I'm not eager to admit it here in my column about hip-hop, but I like girls. I like some from afar and some close up. Sometimes I tell them, sometimes I don't. They're great to hang out with and talk to, they know cool stuff that guys don't know, and on the whole, they smell good and they're nice to look at. Girls are cool people.
But hip-hop doesn't like girls.
Hip-hop puts hoes down. It wants to see thick-chicks slay the hood-rats. Even rappers who don't use crass words only say nice things about women to sleep with them. It's all a game. There is no tenderness — no innocent crushes or young love — in hip-hop.
But that's also speaking generally. If there is one figure in hip-hop who probably has a few crushes of his own, though, it's got to be ?uestlove, the afro-sporting drummer for quite possibly the best hip-hop group in the world, The Roots.
?uestlove (aka Questlove aka Questo aka BROther aka Brother Question, born Ahmir Khalib Thompson) seems like a nice guy. He's clearly passionate about what he does, and he does it incredibly well. He's not only talented but also personable, knowledgeable, funny and kind. All of my encounters with Questo have been great, and every time I encounter him I like him more and more.
Oh, I should probably mention that all of my encounters with him have been on Twitter.
@questlove, as he has dubbed himself on Twitter (tagline: "your favorite twitterer's favorite music snob."), tweets nonstop about everything from his busy schedule to his favorite tracks, to the goings-on of his friends and work relations, to words of wisdom and 140-character jokes.
I was very much anti-Twitter for a very long time, but I finally gave in when I realized that it would behoove me to sign up for the social network to, well, network. The good news is that it sort of worked. The bad news is that I am now very much a Twitter-er (follow me @Mitchellaneum) (#OhGodDidIJustDoThat?) (#smh) (#ButSeriously, #FollowMe).
Twitter has brought me a few clicks away from a whole world of people who would ordinarily be completely out of reach, like Questlove.
Or @KanyeWest (one of the most popular, and most ridiculous, Twitter users out there), @50cent (another ultra-ridiculous, hyper-prolific tweeter), @David_Lynch, @The_Real_Shaq, @DonaldGlover, @BarackObama and a whole slew of other celebrities and world leaders.
Every morning I wake up and read an inspirational thought from @DalaiLama, the official Twitter account of the office of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and a salutation from @Serafinowicz, the official Twitter account of the great British comedian.
While some Twitter accounts are clearly the work of publicists (and their interns), many are in no way vetted (e.g. Kanye, 50 Cent, Questlove) and have helped to demystify these household names. I can see, right there on my phone or my computer, what Questlove can see from behind his drum set on the set of Fallon, or what Aziz Ansari is up to at this very moment.
So no, I don't actually know Questlove. I would love to meet the guy one day — by all accounts he's an awesome human being (and he has, hands down, the best hair in hip-hop) — but for now I'll settle for a Twitter friendship (and honestly if he tweets this, it will make my week).
The Internet is a weird place, and Twitter definitely contributes to that strangeness. But it can also be really great. While no one cares what I ate for dinner, the nature of celebrity means that we do care what our favorite rappers are eating. Thanks to Twitter, we can see their every meal in full-color TwitPic glory.
Or find out who Questo is currently crushing on. Or what my cute hipster-chick crush is up to.
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Mitchell Geller is majoring in psychology and English. He can be reached at Mitchell.Geller@tufts.edu. Follow him on Twitter @Mitchellaneum.
