Some evening not too long ago I was on YouTube checking out who’s who in the music arena now and I must say that I’m totally amazed. Truth be told I fell out of love with rap and R & B some time in the early 2000s because in my opinion, it was watered down music and because of the amount of garbage people were putting out and becoming big name players in the industry. This only helped me at proving music has almost nothing to do with the talent of the artist anymore.
After choosing rock and alternative as my alternative, I soon began to realize that this new age “product versus talent” is all across the
board. I do still believe that rock and alternative are two of the few purest forms of music around but the end product is what it’s all about now. Music is purely entertainment nowadays. Apparently, who looks and acts the weirdest are the big earners and who visits the most tattoo parlors usually take the number one spots. I see artists like Soulja Boy (who I think is hilarious) and that Wakka fella being called the next thing and I remember when Master P and Silk the Shocker were running the show. Really?
I remember when music was about art. When album sales (including
record companies buying their own albums) did not determine who was the “best” in the business, people paid more attention to the music and lyrics of a song. When the queen of pop, now deceased Whitney Houston and Celine Dion mused many souls without having to take off their clothes. Now we have Beyoncé, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj frolicking around stages with next to nothing on. Not saying these few are talentless but the industry is so drawn out now that who looks sexiest, has awesome videos and can give lap dances are praised as the best.
I have always loved music. Piano key strokes, guitar shredding and the violin sound so great in songs but the industry seems to not look at these things. Music is for the fan’s entertainment and while that is
important, it isn’t more important than the art of making it.
I can really relate to you on this. I miss when music was about the music. Now it’s mainly about packaging. Or a fly beat. Like lyrically, the song can be garbage, but if it has a fly beat, it gets more rotation than a song that is lyrically rich but the beat doesn’t really stand out.
amen.