By Kaylon Coleman

There’s a good chance that nine out of the ten of you who read that headline immediately thought about country music, and with good reason too. I feel like almost everyone has a genre of music they don’t generally listen to, which is fine. But let me ask you this, how many people actually give a genre a chance before cutting it off?

This quandary stems from my problem with generalizations as a whole. I believe that generalizations perpetuate certain ideologies that may or may not be true about a certain concept or population. And while this principle extends to way more than just personal preference of music genres — which is a whole other can of worms — I want to talk specifically about how not opening yourself up to new music, because of your own generalizations, may be doing you harm.

Now don’t get me wrong, I believe if you try something out and it isn’t your cup of tea, more power to you. I respect it – you gave it a chance. But, if you’ve heard a few rap songs, or a country song or two, and immediately decided that you weren’t gonna listen to the whole genre, I think you’re doing yourself a disservice.

An example of an artist that I didn’t quite grasp until recently was ian. I didn’t get the hype at first, I thought he was a white boy who was using rap as a gateway into the music industry similar to how Post Malone did. But after Lil Yachty’s performance of Hate Me at my recent trip to the Tyler, The Creator concert, it finally clicked for me. That wasn’t my first time hearing the song. It wasn’t even my first time hearing it live, but this time I finally got the hype. Since then, I’ve given ian another chance, and I can say that I thoroughly enjoy some of his music, and even changed my perspective on him as a person.

There are so many ways that you can expand your music taste, even here in Humboldt. Tuning into 105.1 KRFH at any given time opens you up to a variety of different tastes and sounds from your local college students. Stopping by People’s Records in the plaza and utilizing one of their listening booths is another way to expand your music taste. 

Music is so expansive, and that’s what I love about it. With a nearly never-ending amount of music to choose from, there’s something out there for anyone and everyone to enjoy. That’s why when I hear someone say, “I don’t like this genre” or “I only listen to this one specific thing” and they haven’t tried to venture outside of that, I feel like they’re missing out on potential hidden gems. I don’t like country, but there are some country songs that I absolutely love like Chris Stapleton’s Tennessee Whiskey (especially the T-Pain cover) and I’m Gonna Miss Her by Brad Paisley.

I want to extend this point by saying that if you find yourself only listening to one genre of music, I implore you to venture outside your comfort zone. You’re closing yourself off from a near-infinite pool of songs to listen to.

My point being, before you make the decision on whether or not you like or dislike a whole genre, open yourself up to more than a couple songs. It might not change your opinion on the genre as a whole, but you may actually find some songs you enjoy.

Kaylon Coleman is a junior journalism major with a concentration in news and a minor in Psychology and Communications. He is the Social Media Assistant Manager for LJ. He is also the president of the Black Student Union at CPH, social media coordinator for the Umoja Center, and a part-time radio DJ.