"The music is garbage," he says. "What has happened over the past few years is that we have traded art for money, simple and plain, and the public is not stupid.[/b]"
This year's top-selling albums thus far are by American Idol rocker Chris Daughtry's band..
yeah not such a good story. part of the problem with mainstream hiphop is that it's always talked about in terms of sales instead of musical merits. i'm sure someone here is gonna say some shit like "don't hate the player" or "you can't hate on dude for getting paid" and that's exactly the attitude that put the culture in such an f'ed up position.
isn't USA Today like the People Magazine of newspapers?
and it's color coded for your reading pleasure too!!!! Green = Money
i like this quote:
particularly the young, largely white audience that can make a difference between modest and blockbuster sales ??? are tiring of rappers' emphasis on "gangsta" attitudes, explicit lyrics and tales of street life and conspicuous consumption.
i know i am doing my part as a white audience member to stay focused on "gangsta" attitudes. Tis a shame my fellow Caucasoids have lost concentration.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
"The music is garbage," he says. "What has happened over the past few years is that we have traded art for money, simple and plain, and the public is not stupid.[/b]"
This kind of revisionism cracks me up. When was the music industry not about money? Maybe for a few years in the 60s there were a handful of execs who actually liked music, and would give creative people the leeway to create on the assumption that, hey, the kids seem to like this stuff and besides, what do we know? The problems began when the accountants and finance people took control and it became a case of "if it isn't making money, then why are we putting it out?" People act like there was some kind of Golden Age where everything that came out was wonderful, yet they forget that, in the 1970s, cornballs like John Denver were selling millions and millions of records. Yet if you watch something like That 70s Show, you're expected to believe that kids were driving round bumping fucking Big Star? Do me a favour - nobody did that. The only people even listening to Big Star in the 70s were fucking rock critics.
If the industry is fucked, it's because the people running it are clueless.
particularly the young, largely white audience that can make a difference between modest and blockbuster sales ??? are tiring of rappers' emphasis on "gangsta" attitudes, explicit lyrics and tales of street life and conspicuous consumption.
i know i am doing my part as a white audience member to stay focused on "gangsta" attitudes. Tis a shame my fellow Caucasoids have lost concentration.
"Focus power, Cracka-san"
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
particularly the young, largely white audience that can make a difference between modest and blockbuster sales ??? are tiring of rappers' emphasis on "gangsta" attitudes, explicit lyrics and tales of street life and conspicuous consumption.
I read this as; "What we'd really like to see is a return to non-threatening Afrocentric rap, the Public Enemy of old (only without all that nasty stuff about Jewish people and white devils), something along the lines of Kid'n'Play or the Fresh Prince, and the occasional Michael Franti album where he talks about Iraq or global warming over really clumsy beats so we can tell ourselves how much smarter we are than people who listen to T-Pain".
The last paragraph of that article (rap has become ring tones) is dead on the money. Perhaps the record companies are to blame, but if i hear another rapper telling me to do a new dance, it will be 1 too many.
The response to this article is typical. Of course, racisim can be the only explanation for critiques of rap music.
"Rap has gradually degenerated from an art form into a ring tone."
yeah this is not that far off the mark actually (I mean for a crude generalization from someone who prolly know very little about rap).
I don't listen to nearly as much hip hop as I used to, but commercial hip hop has undergone massive change since I was into it in the mid to late 90s (in which the underground was also really flourishing). I'm of the opinion that it has gotten worse, but maybe I'm just
"Rap has gradually degenerated from an art form into a ring tone."
yeah this is not that far off the mark actually (I mean for a crude generalization from someone who prolly know very little about rap).
I don't listen to nearly as much hip hop as I used to, but commercial hip hop has undergone massive change since I was into it in the mid to late 90s (in which the underground was also really flourishing). I'm of the opinion that it has gotten worse, but maybe I'm just
Yes, if only we could return to the days when all rap was good. The days of Coolio. And Skee-lo.
"Rap has gradually degenerated from an art form into a ring tone."
yeah this is not that far off the mark actually (I mean for a crude generalization from someone who prolly know very little about rap).
what does that statement actually mean, tho
nothing really.
I just think coming from a (no doubt disconnected) journalist at USA Today, it's:
a. surprising to see rap recognized as ever having been an art form; and
b. somewhat satisfying to see the ringtone phenomenon recognized as a negative development rather than a positive indicator of hip-hop's health as an industry or some shit.
