Hip-hop has run out of ideas. And if you need proof, consider that Lil Wayne’s doing a rock album. Know what the problem is with black folks? No imagination. Sounds crazy, I know, but consider black music.Every significant moment in America’s history has been accompanied by its own soundtrack. And black musicians have often written the music and the lyrics. But what’s our soundtrack now? The music industry has imposed the same low expectations on black artists and black life that politicians and pundits have imposed on black folks with respect to education, business and simply managing our daily lives. And we’ve let it happen. The blues and jazz gave meaning to our lives in the 20th century, and it still enjoys a fringe following. But it doesn't fit this new age. R&B is formulaic and predictable. And hip-hop? In its commercial form—the stuff that hammers us from radio and video outlets—has painted itself and its fans into a corner, boxed in on all sides by what Brown professor Tricia Rose calls the pimp-gangsta-ho triumvirate. Essentially, we've let a small group of hip-hop "artists" of limited experiences, education and vision set our cultural agenda. In this age of expanded possibilities, it is time to broaden our musical influences. Hip-hop is out of ideas. If you need convincing, consider this: The best-selling rapper of 2008—Lil Wayne—is doing a rock album. Yes, a rock album. http://www.theroot.com/views/rock-black-music-too
It’s time to give black rock another look. From artists as diverse as TV on the Radio, Shingai Shoniwa of The Noisettes, Gnarls Barkley, Santigold and The Family Stand, to performers at the recent South by Southwest Music Festival like Ben Harper, Whole Wheat Bread, BLK JKS, Janelle Monae and Ebony Bones, black rockers take to heart the idea that our imagination and creativity are boundless. Take, for instance, Grammy winner Janelle Monae. She created a dystopian landscape in her album Metropolis: The Chase Suite, that is part Blade Runner, part Fritz Lang's Metropolis. It's a radical, yet accessible, departure from the “keep it real” orthodoxy that pervades most of what's on black radio's playlist. And having seen hundreds of fans flock to her Central Park SummerStage show in NYC last summer, I wasn't the only one who saw her bring something refreshing and exciting to music. The tagline on the signs that many fans waved underscored a simple truth: “Imagination Inspires Nations.” Black rock artists have gotten past the fear that prevents many of us from fully following our interests, even when those interests aren't seen as "traditionally" black. "I grew up listening to Joy Division, New Order, Echo & the Bunnymen, the Cure…." says TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone. "I simply identified with something in the [white rock] music.” He took that music as inspiration and, along with his bandmates, created Dear Science, the sharp, angry and euphoric genre-mashing album that Rolling Stone and SPIN unanimously named their 2008 album of the year. It was also one of the blackest albums I've heard. Black rock can change lives. It changed mine. In the 1980s, I was a regular, middle-class kid from the Midwest, who started listening to Top 40 radio in eighth grade as a reaction to the repetitive playlists and limited subject matter on black radio. Top 40 radio introduced me to artists like Journey ("Who's Cryin' Now") and Styx ("The Best of Times"), who moved me with their melancholy and soaring guitar solos. AC/DC's "Back in Black" gripped me with its signature opening riff. And I found it impossible to ignore the incredible songwriting and storytelling that went into The Eagles' "Hotel California." For me, rock was simply more creative and raw than the slick, synthy sounds on black radio. It still is. To reclaim our place as musical innovators, we need music that's up to the task. We need artists who have the courage to explore new sounds and ideas. But there's no way today's artists can do that if their grasp of music history only extends to the latest ‘80s record Diddy sampled. Just as Stevie Wonder counted Joni Mitchell and her experimental chord structures as one of his big music influences, Beyoncé now credits Etta James and the roots of rock 'n roll for helping her to find more expansive ways to be herself. The Black Rock Coalition's manifesto says, "Rock is black music, and we are its heirs." These times call for substance, not swagger. Rock, America's subversive, anarchic, rebellious gift to the world, is ours, and we need to stop treating it like some bad four-letter word.
The way I see it, there is no "black music" and there is no "white music" (or at least there shouldn’t be). Music should be whatever you choose to listen to but at the same time you have to understand more than one genre to get the full concept of it. I love almost all styles of music, (some more than others) and if I hear a song that I like I listen to it. My parents are very diverse in their musical tastes so I get it from them. Some of it I couldn't stand as a kid, but now as an adult it’s in my CD player or (.mp3) player. My parents listened to everything from Motown to country and soft-rock so I don't have that "closed mind" when it comes to styles of music that are not R&B or hip-hop.
