Persona 4 Golden is a game about facades.
A medium time ago I worked at a jazz radio station. I was brought on as a copy assistant, a title created to describe my nebulous job responsibilities, which included cataloging 50,000 vinyl records, rolling blunts for DJ's, and listening to my bosses rambling diatribes about old people shit. Needless to say, it was a chill gig.
The first week my boss asked me if I enjoyed jazz music. I told him I was born hearing jazz and blues played all of the time, and I think it's boring. He told me that wasn't an answer, but a statement. I responded, "You are a white guy that chose to like jazz, I have to live it." This sentence still makes me cringe uncontrollably to this day.
The bulk of my day to day would revolve around my "pull list." The DJ's would give my boss a list of artists they wanted to use for the next set, and I would have to go into the storage room and pull them one by one. The room was supposed to be alphabetized, but imagine how little an old jazz man would care for mise en place, divide that number by everything, and they cared less than the number in your head.
It was fine. After a while, I realized that the music you are looking for finds you.
Some DJ's always put their returns in the front. Some would group certain artists next to another artist they liked, some DJ's would put the same artist in the same place, every time. I learned quickly that it was a lot more efficient to ride the wave of users' behavior than institute a structure that doesn't fit the vibe.
Anyway, on my last day, my boss hands me a pull list with just one album on it. I grab it, we go into the booth, we light some Bobby B up, and he puts it on the turntable. While we were listening he turns to me and says, "Sound familiar?" I responded, "Yeah, another bunch of old heads beating on dead animal skins and farting into a horn." I swear to god I really used to talk like that, Jesus Christ.
He said, "Should sound familiar, that's your great-granddad farting into that horn." I didn't have a response, I was in checkmate. Man said to me, "You're born how you are born but you still have to choose. People have given me shit all my life about wanting to be black. I never wanted to be black, but I do want to understand how somebody else feels. Music helps me do that, it could help you too if you let it. Now get the fuck out, and do great things. Take the album with you."
I'm good for ignoring all the gems dropped at my feet, but I never forgot that one. That old head is probably still there, I suppose.
rip tb rip tc rip tall-t. Love is wise, hatred is foolish. Get out there and do great things, we believe in you. Also Jobs.
The Protoculture Mixtape : Issue : People : Loquacious