"Rap has gradually degenerated from an art form into a ring tone."
yeah this is not that far off the mark actually (I mean for a crude generalization from someone who prolly know very little about rap).
what does that statement actually mean, tho
nothing really.
I just think coming from a (no doubt disconnected) journalist at USA Today, it's:
a. surprising to see rap recognized as ever having been an art form; and
b. somewhat satisfying to see the ringtone phenomenon recognized as a negative development rather than a positive indicator of hip-hop's health as an industry or some shit.
^^^^^SUBJECTS THE ENTIRE ROOM TO "PARTY LIKE A ROCKSTAR" WHENEVER HE GETS A CALL ("IN LOVE WITH A BARTENDER" FOR FEMALE CALLERS)
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
The last paragraph of that article (rap has become ring tones) is dead on the money. Perhaps the record companies are to blame, but if i hear another rapper telling me to do a new dance, it will be 1 too many.
The response to this article is typical. Of course, racisim can be the only explanation for critiques of rap music.
Dude, everything has become ring tones. If the notion of music-as-ringtone has become so closely identified with rap in the US, then it's presumably because rap has the biggest market share. And yes, of course record companies are to blame - it's not like they're suddenly abandoning the idea of developing or nurturing talent with long-term potential in favour of whatever low-investment/high-return moneyspinner happens to be flavour of the month this month. It's not as if people were sitting around years ago dreaming of the day when they can download a 30 second low-res soundclip of the Summer Jam of the Year onto their phone either. Record companies have always been about the money, and if ringtones are where the money is, then that's where they'll be - especially in an age where they'll take whatever sales they can get. In other words, if people would rather buy the hook than the actual song, sell them the hook.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
I just think coming from a (no doubt disconnected) journalist at USA Today, it's:
a. surprising to see rap recognized as ever having been an art form; and
b. somewhat satisfying to see the ringtone phenomenon recognized as a negative development rather than a positive indicator of hip-hop's health as an industry or some shit.
a) This is just revisionism, plain and simple. It's like Wynton Marsalis rapping on his new album after years and years of telling anyone who'd listen that rap was an aberration.
b) All this is is another trend, like Troop tracksuits, leather Africa pendants and expensive Hype Williams videos. In five years' time, there'll be something entirely new killing hip-hop, you mark my words.
on the plus side, its f*cking hysterical when your in a office/business setting and someone's ring tone goes off with a song that totally does not fit the person.
i was in a women's clothing store the other day waiting for my fiance and this white dude in his mid 40s was sitting next to me, with his 2 kids, waiting for his wife to finish shopping. the guy's ringtone went off to "this is the way i live" and he was singing along.
I think the classic of this genre is David Samuels' "The Rap on Rap: the Black Music that Isn't Either" in which Samuels hits a number of alleged tastemakers up for quotes in support of his contention that rap is on the way out and shares the fact that the kids in his own building have now moved beyond rap.
Originally published in The New Republic, November 11, 1991.
on the plus side, its f*cking hysterical when your in a office/business setting and someone's ring tone goes off with a song that totally does not fit the person.
i was in a women's clothing store the other day waiting for my fiance and this white dude in his mid 40s was sitting next to me, with his 2 kids, waiting for his wife to finish shopping. the guy's ringtone went off to "this is the way i live" and he was singing along.
Got into an elevator last year with a chick that looked/dressed almost exactly like this gal:
Her cell phone rings, loud as I don't know what, and we are treated to the chorus of 'Ridin' Dirty'!
She fumbled around, a wee bit embarrassed, and seemed to forget how to either answer it or turn it off!
Delay
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ps. tom, looks like milwaukee is a lock.
yeah this is not that far off the mark actually (I mean for a crude generalization from someone who prolly know very little about rap).
someone should write an article about that
"Can Articles About White People Losing Interest in Rap Regain Their Crown"?
but the numbers don't lie
you can only fit 5 pounds of crap in a 2 pound bag for so long
someone should start a blog devoted solely to tracking/critiquing these articles.
proposed title: "Hip Hop Is Dead: A Clearinghouse of Disconnectedness."
actually maybe this should replace "biting prohibited by law" as the soulstrut tagline.
