The music that gets to me the most is the one that comes from the soul. The one that really gets me to know the artist. I really like singer songwriters just for this reason. It’s so neat to see how they express themselves and the things they’ve gone through. Two genres that do this a lot are rap and country music.

I’ve always liked rap since I was little. I liked listening to the words and hearing the emotions of the rappers. They could go from the typical gangster rap to the more serious sentimental rap or the angry rap or the political rap.

Gangster rap was my least favourite but even within that sub-genre I found rappers who were really honest and transparent. In fact you’re more likely to find the transparent rapper than the fake one as the fake ones get chewed up and spat out rather quickly.

I remember I really liked Eminem because no matter how messy he was he was always honest. Most people shy away from being so disarmingly honest. I think because I’ve had to deal with dishonest or fake people a lot in my life I really like it when people are honest about everything, even the bad stuff. Even if it hurts I prefer honesty.

Then there’s country music, the total opposite in terms of sound from rap music. However country music is honest. It is just as honest as rap. Country songs can be about anything!

I don’t think I’ve come across a country artist who doesn’t write their own stuff but perhaps one exists somewhere. The majority however write their own songs and express their own feelings in their own unique way.

I love it because they express things I’ve been through in a way I wouldn’t. It’s like in class if we were all given the same story prompt we wouldn’t all come up with the same story, we’d all have a different story with some similarities and that’s what country music is like for me.

The songs get me to think and to put myself in their shoes.

Honestly I’ve been neglecting my two first loves in music. I need to go back to my roots.

I like many genres of music and that does include pop but the thing with ‘popular music’ is that sometimes things start to sound the same. They talk about love the same, they talk about break ups the same and fighting the same. At it’s worst everything is the same. Until someone comes along and breaks the cycle.

With country music and rap, I feel like each artist has their own distinct flavour. They talk about their lives and their loves, their successes and their failures, in their own way and I love it.