dear mixtape recipient,

when i was eight years old, i received a pink panasonic cassette boombox for my birthday. it could play cassettes and record songs from the radio, as well as ambient audio from a built-in mic.

i listened to music on this pink cassette boombox before i started playing in bands and rounded out my tastes with songs that were not on the radio. it was before i learned that people could be judged for the music they liked and that my r&b slow jam playlist was an embarrassment to the indie rock establishment.

these songs bring back memories of spin the bottle, co-ed slumber parties, pen pal romances, first dances, talent show sing-alongs* and unrequited crushes at summer camps in los angeles and taiwan. at nights, we would pass around a lone cassette walkman, much as a group of college kids might furtively circulate a bottle of jack daniels, and listen to mixtapes of songs we had captured from the radio.

anyway, i’m not embarrassed anymore. i laughed a lot while making this playlist for you. enjoy.

x annie

01 swv – weak 02
tlc – what about your friends?
03 janet jackson – where are you now?
04 boyz ii men – water runs dry
05 en vogue – giving him something he can feel
06 salt n’ pepa – shoop
07 janet jackson – if
08 tlc – baby baby baby
09 paperboy – ditty
10 snoop doggy dogg – what’s my name?
11 dj freaky and mc nas d – gold diggin’ girls