Am I Late?: The Internet
Another Outdated Recommendation
What’s New to Me is Probably Old News to You
I turned 31 in January this year and over the last couple of years I’ve noticed some slight changes that occur as your get older. Of course athletically, I noticed a couple years ago that I couldn’t play pick-up basketball as much as I did during my younger days because of nagging injuries. And because of those nagging injuries, I found myself focusing more the cost of insurance than making hustle “for the love the game” plays during pick-up basketball games (my love for the game became a semi-strong like). The other funny occurrence that I’ve noticed since I turned thirty is the time that passed as something cool occurs or is known (articles, music, and general pop culture) and when I find out about it. Here’s a typical exchange through text or a group chat between myself and my friends, who are also old millennials:
Me: Yo…Check this out (link to funny video or meme)
Friend 1: Old
Me: Sorry I’m not hip. (looking for sympathy)
Friend 2: You know E saw that in the funnies of the newspaper today!
(This is a word for word excerpt from my text messages)
So I’m just going to embrace it and share cool things as they come to me through this series of blog posts called “Outdated.” It may be old news to you but these featured songs, musicians, and pop culture events have strung a chord with me days, weeks, months and sometimes years after all the rest of you are done with it.
Today’s Outdated Recommendation: “Ego Death” album by The Internet
Released: June 26th, 2015
My 1st Encounter: Feb 2016
I was driving in Washington DC wasting time (and gas) as my co-pilot was fast asleep and the local R&B radio station was playing a very smooth song that reminded me of the Roots mixed with D’Angelo. The lead singer had a voiced that reminded me of the late 90s and early 00s R&B that was always on your local “Quiet Storm” countdown. As the song went off, I tried to listen attentively to the disc jockey while also trying to figure out where I was in the nation’s capital. It was the only time in the last 5 years where I seriously was looking for my Shazam app. I then remembered it was 2016 and I deleted in 2012. Anyway, in the midst of my confusion of driving and picking up a new favorite song, I luckily heard the name of the song “Girl” featuring some K name. So thanks to google I was able to find this lovely video for the single “Girl” by The Internet.
But even after hearing this sultry song I was hesitant. Would this group have more songs I could vibe too or would it lead me astray like other hopefuls (looking at you Alabama Shakes…you teased me with Sound & Color)? A few days after my return from DC and my typical short-term addiction to new songs (read: I played the video 15–20 times a day), I found another video for two songs called “Special Affair” and “Curse.” After watching this video I was hooked especially from the chorus of the song “Curse.”
And I was then cursed by the Internet’s soulful sounds and had to buy the album. I was introduced to “Get Away” and continued to question why I haven’t been a fan for longer. This lead to extensive wiki and google research and I was pleased to find out that the Internet is getting the recognition their music deserves with a grammy nomination and being acknowledge by NY Times as a group that is shaping popular music. So if you like soulful and creative music you should listen to Syd tha Kid & The Internet. Although given my general lateness, I’m sure you have skimmed this blog post and simply watched the videos reminiscing when you first heard tracks from Ego Death about a year ago. I get it. I’m not current anymore…but I can two-step.
Earnest Sweat is a Startup Adviser and Business Ops professional for various accelerators. Sweat specializes in sourcing, managing and mentoring startups within the fin tech, ed tech, and real estate tech sectors. If you have any questions, comments or requests please connect with Earnest through LinkedIn, Twitter, or AngelList.
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