The 1990s was the beginning of hip-hop’s rise as the most popular genre of music, particularly among young people. I convinced myself that reciting the lyrics to every one of Lauryn Hill’s and Tupac Shakur’s songs was proof of my American-ness. When I heard about a thing called country music, and couldn’t find that much country music at the libraries, I went to Tower Records and listened to songs by Garth Brooks and Dolly Parton. For me, movies were like a field trip, a way of seeing just how vast the country is. In a span of a few weeks, I watched Goodfellas, Hannah and Her Sisters, Do the
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