Venti, Boombox, and a little bit of Ocean

I grabbed my Vanilla Bean Venti from Starbucks and headed to the 1 train to begin my lovely Friday afternoon. Sitting down in the train, heading down to South Houston, I came across a few young African Americans with a huge boombox. I quickly pulled my headphones off my head and tuned in to the show they were going to do for every rider. They looked like they stepped out of old school hip-hop music video with the apparel they had on. According to Frank Kelley, the boomboxes were part of a popular style in the 80’s that included white Adidas and big gold chains. Tunes began to escape from the speakers of the boombox and they began to synchronically dance to the music they played for us. The young men started dancing on the poles and doing tricks around me. One of the young men asked me for my name and asked to dance with me, I was too nervous and shy to accept the offer. They continued on with their little show and walked around with hats, hoping someone will slip a bill or two.

I finally arrived at my stop and I noticed a 10 years old boy playing the piano so beautifully. I asked him if he knew any Frank Ocean songs and luckily, he did. I paid him five dollars and he played me four of my favorite songs from Frank Ocean’s album. He played the piano as if he was making love to it. He told me he knew every song Frank Ocean produced because Ocean was his favorite artist too. He played the song and I softly sang the songs with him. I left and headed upstairs to the busy, crowded streets of SoHo. Ready to begin my little shopping spree and a relaxing day at my favorite spa.

                                 Works Cited

Kelley, Frank. "A Eulogy For The Boombox". NPRmusic. n.p. April 22, 2009. Web. February 21, 2014.