Good post. No, great post. My only disagreements would be that its not the fault of hip-hop that ideas have run dry. Its the fault of the artists and the industry. Its also the fault of the consumers who purchased mainly one style of hip-hop music and ignored the more creative works and artists out there. So as a result the industry gives us more of the same. Rock has gotten stale over the years too and frankly rock music now isn't as good as it was in the 50s, 60s or 70s. I won't give rock music or any genre a pass. Again the problem lies with artists, industry and consumers. R&B sucks especially and its also now diva dominated. I have no use for that type of music at all. Call me sexist but I don't think a lot of white guys would pluck too much money down for country or rock music if 80% or more of the artits were female (hell, rock has been just as sexist when it comes to allowing female participation as rap music). And that goes for all the men around the globe too in every genre of music. After awhile men need music they can relate too and if I can be blunt men have been the biggest innovators and trailblazers and creative forces in mostly all forms of music, certainly in every form of American music. So since R&B is dominated now by a bunch of women singing the same songs about demanding respect or dissing a two-timing lover (black women and black men don't have a clue about writing actual love songs anymore) or singing songs that are about as materialistic as gangsta rap (having the finer things purchased for them, etc.), it doesn't touch me at all. A few of the ladies are so talented that I will pull out my wallet and fork over the cash/plastic for their work. However rmost aren't worth paying attention to. I don't care for Lil' Wayne so therefore I don't give a damn about his rock album. But I will point out that he was the best selling artist of 2008, period. Regardless of genre. So that says just as much about the state of rock music as it does rap. The key thing you wrote though is that black folks do paint themselves in a corner or put themselves willingly in a box. We create music and then we shed it like old skin, letting others take possession of it. I'm just waiting for us to shed hip-hop as our main form of musical expression. I've been waiting too long.
What is it, 1998? There's plenty of innovation in Hip Hop, far more than the "pimp-gangsta-ho triumvirate". What about Lupe Fiasco? What about Kanye? Lil Wayne may uphold the thug bs, but he's also incredibly creative. These complaints about Hip Hop seem to occur in a vaccum, as if country music fans weren't complaining about how Willie's been replaced by Shania. As if there was ANYONE in rock today that compares to the Who or Pink Floyd. It also seems to reflect rose-colored rear-view mirrors. In the late 80's, we had Luke, We Want Some Pussy, and Beat that Bitch with a Bat. We extol the quality of decades gone by, but we forget how popular Vanilla Ice really was. There is good and bad in every genre, in every generation. The worst crap will make it to radio, until the next decade when the best art will be played on the old school stations so that we can wonder what the hell is wrong with new music.
Fuck lil wayne. Dude is wack. I wouldn't be pissed at him if he didn't claim to be the greatest rapper alive. He's nowhere near. Dude's actually pretty wack. Yeah, I've heard some clever shit from him from time to time, but half the shit I've heard from him is predictable, or makes no sense. Because nobody's used the line "so much Ice, I could skate on it". Then I remember one line saying something like "I'm menstrual blood, I'm a venereal disease", and I'm like, what does that have to do with a venereal disease. I will say, his flow is unique and he tries to be creative, while still being generally wack. Heard about his rock album a while ago. Prepare for played out autotune singing over rock instrumentals. There's still good shit out there, just that you can't turn on the radio and find good shit like you could 12 years ago. "Turn off that bullshit. Turn off that muthafuckin' radio." Ice Cube
Rock was Black before it was evolved into a White genre. The Emperor of Rock n Roll was no other than Chuck Berry and the King is not Elvis but Little Richard. Those two men took it to the mainsteam even though they did not get the big bucks as their White counterparts.
The blues has been taken over by white guys for a long while now. Stevie Ray Vaughn, George Thorogood, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Eric Clampton, Johnny Winters. Just to name a few. But if you go to most blues venues today, they are full of white dudes.
My dad is a huge Chuck Berry fan. As a matter of fact, 'Johnny B Goode' is my ringtone when my dad calls. I don't know how many times as a kid that I asked my dad to sing that song. He and I often discussed how Berry and other black artists didn't receive the credit that they should have when it came to the history of Rock n Roll. In college, one of my term papers was on racism and the start of Rock n Roll. I had a section on Elvis and how he was used to try and make the music acceptable to white audiences. It was unreal the things that I read discussing what white people would say to get Elvis banned from tv and radio. I remember one quote where someone said that Elvis was trying to corrupt their children with those African jungle beats and hip gyrations. :roll: I learned a lot from the research for that paper. It was very interesting.
I once played some of the old blues songs and early R&B from the 1950's to some of my white friends who were so taken by the music because they never heard much of it before. Those of my parents generation of the 1960's told me that in the 60's there was a debate on which music was the best "Soul music" or "Rock and Roll". Soul Music was considered black music, and Rock & Roll was considered white music. We now know the true origins of "Rock & Roll".
BS. R&R was considered black music. All the white parents were mad when their kids started listening to it, because it was considered black music.
Yeah rock n roll was always considered black music. It was once called "race music",and "jungle music" by racist whites who thought that black culture was corrupting their children.
I totally agree. Music has gotten really boring lately, but I think you can say that about all music. It just seems like musicians in the past put more creativity into their music.
Would it be possible to get away with saying that music hasn't been creative the moment we were able to put them in genres? Just seems like since music now is like what music was back then:derivative. But now we have the technology so that nearly everybody including their moms can make shyt; so we end up saturated with derivative shyt. This generation getting their inspiration from last generation who got their inspiration from last generation..etc, etc. Just keeps getting watered down. But it's all based on the same shyt. People being dependent on music to escape life creates a market for this stuff. I don't know if there has been even 1 creative artist in the last century. I think most of us are technicians and engineers. We put more into technique and skill than creativity. Creativity can't be judged/compared/measured.
