I’m a love child of the 1970’s – one of the approximate 8 million ‘late-twenty’ to ‘thirty-something’ year olds to bring the arcade joystick into the living room – and the first consumers of Atari, Activision, Commodore 64, and Sega. My generation was the first to complete college papers on an Apple Mac Classic, convert to Microsoft Windows, and use terms such as megabyte and gigabyte. As the first generation of Gopher email users and digital file sharers, we revolutionized the digital age. We were living a wireless culture before everyone was talking about going ‘Wi-Fi’. Our numeric pagers quickly took the place of our land lines – habits such as staying on the phone until midnight with school friends we were going to see the next morning became obsolete. We also set the standard for wireless pager communications by developing our own system of numeric messaging so that we could ‘talk with numbers.’
And just like over fifty percent of the ‘late-twenty’ and ‘thirty-something’ year old population, I’m a product of hip-hop culture. An original b-boy! We gave birth to hip-hop and rap music and made it an international commercial success. We were the first generation of consumers to make a rap album go platinum and make historical hip-hop tours such as the ‘1986 ‘Fresh Fest,’ a multi-million dollar grossing event. We are the original commercial music pirates! Before the RIAA started suing us, their members were paying us to circulate demos and mix tapes of their artists in the streets. Before people could burn they had to learn to ‘dub,'(and I’m not talking ’bout rims). Remember listening to your favorite ‘pause-stop’ compilation tapes on your portable Sony Walkman cassette player with the built-in AM/FM Tuner? We made that product as well as many others like it, a standard. Hip-hop music has been our voice – our version of Marvin Gaye is Tupac Shakur, Outkast is our Rick James, and Eric B will always be our, as well as Rakim’s, choice for President.
Today our generation has grown up from young b-boys and girls to men and women. Some of us are even husbands, wives, mothers, and fathers. We are now working class citizens but our love and passion for technology and urban culture has remained. We continue to support the old – we use Microsoft Windows and listen to our Apple iPods on a daily basis. And we have embraced the new with open arms – a Sony PlayStation or X-Box can be found in all our homes. We have finally converted from pagers to wireless phones with options such as text messaging, direct connect, MP3 players, and digital cameras. Our homes and cars are equipped with DVD players, computers, LCD TVs, Internet access, MP3 players, and satellite radio and television. Music and movies are now downloaded through our cable and telephone lines directly to our computer hard drive— No moveable parts just digital information! Terms such as broadband and DSL are our new digital living jargon. Our lives have become totally digitized but there is no need to panic.
We are here to guide you through. Let us help you comprehend our culture’s practical and desired functions of that new portable MP3 player or satellite car radio system. How do you get that mint condition Paid In Full LP into your computer to make a CD burn? Which digital camera is powerful enough to give you the images you need while still being able to slip into your Gucci bag or Sean John jeans pocket? Can’t decide between broadband or DSL? We will help. We’re Life-Digitized. We push you to understand and assimilate into the digital world around you.
-Tripple
(original publication: ©2004)