I was thinking SoulStrut's new tagline should be:
"A community of people that has singularly brought jokes upon itself"
and it's color coded for your reading pleasure too!!!! Green = Money
i like this quote:
i know i am doing my part as a white audience member to stay focused on "gangsta" attitudes. Tis a shame my fellow Caucasoids have lost concentration.
This kind of revisionism cracks me up. When was the music industry not about money? Maybe for a few years in the 60s there were a handful of execs who actually liked music, and would give creative people the leeway to create on the assumption that, hey, the kids seem to like this stuff and besides, what do we know? The problems began when the accountants and finance people took control and it became a case of "if it isn't making money, then why are we putting it out?" People act like there was some kind of Golden Age where everything that came out was wonderful, yet they forget that, in the 1970s, cornballs like John Denver were selling millions and millions of records. Yet if you watch something like That 70s Show, you're expected to believe that kids were driving round bumping fucking Big Star? Do me a favour - nobody did that. The only people even listening to Big Star in the 70s were fucking rock critics.
If the industry is fucked, it's because the people running it are clueless.
"Focus power, Cracka-san"
I read this as; "What we'd really like to see is a return to non-threatening Afrocentric rap, the Public Enemy of old (only without all that nasty stuff about Jewish people and white devils), something along the lines of Kid'n'Play or the Fresh Prince, and the occasional Michael Franti album where he talks about Iraq or global warming over really clumsy beats so we can tell ourselves how much smarter we are than people who listen to T-Pain".
The response to this article is typical. Of course, racisim can be the only explanation for critiques of rap music.
I don't listen to nearly as much hip hop as I used to, but commercial hip hop has undergone massive change since I was into it in the mid to late 90s (in which the underground was also really flourishing). I'm of the opinion that it has gotten worse, but maybe I'm just
Yes, if only we could return to the days when all rap was good. The days of Coolio. And Skee-lo.
Dood, Jay-Z could only dream of attaining the lyrical prowess of "I wish".
nothing really.
I just think coming from a (no doubt disconnected) journalist at USA Today, it's:
a. surprising to see rap recognized as ever having been an art form; and
b. somewhat satisfying to see the ringtone phenomenon recognized as a negative development rather than a positive indicator of hip-hop's health as an industry or some shit.
^^^^^SUBJECTS THE ENTIRE ROOM TO "PARTY LIKE A ROCKSTAR" WHENEVER HE GETS A CALL ("IN LOVE WITH A BARTENDER" FOR FEMALE CALLERS)
Dude, everything has become ring tones. If the notion of music-as-ringtone has become so closely identified with rap in the US, then it's presumably because rap has the biggest market share. And yes, of course record companies are to blame - it's not like they're suddenly abandoning the idea of developing or nurturing talent with long-term potential in favour of whatever low-investment/high-return moneyspinner happens to be flavour of the month this month. It's not as if people were sitting around years ago dreaming of the day when they can download a 30 second low-res soundclip of the Summer Jam of the Year onto their phone either. Record companies have always been about the money, and if ringtones are where the money is, then that's where they'll be - especially in an age where they'll take whatever sales they can get. In other words, if people would rather buy the hook than the actual song, sell them the hook.
a) This is just revisionism, plain and simple. It's like Wynton Marsalis rapping on his new album after years and years of telling anyone who'd listen that rap was an aberration.
b) All this is is another trend, like Troop tracksuits, leather Africa pendants and expensive Hype Williams videos. In five years' time, there'll be something entirely new killing hip-hop, you mark my words.
on the plus side, its f*cking hysterical when your in a office/business setting and someone's ring tone goes off with a song that totally does not fit the person.
i was in a women's clothing store the other day waiting for my fiance and this white dude in his mid 40s was sitting next to me, with his 2 kids, waiting for his wife to finish shopping. the guy's ringtone went off to "this is the way i live" and he was singing along.
Originally published in The New Republic, November 11, 1991.
To some of us, those were never a trend but were the hip-hop equivalent of cogito ergo sum.
Got into an elevator last year with a chick that looked/dressed almost exactly like this gal:
Her cell phone rings, loud as I don't know what, and we are treated to the chorus of 'Ridin' Dirty'!
She fumbled around, a wee bit embarrassed, and seemed to forget how to either answer it or turn it off!