Not What I Want to Blog About
This won't be what I want to blog about (which was the realization that I really missed out on alot of things in life...real things...important things). Instead, it will be an observation:
As a rule modern rap music sucks.
There. I said it. There are exceptions of course (Kanye West being prime among them), but if you flip through to MTV Jams, or any time that they play a rap video really, can you honestly (or at least objectively) say that what you see is good? I bet that you can't. Not only is what these "artists" talk about without merit, interest, of any importance, the large majority of them lack any sort of real talent. Almost all of the videos are shot in the current "in" fashion, and they all feature a display of interchangeable cars, women, expensive jewelry, money, and the current favorite guest star.
It isn't just rap music however. What happened to music that said something? To artists that actually had talent? Does anyone want to hear about how rich you are? Admittedly, there are people that do (and those people should *hold back anger* re-evaluate thier lives). The only thing worse than rap lately is rock. Who are these make-up sporting, skinny jeans wearing asshats? The all sound the same-look the same. If you were to take the average person off the street and have them listen to a handful of these bands, and have them watch the videos for an hour or two, I bet that they couldn't tell when you swapped members between bands.
The point of all of this is that people are too susceptible to marketing. This includes the bands themselves. That is what it means to sell out. If you are an up and coming band say five years ago and you meet an agent and he says that emo bands are hot. He goes on to tell you that he can break you into the big time if you just take a certain look, maybe alter or rerecord a few songs, etc. and you take the offer, then you are a sellout. Its that old if you can't stand up for yourself-then you'll fall for anything bit.
I just miss the albums that said something. People always ask what kind of music do you listen to? Its a universal question. My answer is any music where the artist really has something that they want to say. To me, artists such as Bruce Springsteen (The River is my favorite song ever), Alicia Keys (The Diary of...you can hear it in her voice), Kanye West (he is crazy talented), Elton John (They don't make songs like Your Song anymore), Billy Joel (he tells some of the best stories), Aerosmith (can you hear it in his voice?), Common (he has something to say), R. Kelly (his double EP Happy People is one of his best)...I could go on and on...
F*ck it. Music appears to be in the same state as humanity.
