JOHN LEGEND- THE NEXT STEVIE OR UNMITIGATED HACK?

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  • bull_oxbull_ox 5,056 Posts
    JectWon said:
    Good point...and I think the answer is no one in the mainstream.

    If the implication is that someone who possessed talents akin to Stevie's would languish in "the underground" because those talents would not be appreciated today I think that's kinda ludicrous. When a voice like that and songs like that are combined it just moves people, regardless of what the technological/musical environment is.

  • JectWonJectWon (@_@) 1,654 Posts
    bull_ox said:
    JectWon said:
    Good point...and I think the answer is no one in the mainstream.

    If the implication is that someone who possessed talents akin to Stevie's would languish in "the underground" because those talents would not be appreciated today I think that's kinda ludicrous. When a voice like that and songs like that are combined it just moves people, regardless of what the technological/musical environment is.

    I'm not trying to imply that...I'm just saying in my very humble and civilian/spectator opinion. Prime Stevie Wonder today would not be as infamous if he were to be on the come up in today's mainstream environment. We probably wouldn't know him at all in the mainstream world based on the simple fact that he is blind...real talk.

    EDIT: Blindness aside; his talent's wouldn't languish but rather be ruined in today's mainstream music world way before he matched the epic status he enjoys now (again in my outsider's opinion).

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    JectWon said:

    EDIT: Blindness aside; his talent's wouldn't languish but rather be ruined in today's mainstream music world way before he matched the epic status he enjoys now (again in my outsider's opinion).

    Sorry but this just sounds like typical, ahistorical "shit was better back in the day" rose-tinted nostalgia.

    It presumes, #1, there wasn't shitty, derivative mainstream music back in the 1960s and '70s and that #2, "today's" climate for musicians is stiflingly short-sighted in a way where it wasn't back in some glory days where apparently, all record executives were visionaries who took big chances rather than worrying about the bottomline.

    I call bullshit on all of that. The record industry certainly changes and the climate for music isn't static but fundamentally, record execs are always about the same thing: making money. Stevie Wonder was a fucking musical genius but he also sold a shit load of records and that's why Berry Gordy threw the resources of Motown behind him.

    The record industry desperately wants to encourage people like Stevie or Michael Jackson because nothing is more lucrative than an artist who can produce over time rather than just in the moment. The idea that a talent equivalent to Stevie Wonder would be forever mired on the margins of today's music industry makes no sense.

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    JectWon said:
    We probably wouldn't know him at all in the mainstream world based on the simple fact that he is blind...real talk..

    Two words in response: Susan Boyle.

  • JectWonJectWon (@_@) 1,654 Posts
    mannybolone said:
    JectWon said:

    EDIT: Blindness aside; his talent's wouldn't languish but rather be ruined in today's mainstream music world way before he matched the epic status he enjoys now (again in my outsider's opinion).

    Sorry but this just sounds like typical, ahistorical "shit was better back in the day" rose-tinted nostalgia.

    It presumes, #1, there wasn't shitty, derivative mainstream music back in the 1960s and '70s and that #2, "today's" climate for musicians is stiflingly short-sighted in a way where it wasn't back in some glory days where apparently, all record executives were visionaries who took big chances rather than worrying about the bottomline.

    I call bullshit on all of that...

    Not what I'm saying at all. I would never say there wasn't shitty mainstream music back in the day. Every record collection I score for free is majority 'derivative mainstream' bullshit that I sift through to find the music I enjoy...and I'm not sure why you would assume that "#1" from what I said. At this point, I don't feel like taking this discussion any more off the track than it already is. But, I am aware the music industry has always been just that...an industry. And I don't feel like today's industry is very conducive for the next Stevie Wonder to show and prove....right or wrong.

    I stand corrected with the Susan Boyle comparison...a blind artist would probably kill in an American Idol setting where they introduce the world week after week to their abilities and watch the world fall in love with them before they even put an album out. They are probably looking for one right now.

