What Are You Listening To?
Three New Yorkers take off their headphones and chat.
by Rachel Krantz and Moze Halperin
Matt, 23
So what were you just listening to?
“Heart of the City” by Jay-Z.
Listen: “Heart of the City”
Are you a big hip-hop fan?
I am. More and more recently.
What do you think of Jay-Z and Kanye’s collaboration?
Watch the Throne? I absolutely love it. I think it’s a great album.
That surprises me. A lot of people thought it was a disappointment. Including me.
I might be biased because I love Kanye. It could’ve been better, I guess, but I was pleased. I enjoyed it.
What’s your favorite song on Watch the Throne?
“Niggas in Paris” is probably my favorite.
Listen: “Niggas in Paris”
That shit cray?
That shit is cray. Yeah, that’s the favorite. I heard the tour was amazing and the shows were awesome. I wish I got to go.
So what got you more into hip-hop recently?
Actually, I’m not from New York and I don’t live here. One of my best friends who lives here actually got me into hip-hop, I guess. I was into everything before but not so much the old school hip-hop like Biggie. That’s definitely a more recent development; before, I listened to mainstream rap. Now it’s more East Coast.
Where are you from?
Portland, Oregon, but I go to school in Tennessee. In Portland, hip-hop is definitely not as big. In the South, they have their own version of rap. On the West Coast/Portland, it’s more grunge — Nirvana, all that kind of stuff.
Is there any artist or genre of music that, if found on a romantic partner’s iPod, would be a dealbreaker? Ke$ha?
No; I appreciate other people’s taste in music. I’m not judgmental.
It’s probably because you’re not from the East coast, because here we're just mean, snarky assholes.
Probably. And Ke$ha is from the South — she's from Tennessee, I believe. So she gets that hometown love, I guess. She represents Tennessee.
What artist or song would you put on to get someone in the mood?
Gosh, you’re putting me on the spot. I feel like Marvin Gaye is the classic choice so I don’t know if I want to say him.
Well, have you ever soundtracked one of your own romantic moments?
I do remember that there was one of John Mayer’s albums that became a key player... there’s a song on his Continuum album that became a seller.
Listen: “I Don't Trust Myself (With Loving You)”, John Mayer
Commentarium (11 Comments)
This should become a regular segment!
I would love to see this be a regular thing - and then see a woman say she's listening to Rush.
We'll do our best. But, you know: https://blog.sfgate.com/parenting/2011/06/27/the-womens-bathroom-at-last-...
Matt...is adorable. That is all.
It IS a regular thing! https://hooksexup.com/music/what-are-you-listening-to
Enjoy! :)
Nice people, godawful music. That's always the case at the office or on blind dates.
It's a problem that Taya was not asked to name the Russian band(s) she does like (because, clearly, it would be lost on everybody, I guess the thinking went...they could not possibly have an international audience, and Hooksexup cannot have a Russian audience, right?) -- and that's a major, major oversight on the part of the interviewer and editors. What's also sad is that all of one artist mentioned is un-mainstream enough to be unfamiliar to most people. I wish more of my fellow New Yorkers were cooler.
I hate it when people say "it's a folk artist".
An entire page of a guy saying he likes jay z, kanye, and biggie? Let me guess, he enjoys nas and tupac too? I suppose it could be worse ("yeah, i just like creed, nickelback, staind, puddle of mudd, and linkin park mostly. Oh, have you heard of daughtry?"), but it still sucks. I love this site and read all the content here I can, but please interview more interesting people!
Boring-looking white dude listens to Jay-Z and John Mayer, and actually utters the word "cray" = AUTOMATIC FAIL.
Christ on a bike. How old am I that Biggie is "old school"? They played that at house parties when I was a teenager. I thought Grandmaster Flash and Run DMC were old school.
On the other hand, as abledma actors has rightly pointed out that guy likes John Mayer and used the word "cray", so maybe I'm right and he should have his genitals confiscated.
Now you say something