Well, not actually Tuesdays & Thursdays but an obscure reference to the Hot Boyz felt like a good lead-in.
In truth, Tuesdays and Wednesdays were my favorite days of the week while I was in middle and high school (outside of Fridays of course.) Wednesdays because that was the day new shoes were released. I used to be able to rattle off release dates in my sleep. It added excitement to the lull that happens during the middle of the week. Anytime a big shoe came out, like a Jordan, Air Max, or another big name athlete, there was a buzz that would go across the school. Everybody knew who was getting them and there was a race to see who could get them first.
Some went on lunch, some came to school late, others had parents bring them to them, and some had to wait until after school. Thanks to complaints of parents across the nation, major releases got pushed back to Saturdays. All it took was one trip to the mall for a release and having to deal with the lines and throngs of people from across the city to turn me off from these types of encounters. I soon became a proficient online shopper.
Tuesdays, as we all know, were CD release days. You always knew when major artists were going be released, but it was a little sketchy when it came to the likes of a Memphis Bleek. The ads in Source or XXL were a help to no one, because every month had different release date. Your best bet was either calling the store or just chalking it up and going to the store. Just like with shoes, I preferred to go at lunch because a) I left everyday anyway, b) it gave me something to talk about for the rest of the day, and c) who didn’t like to have the first anything in school?
Outside of singles, listening to an album was an adventure in itself, because we had no idea of how it was going to turn out. You were either going to get a Things Fall Apart or a Firm. Either way you never knew what you were getting and that was part of the thrill. It wasn’t out of the ordinary to buy three or four albums a month. File sharing and the internet has brought us to the point we are today. Now we’re always up to date and eagerly anticipating the next leak. I have a friend who swears that the next “big leak” is going to happen as soon as he heads off to work. And for the most part he’s right. Labels can’t fool us anymore, using a single a sell a bad album. But instead of being informed consumers, we’ve stopped being consumers all together.
December is shaping up to be a month to remember. With upcoming releases from the likes of Ghostface, Wu-Tang, Styles, Lupe, Wyclef, Scarface, Beanie, Rick Ross, GZA, & a few others ensure that there’s going be something for every rap fan (even without Saigon & Nas.) What the labels may consider tax write-offs, equates to a month full of new material for us. The true meaning of one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
In our case we’re more like C.D.I’s (CD investigators.) Each one is going to take some time to go through and determine their worth. The next step, at least for me, is to determine what I’m going to buy. I’ve got a pretty good idea what I’ll be picking up throughout the month, but there’s always something that pops up and surprises me.
But just like with my shoe purchases, music is moving more and more to the online realm. Only time will tell whether my Tuesdays will end up like my Wednesdays. I certainly hope not, because I can’t say that I’ll continue to buy it if it does. All I buy CD’s for now is for the album booklet and to show labels what kind of music I want to hear. The days may be dwindling down, but you’ll see me in Best Buy (R.I.P CD & Tape Outlet) buying what I deem to be worthwhile. Hopefully I’ll see you there.
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