Hip Hop and Indie Rock

Lately, I've been torn between two drastically differing cultures, hip hop and indie rock.

Throughout high school and most of college I was partial to hip hop culture. Most of my friends and family can testify that I can be found wearing a white T, jeans and Timberland boots most days of the week. I have both my ears pierced and I most commonly wear some decent bling from my earlobes. Even in the my early years I remember listening to artists such as Tupac and (my personal favorite rapper) The Notorious B.I.G. on the radio.

Now a days, much more of the music I listen to consists of indie rock. It all started with my sister really. She's a big indie rock fan and she usually comes home from the Princeton Record Exchange with 5-10 $1.99 CDs worth of indie rock albums of bands I've never heard of before. She brought me to the Virgin Music Festival down in Baltimore a couple years ago where I watched Bloc Party, among other bands, play. I instantly became a fan. Several other indie rock bands have made it into my 'likes' list of music artists and the list continues to grow.

Fashion wise I'm still stuck with in hiphop world. I just find it easier to put on a pair of baggy jeans and a XL t-shirt. I suppose there's nothing wrong with liking both hip hop and indie rock culture, it's just that they're so drastically different. I feel like I'm in some odd adaptation of Romeo & Juliet or West Side Story where the two cultures have a fueled hatred for each other and I'm in the middle trying to decide whether I should play heads or tails.

The struggles 21st century cultures have burdened me with...