"Travel & Hip Hop”

I am an avid fan of music in general. I love to listen to ALL types of music as long as it’s good music. Now, what IS and ISN’T good music is all subjective, but that’s a subject for another conversation.

Anyways, to those who know me, Hip Hop has played a vital role in my life. It has influenced many aspects of my personality, from the way I converse to the way I act. I remember sitting in the library reading books on the history of Hip Hop, being astonished at its humble beginnings and it’s struggle through out the years. It even influenced my venture into “rapping”.

Yes…I rap…sometimes…these days.

I love making mix tapes because it’s fun. It allows me to try my hand at a different channel of expression.

How does this relate to travel, do you ask?

Well, one aspect of the whole “rapper” lifestyle that I always adored at the same time envied, (other than the BLING-BLING aspect)” was the "TRAVEL" part.

What “travel” part, do you ask?

Touring.

I loved the fact that rappers and emcees had the chance to visit so many places doing the exact thing they love doing, which is rap. I would go to these artist’s concerts and become engulfed in their stage presence and show antics. I marveled at the notion that they got to do this in front of different people every night, in a different state or city. Being an emcee, this is something I’ve always wanted to do. I wanted not only to share my talents through the microphone, but I also wanted to meet tons of different people despite my “shyness”.

I always dreamed of going through the logistics of a “world” tour. To me, it would be one of the coolest things I could do in my life.

And then,

it happened.

I ventured out to the Amalfi Coast in the summer of 2012, all because of a line by Toronto rap superstar, “Drake”. In his underrated song “Killer”, featuring west coast native, Nipsey Hussle, Drake boasts at the 0:33 second mark

"We just took our first trip to the Amalfi Coast, couple days on the beach then it’s adios"

When I heard this line, I immediately googled what and where the Amalfi Coast was. After visually taunting myself with thousands of photos, I came across a photo that convinced me that this was the place I had to go to.

After my Contiki trip in the September of 2012, I took Frank Ocean’s song “LOST” and remixed it to detail the events of my first European go-around, this eventually led to me making my first TRAVEL related mixtape entitled “LOST”.

Then in December of 2012, I started my “LOST2XX2” tour, for which I actually created a commemorative tee using an image I had taken from my maiden voyage in Italy.

It hit me. I was kind of doing exactly what I’ve always wanted to do. I was setting up my own tours, visiting other worlds and sharing my experiences with others. It was a dream come true, and a dream I’m striving to keep a reality.

Hip Hop usually gets the blame for many a things negative these days. However, this one time, Hip Hop is responsible for helping an extremely shy kid from a small town by the name of Valley Cottage, break out his shell and venture out into the world. I went from only hearing about places like Rome, Barcelona and Paris through these songs, to actually being there physically to capture exactly why these places are so renowned.

There are a multitude of reasons why people travel the world. I have millions of them, and this is one of them.

Now I ask you…WHY do you travel?

-PASSPORT|kenny

Field Notes