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Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. More

Born in 1975, the product of two beautiful parents. Raised in West Baltimore—not quite The Wire, but sometimes ill all the same. Studied at the Mecca for some years in the mid-’90s. Emerged with a purpose, if not a degree. Slowly migrated up the East Coast with a baby and my beloved, until I reached the shores of Harlem. Wrote some stuff along the way.

I was supposed to be writing the most beautiful poems

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Dec 16 2008, 9:00 AM ET Comment

So, I've been fooling around with the Itunes Genius. And for a cat like me who is totally out of the music-loop, it's a God-send. Music used to be such a collective experience for me. I have specific memories of hearing "Verbal Intercourse" in the efficiency on 14th and Euclid I shared with my older brother. I can see the weed-smoke, and the NBA Live flickering on the screen. And then I can remember the next day, hopping the shuttle to campus, and debating with half of Howard over Nas's verse. Everyone was banging that joint.

But as I get older, music becomes a kind of singular pursuit. Usually it's just me and Kenyatta, and half the stuff we're into feels so obscure. Excepting TVOTR, we don't even know people who listen to this sort of thing. Anyway, as it happens I was listening to TVOTR the other day, and scrolling through the reccommendations. It's wierd thing advancing through your 30s. You end up rocking out with your lady and your kid, listening to shit like this. It's a long way from Mondawmin Mall.



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