this generation's music

I have a question for you. Do you still listen to the radio? Do you notice the direction that hip hop is going in? Does this direction concern you?

The music of the past took on a life of its own and could live on forever. The music that my parents and grandparents listened to can stilled be listened to today and they still enjoy it just as much as when they heard it many years ago.  The music of today has at the most a two month life span. There is so much music being released so quickly that you don’t have time to really listen to the tracks and absorb the content before you are bombarded with the latest single.

The life of the music that my parents listened to was so connected to the artist that you could truly feel what the artist was feeling when they wrote the track or even when they were inspired to write the song. The music of today lacks that connection from artist to song to audience. It lacks that intimate connection between the artist and the listener.

These are some questions that I have been asking myself for the past couple of years as I sit back and listen to the utter garbage that hip hop and rap artist are releasing out into the air waves. If were a hip hop artist I would be embarrassed by this sad attempt at music.

I grew up listening to the likes of Earth Wind and Fire, RunDMC, Doug E Fresh, Slick Rick and many other fantastic, creative, soulful, but most importantly relatable artist. These artist put out music that spoke of things that were going on in the community, relatable situations that almost everyone has experienced, or even just about having a good time with those around them. The artist nowadays are stuck in a box that consists of only money, girls, cars, jewelry, liquor, and awkward dances.  It’s as if these artists forget that the people that listen to their music can not relate to that situation. They seem to forget that the mass audiences that listen to them are not even close to being in the same situation as them.

Yes you could make an argument that some of the rappers that are out there talking about life in the street are relatable. My response to that would be instead of these artist illustrating the frivolous use of guns and gratuitous violence, why can’t they advocate using other more positive outlets and avenues in order to escape the harsh realities of the streets.

Back in the day rebel groups such as Public Enemy would go out and point out political, social, and personal issues that affected the community. No their message was not always the most positive, but what was positive was that they were trying to enlighten the youth of the community to go out and get educated  and learn all that they could so that they could eventually make a difference in this world. They had a message of fight the power, not go out and party, drink, use drugs, and shoot guns.

I just don’t feel that artist such as soulja boy are really doing anything to lift up and further the culture of hip hop.

Some artist that in my personal opinion are doing positive,  creative, influential, monumental work within and outside of hip hop are artist like Common, NAS, Pharrell, Outkast , Clipse, Jay-Z, Ludacris, The roots, and many more. These artist are staying true to the overall message of hip hop which is to lift up and inspire the community to do good through the creative means of music, dance, art, and so much more.

I would just like the artist of today try and put a little more thought and feeling into their work instead of quickly putting together a piece of work.