I couldn't really tell what my sister (Leanne) was trying to say about "the club" other than what she experienced personally was much different from what we typically hear "rapped" about in popular songs. Then again I don't know what kind of a club experience the "south" really has to offer. Cancun is one thing, but Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas? I think that Usher is probably talking about some swank place somewhere else. Maybe LA, NYC, Miami? I would have to say other than going to "The Swamp" in Destin, FL - I would agree... but I have seen the wet t-shirt contest, Tone-Loke in concert, and the bubble foam party (that my friends and yours truly) took part in.
I definitely have some musical respect for Jay-Z and a few others in the "rap world" , but as for the hip-hop genre as a whole - I think the newest batch of "artists" are ruining it. Who the f@#$ cares about half the stuff they rap about. Don't get me wrong I'm all about beats, hooky chorus melodies, and dancing at clubs. I write stuff like that all the time for different things ... but the stupid crap they come up with lyrically is so juvenile, chauvinist, so degrading, it's really quite despicable and I believe it's a slap in the face to artists. Which of course brings into question this idea of an artist. I mean come on.... do you think Lil' Wayne has something he really wants to say or get across? Horse-shit!
Call yourself an entertainer, call yourself a performer, but please don't call yourself an artist. I can deal with most of these guys because I think "most" intelligent people have some sense of culture and understand what these guys "really" do. Don't get me wrong - I don't think that Ludacris or Loyd Banks are out to make a political statement... I sure seems like they are mostly concenred with making a ton of money (showing it, spending it, and living for it) and showing all of us what kind of shit they have in their refrigerators on MTV's cribs... AND... I'm totally fine with that. There are a lot of hip/hop songs that I like and enjoy listening to despite the lack of integrity in the lyrics. Being a drummer, producer, songwriter, and programmer I can appreciate the production and work that goes into these songs. I just also know that they mean shit in the grand scheme of timeless music. I know what those guys and gals are about and hopefully most others do, but there are a few who really use that term "artist" very loosely and that just pisses me off. And yes.... I know what you are thinking - there are plenty of non-hip/hop "artists" that do the same thing just in a different vein. Take for example all of the big hair bands of the eighties. To save some breathe... DIDO to them too.
I may "paint" shit at home with my little midi keyboard on my computer, but I'm painting. I'm not showing up to the studio to figure out a way to come up with the next best catchy sexual innuendo or attempting to coin the newest narcissistic phrase. I'm playing and writing music because that's what I do it's a part of me and at heart it's really who I am. I would definitely consider the guys who come up with all the music for these morons artists. It takes some serious talent to produce a hip/hop record these days and the really good songs are so tight. For instance... 50 cents "candy shop", "in da club", "disco inferno" those are some musically tight songs. I like and enjoy listening to them, but the integrity of the music, the way those "artists" are portrayed, and the way the songs get written are so messed up. My personal analogy would be like making an amazing statue or sculpture that looks incredible, was molded, shaped, and refined into something amazing and then having a drunk, doped up, degenerate take a massive dump on it.
The crazy thing about all of this... I still listen to it. I'm just as guilty as the next person. I don't go out and buy the next Big Mike album, but I also haven't deleted the spring break playlist I purchased back in 04' either. It's definitely messed up.
We need more Garfunkels, more RUN DMC's, more Beastie Boys (for the most part), more Etta James, more Bob Dylans.
1 comment:
Man!,
You, Reagan and I really fired each other up! In a sarcastic way, that's exactly what I was trying to say about the music. When I was looking up the lyrics yesterday and writing them out on my blog, it makes you realize how crazy and awful the music really is. I mean, Sexy Can I is really catchy and I like it. Then, when I read the words, I was a little embarrassed.
Ditto to your blog.
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