Music Has Lost Its Meaning
Back in the day a performance qualified as someone walking on stage and bearing their soul. It was about the music, and it was about the talent. Now an artist qualifies as someone who is so bizarre, so outgoing, so appealing they can sell anything. Lately the music industry has been lacking in real talent. Many artists are truly talented, that goes without saying. But this talent tends to be hidden because of the glamour and popularity of their appearance. The reason why certain artistes are so widely popular despite their lack of talent is because they appeal to the masses.
Lady Gaga is someone who has entered the world of pop culture and has taken it by storm. Behind all the crazy makeup and fashion choices, Gaga has raw talent. She can actually sing, and her songs are Gaga original. But people don’t see Gaga for her vocals; they see the overexposure. Justin Bieber has found a way to go from a small town boy to one of America’s heartthrobs. Bieber is so widely known and is selling out show after show because he appeals to the younger generation. It doesn’t matter whether he can sing or not. If the masses find him attractive, he will find a way to stay famous.
It’s a popularity contest, and he is one of the winners. Now an artist is all about the hype. The music is lost behind all the glitz and glam. No one notices what an artist is trying to say when they’re distracted by fire and lights and the bizarre. It is entertaining, no doubt about that. It’s fun to see people suspended in midair doing flips, and it’s fun see people jump through flaming hoops. But where’s the music? Where are the lyrics? Where’s the heart? The definition of a musical artist has evolved and changed. Now it is not about the music, just the appearance. It is not about the talent, just the entertainment value.
The music industry has lost most of its credibility and needs to find a way back to when it was about the feeling and the words, to when lyrics meant something and were not just random ideas strung together nonsensically. That was when music was the greatest it has ever been. First, you should orient yourself with a marketing term known as “positioning”. That will help to understand how products & styles get pigeonholed or stuck into a way of being perceived by the general public. Fundamentally, rap is very lyric dense poetry in tight syncopation with a rhythm. Like spoken word that rhymes, with a percussion track.
So, lyrics can be about ANY subject. However, due to rap’s typical lyric subject matter, based on the culture of those who started it, rap has position in society. Because of this position, it’s difficult to create lyrical themes for rap that deal with other cultures or genres. Commercialism does manage to do this, however, this is the point where we wonder if an artform has lost its meaning. In other words, when McDonalds, Ford, Mountain Dew and Coors Light commercials include hot guitar solos or hot hip hop grooves with lyrics merely selling a product, it’s hard to maintain a special place in your soul for the genre.
It’s also hard for the artists themselves to feel good about their style, when they could be sounding just like another burger commercial. This is why things cycle out and new things have to come in. The advertising agencies never start artforms. They pick up what the people have their attention on and try to piggyback their junk food, clothing lines, cars, soft drinks– whatever onto anything that will give their stuff the same attention. Then they will sell more. Any “popular” form of communication art, is subject to exploitation. Then, you have to move onward, if you are depending upon communication arts to help you get meaning from life.
So, obviously this isn’t simply about rap. Every genre is in the same boat. Artists have to out-create and stay ahead of the commercialism in order to stay sane and maintain meaning. The good news is that artists do keep creating. You just have to keep up with who the real ones are. Check out the real music magazines (not the lifestyle ; fashion ones). Find out who the artists are listening to and who they like. Skip the critics, because they often represent the commercial side. Serious rap artists have to stay ahead in order to survive and keep the meaning in rap.
If they sell out, rap just becomes a product that people grow bored with. First, you should orient yourself with a marketing term known as “positioning”. That will help to understand how products ; styles get pigeonholed or stuck into a way of being perceived by the general public. Fundamentally, rap is very lyric dense poetry in tight syncopation with a rhythm. Like spoken word that rhymes, with a percussion track. So, lyrics can be about ANY subject. However, due to rap’s typical lyric subject matter, based on the culture of those who started it, rap has position in society.
Because of this position, it’s difficult to create lyrical themes for rap that deal with other cultures or genres. Commercialism does manage to do this, however, this is the point where we wonder if an artform has lost its meaning. In other words, when McDonalds, Ford, Mountain Dew and Coors Light commercials include hot guitar solos or hot hip hop grooves with lyrics merely selling a product, it’s hard to maintain a special place in your soul for the genre. It’s also hard for the artists themselves to feel good about their style, when they could be sounding just like another burger commercial.
This is why things cycle out and new things have to come in. The advertising agencies never start artforms. They pick up what the people have their attention on and try to piggyback their junk food, clothing lines, cars, soft drinks– whatever onto anything that will give their stuff the same attention. Then they will sell more. Any “popular” form of communication art, is subject to exploitation. Then, you have to move onward, if you are depending upon communication arts to help you get meaning from life. So, obviously this isn’t simply about rap. Every genre is in the same boat.
Artists have to out-create and stay ahead of the commercialism in order to stay sane and maintain meaning. The good news is that artists do keep creating. You just have to keep up with who the real ones are. Check out the real music magazines (not the lifestyle ; fashion ones). Find out who the artists are listening to and who they like. Skip the critics, because they often represent the commercial side. Serious rap artists have to stay ahead in order to survive and keep the meaning in rap. If they sell out, rap just becomes a product that people grow bored with.
