i ponied up three bucks and allowed iTunes to enlighten me to the details of what my kids are checking out. i immediately realized a significant dip in quality. (omg...i already feel like a stuck-in-the-mud. i have a magnet in my office that shows a dad talking to his son, and the caption reads "it's not that i'm old, your music just sucks").
jay-z's new cut 'empire state of mind' lacks on so many levels. firstly, jay used to bring it. foxy brown, live with the roots, the annie hook, even the recent pharrell shit. now his rhymes are broke down and don't have solid references (i know, i know - lebron & dwyane wade). jay still comes with the 'yessss' and 'uh-huh' in all the right places, but he gets fatigued during this track. however, i can't stop listening to this because alicia keys is turning it OUT. man, she sounds really good, and the hook is super strong.
jay sean sings a nice (and ultra-simple) tune 'down'. he sounds pretty good on it, but is definitely not taking any chances vocally (sticks to about 6 notes). he feeds the hook in the intro, throughout the tune, and beats us into submission with it in the out. guest rap by lil wayne is pretty lousy, although he does flash the golden grill in the video while rocking some goofy hat and tatted-out arms. i like this tune, but much prefer the a cappella version by nota.
black eyed peas 'boom boom pow' is a slamming track. the auto-tune actually sounds cool here, and i can't help but notice that the rhymes are pretty sad. seems like they are channeling some m.c. hammer. (however, the visual i get when fergie shows up ... ooh la la). musically speaking; roots slide around without any actual chord tones describing the harmonic movement, the drum grooves and how they propel the arrangement is clever and well-done (albeit a bit long).
and maybe this is the problem... 'musically speaking'. is the point here to be musical? appeal to music school kids or washed up jazzers or jealous classical folks? i suppose that our fast food society has drenched us in most other lifestyle choices. we want a hook, one that appears sooner than later, something that we don't need to devote a lot of brain space towards remembering. hey improvisers - should we acknowledge this or shun it in favor of art for art's sake? should tunes be compact or lengthy? i admit that i'm drawn to 4 minute tunes and hesitate to commit to listening to a jazz jam that weighs in at 20+ minutes, regardless of the musicians.
and who are we making our music for - the casual listener who appreciates a snapshot of musical artistry that never gets to complex, or the jazz aficionado who will endure an exploratory set while sizing you up next to heroes in music history? do you really think about this? do you care about your music's appeal? do you consider your audience's attention span?
okay... these acts aren't even close to eric b. & rakim, pete rock & c.l. smooth, tribe, method man, the foreign exchange, mos def, slick rick the ruler (whom i grew up on), chuck d, or even tupac & biggie. i know it's unfair (although completely fair) to compare them to music that i like. but, in an effort to keep up to speed with what's going on in pop radio today, i wanted to give these guys a shot. i still choose my guys every time.
but i can't seem to get these tunes out of my head...
No comments:
Post a Comment