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Re: a sadly piss-poor genre & even worse attitudes

Posted by J (A) on March 6, 2007 at 22:44:28

In Reply to: Re: Academia and Hip-Hip posted by mauimusicman on March 6, 2007 at 12:48:11:

>I can appreciate any artist that has taken the initiative to learn to play a musical instrument, ANY instrument, had inspiration to write lyrics and a melody, painstakingly record said work, etc... because I know how very difficult that is.

Any artist?

I cannot agree with this completely. I could name names all day long, but let's just say that there are people who view music as music, and then there are people who view music as product. Some understand that it can be & is often both of these, depending on one's point of view. But my feeling is that the ability to execute these tasks you mention is something you're overstating here, especially when examined in conjunction with what you've had to say about rap music--that's right, MUSIC--for years now.

The way I see it, it's even harder to write lyrics & melody when there's NO inspiration than when there is, but, in spite of that hard work, I often do NOT appreciate work I consider to be lacking in inspiration...which indicates that it may have very well been much harder to create than the work of someone who WAS inspired. And since we all know that an artist has their whole life to write their first album & six months to write their second...that lack of inspiration sometimes, or OFTEN, strikes artists who begin careers at a time in their lives when music is a passion, and at some point find themselves in a place where it is merely a job.

But none of these are the end-all or be-all. A talent who's burned-out & cynical who feels they have run out of ways to express ideas may still toss off an album of paint-by-numbers fakery that some would laud as a transitional gem. Others might disagree, but then there may also be a lack of consensus on the polished, guest-producer- & guest-performer-laden, ghost- (sorry, CO-) written debut of a well-connected phenom...whose numbers will likely well surpass those of the gritty, intense, personal, deep, emotional artistic statement of the less-talented but up-&-coming obscuro who poured blood, sweat, & tears, and in many cases some measure of sacrifice, into a piece of work that may succeed for many on certain levels, but whose toons simply don't connect with folks who think they heard similar stuff done better decades ago by performers that today's young lions may never even have heard, yet managed to virtually copy something they didn't know existed. Ah, but there are no absolutes, which, again, is why I have to disagree with what you've written. Now, this is a more difficult argument to put forth without naming names, but it's more demanding, and therefore a more interesting exercise. Which I justify by remembering my view that music is worth taking seriously...and some of the best discussion comes from trying to convince the last dozen or so people on the planet who think they have a license to define what it is on the basis of one segment of it that they do not like, that they are neither capable, nor qualified, of forcing others to accept that definition, which is inaccurate at best.

Neither music nor the reactions to it are created in scientists' laboratories or on accountants' spreadsheets, so one must allow for exceptions to the rules, and those exceptions can be quite powerful. Which is why I'll argue for the less than 5% of rap music I've heard that I like rather than bother with caring about the 95% of it that I've heard that I think sucks rocks.

On that basis, unless you're a zealot with a complete lack of insight when it comes to contemporary pop and rock music, there may be reasons to consider a rap album 'better' in various ways, than a cynically conceived project that has more to do with looks & choreography than it does with what could reasonably be described as an organic creative process...oh, perish the thought. That decisions about how to market music are made at least in part on the basis of looks & choreography don't matter, because you appreciate anyone who plays an instrument, writes a song & makes a record. The rapper, who you have now generously chosen to refer to as a poet, the one who may well have more musical inspiration than you're aware of since you still seem to think there is no rapper who actually knows how to play an instrument or write a melody? That piece of work will always be inferior, not even to be considered as music, you maintain...even while you celebrate, through yr appreciation, the work of the well-connected and/or well-produced.

Meanwhile, on a couple of occasions I've taken heat from the Music board on this site for taking issue with the dismissals of others towards a certain fellow whose initials are BW. Maybe you didn't see those threads. It's a shame, because you would've found yrself on the opposite side of an argument regarding a form of music you're as appreciative of, as you are negative of this one you are here heaping scorn upon. It would've been instructive to be in the position of defending something you find great virtue in, in a discussion with people I would describe as knowledgeable, including at least one who happens to be a working pro. Not that they were as scornful in those discussions as you are towards this form of music, but then it would be silly to draw a musical comparison.

The attitude, however, is strikingly similar.

Do you not care that it looks simply foolish to carry this silly chip on yr shoulder as you do? Why would you assign this so much importance? And why would you be gleeful about a report that potentially bodes great ill for music in general, certainly the music business, not just the one segment of it you personally find unworthy? I mean, it doesn't take a genius to realize that declining sales figures across the board means less money spent on new projects, period. Fewer rap records selling isn't a sign of a renaissance in taste, it's a symptom of an unhealthy industry, for which any remaining profitability outlook exists in spite of itself. Guys like Steve Jobs recognize this; guys who think that it's wise to force Microsoft to pay a fee if someone purchases a piece of their hardware do not.

You are also ignoring those involved with rap music who do play instruments, who use melodies, who possess a pair of ears. We've been on this merry-go-round before. Why do you insist on continuing to take yr subjective view to an irrational extreme? You don't like it. We get it. You're entitled.

But you're not entitled to define something for the rest of us that's just plain wrong.

>Music, it is not.

Incorrect. Please explain how you chart something that is not music. If it can be charted, you'll have to accept that it's music whether you like it or not.

>I look at it more along the lines of calling Paris Hilton an "Actress" ok?

But, she IS an actress. Or WAS an actress. Hell, IFC had the movie Wonderland on the other night, and there she was, in a movie. Doesn't mean she's not a BAD actress, but you can't say that she's NOT when the evidence exists that she has in fact done what one must do to technically be referred to as such.

If you had the chance, would you seriously have tried to tell Miles Davis that rap is not music?

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