the Billie Jean video on the front and my name on the back. I was legit. I used to do the moonwalk across the kitchen floor in my socks or on top of my Great Aunt's coffee table and put on a show for everyone. I'm pretty sure his music is what put me on to R&B and Hip Hop. Even though his music was more Pop than anything else, it still influenced most music genres in some way. It seems like everyone that is now popular in the music industry will mention MJ as their biggest musical influence. I guess you can inadvertently say that I even became a DJ because of MJ. Had I grown up a Rock fan, my music life might have turned out much differently.
At my wedding my friend and I even did a little MJ dance off that was a big hit. The band played a sick 3 song set of MJ songs because I told them they had to play a few because he was my all time favorite. Who would have thought that just a few weeks later we would get the news that he had died of cardiac arrest.
Michael definitely became a weirdo over the past 20 years and I have to admit that I was turned off by a lot of the stuff he did and said. He always seemed like he was ashamed of himself because of all of that plastic surgery and strange behavior. I don't think anyone can judge him or give him too much heat because we will ever know what it was like to be in his shoes. He was one of the biggest and most famous music artists before he was 10 years old and he just got bigger and richer from there. I am sure all of that would mess anyone up. I just hope that now we can all remember him for his musical accomplishments and influence on the world instead of all of that other stuff.
I think I might have to put together the ultimate Michael Jackson mixtape in the next couple of weeks. Here is what I am thinking for a tracklist. If you can think of any others that would be good for an uptempo MJ mix, let me hear it in the comments:
Potential MJ Mixtape Tracklist:
Billie Jean
Beat It
Thriller
P.Y.T.
Black or White
Dangerous
Scream
Smooth Criminal
Don't Stop Til You Get Enough
Bad
Remember the Time
You Rock My World
Jam
Leave Me Alone
Rock With You
The Way You Make Me Feel
ABC (Jackson 5)
Want You Back (Jackson 5)
Dancing Machine (Jackson 5)
Wanna Be Starting Something
WOW! That is a sick tracklist!!! That really puts his music in perspective. I always forget about how many hits he had. I can't wait to make this mix. It's going to be DOPE!!!
