As I've stated before, 4th Avenue Jones is my favorite Hip-Hop group; sadly, almost NO ONE knows about them. I honestly believe that they are to Hip-Hop what Michael Jackson was to Pop.
In music today, there is a formula that didn't exist before. Which makes sense. Back then, in the days of Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, there really wasn't a whole lot to the music scene. I'm not saying that it was easily accomplished, but whatever was found was chock full of talent, which is why we know their names today.
Duke Ellington. Michael Jackson. The Beatles. Louis Armstrong. James Brown. Stevie Wonder. Ray Charles. Classics.
These people, and so much more, have accomplished what wasn't there before them, at least not in that form. They took what they had around them, and built on it. They created a new style, a new sound, or they at very least contributed to eternal sound.
How I wish I could say that for today's music.
In order to me to recall and truly enjoy any kind of music that comes out today, I need to run everything through a finetooth comb. I can't just turn on the radio. As a matter of fact, I am in a strike against the radio.
I can't explain it easily. I just can't listen to this stuff as I used to. And I've come up with a theory why.
Music today? A formula. That's all it is to me. It's a formula. Not even a formula, but a compound of "what's cool" and "what's hip". Take the popular slang, throw in a hook from a forgotten 1980s pop tune, add a few music videos and a guest appearance by someone who's already established and you have a hit album that sells like mad for a few weeks. I'm not saying that there will be no references to the successes of old, but instead of building on the foundation of the greats, Today's Music is just...mimicking it, not really adding anything new. I feel like I'm hearing the same thing, over and over and over and over. What was cool 10 years ago is being cloned into what's hot right now. I could name names, but there's no need for that. Maybe in my next rant.
I see no innovation. I see no...creativity. Oh, there's some cool quotes and such, but will "M.O.B." stand the test of time?
This is just a rant. But I celebrate experimentalism, if that is even a word. I love the unheard stuff that will never be popular, because it's not what's cool right now. I really wish that this season of insta-gratification would die off and go away. I wish the Soulja Boy's would really become some sort of soldier. I wish hip-hop would snap out of it. I wish R&B was exactly that: Rhythm & Blues.
I wish music would come back.
I hope Somobe blows up something terrible.
I want 4th Avenue Jones to become something bigger than "a legend, small, but on the map."
----------------
Now playing: 4th Avenue Jones' - Pick Up The Phone
via FoxyTunes
1 comment:
Scary to think that music may have hit it's creative plateau.
Where, in heaven's name, are all the musicians?
I'm sick of "entertainers".
Look up the definitions of each, it'll blow you away.
Entertainer:one who gives amusing performances professionally.
Musician:any person, whether professional or not, skilled in music.
I know plenty of people who think the title "Musician" is too good for them. And I know professionals who adorn the same title, who are nothing more than "entertainers".
Post a Comment