Music is a huge part of my life. I believe it's a significant aspect of my background, culture, and even just the way I think. I hardly ever listen to a song just because it's catchy. There's always some underlieing reason why I listen to the types of songs I do.

That is why I've decided to start series on this blog called "life and lyrics." Usually in every song I listen to, at least one powerful lyric will stick out at me and will often get me to contemplate about life. This series will allow me to conceptualize these thoughts on a written outlet. And hopefully it will allow people to see some of the deeper meanings in music that I see.

I am going to kick off this series with a lyric from one of my favorite rappers - Lupe Fiasco.

*Disclaimer: a good majority of these posts will likely discuss lyrics from hip-hop/rap songs, as it is the type of music I most frequently listen to.

Lupe is a deep dude. He is an educator through music. He rhymes so many lyrics from so many songs that just hit me; it's hard to choose. So for today, I am going to go with the song I most recently listened to, Words I Never Said. This song as a whole hits me like bricks. He addresses a lot of issues in this song that people don't give second thought io. There are actually two lyrics from this song I want to write about, so I am probably going to write about one today and for another day.

"I think that all the silence is worse than all the violence."

Truer words have never said. If we do not speak out for our cause, our burdens will eat us alive. The issues we care deeply will continuously affect our daily lives. We as a society need to find our voice.

I can relate to this personally because, as an aspiring journalist, it is my job to make every voice heard. It is my job to make the public aware of the issues so that they can be addressed. I recently was inspired by the story Jose Vargas wrote about coming out as an undocumented immigrant. To me that story is the essence of journalism: it put face to a human face to an issue that has desparately needed "human" attention for years. For so long immigration has been seen more as an issue on people's "agenda" rather than one of human rights. People seem to have forgotten that there are real human beings involved in every side of this, and each has his or her own story.

I think Vargas's story helped get some people back on track.

That was a little bit of a tangent there. But what can I say? Lyrics get me thinking.