What Happened? { Discussion on Music }

This is just a reflection of some of the things that I’ve been thinking about lately. I am more than a music enthusiast, I am obsessed with it! Not many people have the collection of music I have! (Ok I have over 9,600 songs on my iPod) I’m sure people have more than that, but not many! Lol
Anyway…this one is about the travel of time in Hip-Hop.

Just 10 years ago I was only 11 & I had no idea about the music business or the nature of it. In ’98 R&B was starting to wane from its legendary status as creativity was lessening & more talk of sex, popularity & money began to occur. In this time period several albums dropped & some were very good while others were very bad.

Usher’s “My Way” came this year & brought Usher to the forefront & was pivotal in making him the big name singer he is today. (Go out & pick up “Here I Stand” great album!)

One of the biggest albums of this year was R. Kelly’s “R.” This album helped R. Kelly become much bigger as an international artist & was pivotal as pushing him to his status now.

The R. Kelly we have now is one that recently got acquitted of all charges (Which I feel he was guilty of, but he & God will handle that one…) & one that doesn’t sing like he used to in my opinion. I remember the days of R&B where artists could really blow & you could hear & feel their passion in the songs they sang. Now… All I hear is songs built to follow the “hit” formula. That is the catchy hook, simply rhymes & a guest appearance. What happened to albums when artists didn’t need a feature to go platinum? What happened to substance?

Flava Flav…Originally a member of Public Enemy. A group that helped define rebellion, intelligence, and power. They were a group driven to fight against the structure that is our government that persecutes black people just for being black. I remember a phrase they always said, “I’ll never sell out!”
Flavor of Love…nuff said.

I thought the show was funny & entertaining & Hoopz was fine! The more I think about it though, in the end the power won the fight. He ended up just another clown. I’ll always respect what he was a part of but I wonder, does time make a person lose their resolve? Or was he that hard up for cash that his show was the best idea he came up with?

I think he just stopped caring. Maybe he never meant what he was doing in the first place…

Remember the days when we would anticipate albums highly and not just because of the hot record on it? The days when you knew from start to finish you were listening to a classic? Maybe it’s just me, but I expect more out of these “artists” than what they are giving. I know the industry can’t wait to exploit you and dump you, but where are the people who make music for the love of doing it?

I’m gonna leave this one up in the air for right now… what do you think of this situation?

**Fueled by passion, driven by pain before I die the world will know my name**

- JioVanni