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Wonder '63 till now cause dude is still doin it regardless of the dead radio. 80's falloff?

    R.Kelly '92 - till now. He has no Songs In The Key of Life in his stash.

    Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy = Songs In The Key of Life??

  • To be fair, Stevie turned into mush, too.

    [/devil emoticon]

    after 30 years not 5

    Nah'ledge dropped....

    Hind site it 20/20 but it's definitely fair to say Legend ain't anywhere close to Stevie. Is it possible for a Stevie Wonder to emerge from today's main stream music scene, though? It doesn't seem like you can be a serious/dope artist and get the scans that some autotuned hot mess would get today. I know the argument is old as hell at this point but, even if Legend had some legendary shit rolling around in his brain we'd never be able to hear it as he might have wanted it to sound without the McMainstream influence making it shite'...

    Question: Who has the talent of Stevie Wonder right now?

    http://www.soulstrut.com/index.php/forums/viewthread/67684/

  • John is in his 30s, Stevie had already done more by the time he was 20.
    The end.

  • for the record I bumped this thread hoping we could sorta look back at the *prospect* of Legend vs. what our current assessment of the dude is. For the record I've always found him to be an unmitigated hack, from the first time I heard him to whatever current Gap commercial he's got going on.

    any actual comparison to Stevie Wonder is (and was) silly.

  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    John Legend sings like he's asking for Grey Poupon.

  • maybe some posting in this thread are unaware of this massive underground hit from the last 2 years or so....

    with the right production behind you anything is possible.

    stevie at 3:40 killing shit on the deep tip.



  • I support his philanthropy but find most his music tepid. To even compare him to Stevie should be a bannable offense.

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    RAW_HAMBURGER said:
    John is in his 30s, Stevie had already done more by the time he was 20.
    The end.

    What has Legend even really "done"? I think he's made some decent songs but it's insane to me that he and Stevie are being spoken about in the same breath.

  • RAW_HAMBURGER said:
    John is in his 30s, Stevie had already done more by the time he was 13!!!!
    The end.

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Ordinary People is a Classic.

    After that, I dont really give a fusk.

    On a less hatter note, dude needs to get w/ the right production company and do some Customized Retro shit. Dude is not Stevie, Marvin, Donny, or whomever Great Soul singer these Rolling Stone Magazine/Starbux muthafuckas tried to hype him up to be.
    Dude isnt my type of singer but channelling Johnny Mathis wouldnt be a stretch. He's not gonna get R.Kelly or Maxwell's fanbase. He's pretty much for Becky and them. Polish yo game and get in where you fit in. Rock some Covers and shit.
    His appearance on West's Blame Game could have been almost any R&B dude.

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    batmon said:
    ORock some Covers and shit

    You mean other than that weak cover album he just put out?

  • phongonephongone 1,652 Posts
    HIERARCHY OF CONTEMPORARY SOUL SANGERS

    D'Angelo>>R.Kelly (pedo tendencies aside)>>Maxwell>>John Legend>>Usher>>Ne-Yo

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    How is D'Angelo "contemporary" when he hasn't released in an album in nearly 11 years?

  • mannybolone said:
    How is D'Angelo "contemporary" when he hasn't released in an album in nearly 11 years?

    testament to his greatness.

    he's the stevie of this.

    just kidding.

  • mrmatthewmrmatthew 1,575 Posts

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    phongone said:
    HIERARCHY OF CONTEMPORARY SOUL SANGERS

    D'Angelo>>R.Kelly (pedo tendencies aside)>>Maxwell>>John Legend>>Usher>>Ne-Yo

    Uhh - Nah....

    R.Kelly >

    The Dream
    Trey Songz
    Maxwell
    Ne-Yo
    Usher
    Eric Benet (yall sleepin on this new album)
    Anthony Hamilton
    Kenny Latimore

    >

    John (Can I make a guest appearence) I Am Legend

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts


    Check the BITE

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