What a quiet world they must live in...

As I was getting ready to go outside and shovel the driveway at about 2 a.m., I realized that I couldn't find my usual headphones (headphones are essentially a part of my daily wardrobe). So, naturally, I grabbed another pair... a beanie with some built in crappy headphones that I upgraded to from the even crappier headphones the beanie came with. I couldn't tell you how many pairs of headphones there are in my house, but by my count there aren't enough.
Anyway, I got outside and started shoveling. A few passes into it my drunken neighbors came home, driving up the middle of the road. I could faintly hear their voices and since it seems to be a common occurrence that people try to talk to me while I'm listening to music, I paused my mp3 player (listening to Silenced Of Words 2.5 - .5 if you care). It was dead silent, something you don't hear when you've got four kids AND make music. Thinking to myself I started pondering what it would be like without constantly hearing a tune, whether through some sort of speakers or the music that runs through my head all too often.
The conclusion I came to is I have absolutely no fucking clue. As long as I can remember I've been surrounded by music. My grandfather made violins and other like stringed instruments, so I was ushered into the Suzuki Method at the tender age of 2. Of course, my mother was a flutist and avid music listener too. Growing up I remember hearing all kinds of artists, unbeknownst to me at the time some who I would even grow to love later in life. Needless to say, it was just the start in the shaping of my musical tastes and one of the few constants I can think of. Then, I met hip hop through ciphers in the projects. I was about 6 years old. Since most people who know of me now know of me as an emcee and/or composer (it’s almost a shame I recognize the difference between someone who makes music and someone who oversees it), it only took me a good two years before I was getting involved in them myself.
What is it like for "normal" people who don't get that kind of experience? Do they have melodies springing around their skulls like I do? Thanks to the Suzuki Method I developed a damn good ear for music, or maybe it just helped condition my existing sense of it. Do they critique every sound possible listening for the timbre and tonal qualities? I imagine that isn't the case, and at times I've got quite the imagination.
Granted it was 2 a.m. and snowing, so, the roads were rather dead because the road commission has the silly idea that they might as well just wait until it stops snowing to plow; it was too quiet for my taste. That aside, is that what it’s like for "them" (the "normal" people that is)? Without the noise of kids trampling around yelling, or even worse, living in a desolate area, do they actually put up with silence or as close as you can get to it in a city?
I was at Target yesterday, headphones on listening to some Devin The Dude, walking around not knowing that it was dead silent there too. For some reason or another I paused my music and heard there wasn't anything playing on the speakers. Most of the time when you go into a store, there's at least some kind of music playing. This time, however, none. It took me about 30 seconds of walking in the disturbing silence before I had to turn my music back on. While looking at cards I wasn't going to buy, someone walked up behind and to the left of me and started talking. I couldn't hear what they were saying and had no idea if they were talking to me so I looked up (I was crouching, it isn't too often that I have to look up to see someone while standing). No idea who it was, so I awkwardly went back to essentially doing nothing other than listening to music and gazing at cards that didn't hold much interest. Still, no music playing at the store. Don't get me wrong, I do occasionally enjoy having things quiet. It's rare, but once in a great while I do. Hell, I even sleep with music playing. Sometimes I have some screwed up dreams, but I don't mind that. Do people who don't listen to music while they sleep dream less? Less vividly maybe? Again, questions I have no fucking clue as to what the answer might be. Even as I'm sitting here writing this I'm making a beat.
Am I just crazy? Ok, that question isn't really relevant. As I re-crafted in my most recently recorded track, someone once told and asked me "I've heard that people in the arts are crazy." (Short awkward silence) "Oh, you make music don't you?" Could it just be that I lost my sanity long, long, long ago? Do sane people not listen to or hear music all of the time? Guess I'll just have to find a sane person and ask them myself. Good fucking luck huh?

(It says I did this at 2:02 a.m. but I'm not THAT fucking fast at shoveling, it's actually 5 here... damn insomnia)

Since I mentioned that I was making a beat, have a listen to its unmixed glory before it becomes too dope to handle... sgc209