John Singleton’s Poetic Justice never was widely released in Mexico, so getting a copy meant looking for sticky tape and sharpie labeled VHS or Beta copies at places of low reputation. Boyz n the hood had the same fate and if there’s something I can appreciate of modern streaming places like Tubi or PlutoTV is that you can find these flicks easier, even if sometimes it requires a VPN (no sponsor here, though).

Again wasn’t as much as a hit as I expected over here, but I liked the song quite a bit. Michael Jackson’s popularity was still riding high in Mexico in ’93, so radio stations and video music channels piggybacked a few Janet Jackson hits, older and new, on their programming. For those who missed out on Rhythm Nation when it came out, now it was our chance to groove!

Again is as mushy as you can get a 90s ballad to be. A gentle track sneaking in Poetic Justice, even if it wasn’t on the physical CD. As you can guess, the price for Janet, her 1993 album, was prohibitive, and it wasn’t until I took a trip with my dad to San Antonio in 1994 that I found a relatively cheap copy at Sam Goody. Bought a couple of U2 albums there too, Achtung Baby and Joshua Tree, as Zooropa was still on heavy rotation in my stereo.

My dad was a walker. He was never fit, but he liked to walk everywhere, even when he had to use a cane, and that particular trip to San Antonio felt like a marathon, with my mother once threatening to hang us both my dad and me from the Toys R Us sign. We were on a bus back from the mall when I checked on the CDs, thinking that I could read the booklets while on the commute.

Turns out the cashier messed up and somehow switched Janet Jackson’s album with Mariah Carey’s Music Box. I was livid, but there was no way to go back, as it was already near closing time and we had a plane to catch the next morning. So I went for a Janet and ended up with Mariah.

Some good bangers on Music Box, though.

-Sam J. Valdés López