My Music Experiment

I'm a music snob.There I said it. I love the classics. (I always challenge the language of "Old School").  I love Jazz from  Theolonius Monk, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Herbie Hancock, Soul from Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Donny Hathaway, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Kahn, Funk from James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, Parliament Funkadleic, Rock from Pink Floyd, Blood ,Sweat, and Tears, Yes, Heavy Metal from Led Zepplin, The Who, Motorhead, Deep Purple, Blues from Muddy Waters, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker and even Country from Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash.This snobbery is always evident and reveals to me that either I'm getting older or the music is getting worse. (Now I sound like a real old head tho). I think its a little of both especially the latter. I think I may have been spoiled by the music of my generation. Each generation lays a hold to this claim but I would argue that from about 1992 to 2002, it was a tremendous era for Hip-Hop and RnB.

My era was an era where you  were judged on your creativity and the dexterity of your album. Some of the best albums ever dropped during this time. The Chronic,  What's the 411? Illmatic, Doggystyle, 12 Play, Diary of a Mad Band, SWV, Ready to Die, Do or Die, My Life, Boyz to Men,II, DoggFood, All That I Am, Reasonable Doubt, Only Built for Cuban Linx, Me Against the World, Do You Want More, Muddy Waters, Life After Death, Harlem World, Baduizm, The War Report, Capital Punishment, Things Fall Apart, Aquemini, The Mis-Education of Lauren Hill, Vol 2 Hard Knock Life, Black Star, Black on Both Sides, The Moment of Truth,and whats crazy is that I can keep going. I judge music through this prism and out of this particular context. It would be a task for me just to listen to some of the material that's out.

After a week of listening to Power99, I must confess that I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't rip my ears off  immediately. The tracks, though simplistic are infectious, the lyrics, though elementary are catchy, and the artists, though they can be redundant, have large followings. Cats like 2 Chainz, Future, Tyga, Big Sean, and the omnipresent Nicki Minaj are having the moment right now and I  finally have accepted it.

The critique I have is that today's music lacks the diversity and individuality that was essential to my era and the times before me.  I miss that.. Most of this music sounds exactly the same. Being a clubhead, I love to party but you can't always party your way through the rugged terrain of the society that we live in. Or can you? Unlike most, I don't blame Hip-Hop for the ills of society and I don't expect the artists to save the world but I do expect some of them to "say" something to the world and about the world. I miss the diversity where Redman , DMX, Nas, Jay-z, Common, Outkast, Scarface,Talib Kweli, Ice Cube, Eightball and MJG, Gangstarr didn't have to be like everybody in order to get noticed.

The greatness of the culture of Hip-Hop and music in general is the complexity of the voices that interpret and create the music. The Clone ethos takes away from the power of the voice.