25 Things That Killed (and are Still Killing) Urban MusicCourtesy of nOvaMatic,
www.SoulBounce.comIn the midst of everyone's declarations that "Hip Hop is Dead" we somehow forgot the slow death that is spreading across all aspects of "urban" music, as the legacy of Soul and its close cousins has devolved into a writhing mass of commercialism, homogenization, thuggification and overall laziness. Now, in no particular order, we present to you the "25 Things That Killed (and are Still Killing) Urban Music" because you love lists and SoulBounce isn't afraid to say what you're thinking. Keep in mind that there will be some overlap, as certain items gave way to others that deserve their own spanking.
1. The End of the "Event" Album: There was a time
when albums encompassed an era that included a look, a feel,
and a style that informed an artist's videos and live
performances for as long as they (or the label) could
squeeze revenue from a project by releasing singles. The
"event" album can chiefly be credited to Jacksons
Michael and Janet, who have entire timelines built around
the idea of a "Thriller Era" or a "Rhythm
Nation Era". Nowadays, instead of treating albums as
what they are (a collection of songs with one unifying
theme) artists are more likely to seek out the most
ubiquitous Hip Hop beatmakers of the moment and record over
a hundred songs from which to "pick" singles.
Also, when you have artists that are too scared to release
music with a healthy 3-5 year gap in between, the lines to
between albums begin to blur, and the eras become
indistinguishable, rendering them null.
2. Big Name Hip Hop Producers: With respect due to the
beatmakers that introduce a track with the name of their
production imprint, ad-lib all over it, and insert
themselves as guest rappers 50% of the time, they
overshadow the actual vocalist of a song. We certainly
don't begrudge any of them the right to employment, but
when an artist has to do an inventory of who produced her
project to qualifiy it instead of telling us what the album
is about, we have to take exception. Reality check: If
you're trying to goad me into a purchasing your album
because you have a Pharrell beat on it and I'm a
Pharrell fan, then that's the only song I'm buying.
Your album has to have legs of its own.
3. Deaths of The Notorious B.I.G. & 2Pac: You can
probably draw a direct line from the deaths of Biggie and
'Pac to the current state of Hip Hop. The two of them
cultivated a style that even a decade later is re- and
misappropriated to the nth. Perhaps if they were still
alive, they'd have pushed the genre forward. Or maybe
they'd be wack and irrelevant. Hey, at least they died
while they were still good.
4. "Neo-Soul": We understand the emergence of the
"neo-soul" genre as a response to the growing
commercialization of modern R&B. But even the artists
lumped into this category began to the see that the term
was as much a marketing ploy as the very things they
eschewed. The language used to describe these artists
ranged from "organic" to "avant garde"
and any press materials would claim that he/she looks up to
Stevie, Marvin and Donnie. And don't stand too close to
the stage lest you get burned by the candles and
frankencense! Before long, the audience would be fooled
and we would either grow to love or loathe this music,
defending the art of its purveyors and loudly wondering why
they couldn't move as many units as their mainstream
counterparts. Simply put, "neo-soul" has become a
term used by people to describe music they respect but would
never buy.
5. Reality TV: Aside from the manufactured Pop idols that
are struggling to stay signed within their prize contracts,
we have to question the motives of Sean Combs, Robin Antin
and Missy Elliott, who have all aped the reality television
format to generate acts for their own stable of artists. To
be sure, reality TV has replaced proper Artist Development
as a means for these entrepreneurs to cash in, stroke their
egos and embarrass people who, 9 times out of 10, deserve
it. Speaking of which, what's O'so Krispie doing?
6. Lazy A&R Departments: Did you know that A&R
people are also responsible for Artist Development?
Probably not, since these days a newly-signed artist is
more likely to be stripped of their identity and given one
that falls in step with what's popular or, even worse,
none at all. Take Cheri Dennis for example. While her album
has a respectable amount of solid R&B tracks, we still
don't know who Cheri Dennis is, what sets her apart
from everyone else or even what she sounds like. But, she
has earned the distinction of being signed to her label for
nearly a decade with no album to speak of. Did the A&R
department utilize that time by playing Spades? Probably.
7. Scarface and The Untouchables: Okay, rapper, we get it,
Scarface and The Untouchables are the greatest movies ever
made; your life in celluloid, even. But, if you look close
enough, you'll come to learn that you are neither
Pacino or De Niro and should stop emulating them by using
audio clips from the films in your interludes and the
script in your lyrics. Too many of you are still doing this
after all these years. Also, tell members of your crew to
stop calling themselves "Ness" and
"Nitti". Just, please, cut it out. Thank you.
8. Thugs: Not only do we have "Studio Thugs" that
use de Palma films to inform their image (see above) but
there's the "Corporate Thug" (robs an artist
of his publishing and signs him to a hellified contract he
could never fulfill) and the questionable "R&B
Thug", which happened somewhere between R. Kelly and
Jodeci and continues to this day. Along the way, labels got
the bright idea that the way to a woman's heart was by
selling drugs and beating up people. Sexy! This trend has
also given rise to something else we'll never
understand: "R&B Beef", in which two singers
talk trash about each other to the media. Unfortunately,
this doesn't result in a "sing-off" but
pretty much makes everyone involved look kind of stupid.
9. Crime: Between violating probation, not paying child
support, being pulled over and caught with an ounce of weed
or cocaine, assaulting nail technicians, shooting people,
tossing concertgoers off the stage, committing perjury, tax
evasion, and urinating on minors, we have to wonder if being
a good artist means being a bad citizen.
10. Ringtones: "Real Music Ringtones" were
created as a way to distinguish your ringing cellular from
someone else's while also bringing you closer to your
favorite artist. Unfortunately, the labels realized this
was the only way to generate revenue and started making
music for the sole purpose of selling ringtones. Now, we
have stripped-down keyboard beats and grunts and
"yaahhs" instead of lyrics. Is that my cellphone
ringing or yours? We'll never know, because we both
downloaded Soulja Boy.
11. Lack of Music Programs in Schools: Programs like Garage
Band have not only made producers lazy, but undercut the
importance of immersing young would-be musicians in music
history as well as basic composition. Unless a popular
musician was trained in the church, they probably lucked
into a contract without knowing how to write, play an
instrument, or worse, sing a note.
12. BET (and by extension its corporate owner) is on a
mission to not only destroy urban music, but poison the
perception of Black people in the process. If we were to
use this network as a guide (and people unfortunately do),
we would believe that "drug dealer rapper
pimp" is a logical career path, alcoholic beverages
can be used as bodysplash, women of exotic or indeterminate
race are the standard of beauty, darker-skinned women are
only valuable if they have a big ass and a tiny waist, a
person's worth can only be determined by what they
drive and what they wear, you ain't sh*t if you're
over 30, and a week's worth of debauchery and decadence
can be undone with a Sunday marathon of religious
programming. It's funny because it's true.
13. The Radio: Used to be, you would turn on the radio and
hear a variety of artists with a variety of sounds. But due
to the "Clear Channeling" of Urban Radio,
you'll hear a T-Pain song followed by 15 minutes of
commercials, followed by a song featuring T-Pain, some
shucking and jiving by unbearable radio personalities for
five minutes, then something that resembles a T-Pain song,
but isn't because just about everyone sounds like
T-Pain now. And it's probably a commercial.
14. Spineless Club DJs: If you're going out to a club,
you might as well sit in the house and blast the radio
instead of paying the inflated cover charge. Once upon a
time, DJs were tastemakers, but now so many of them are
afraid they'll clear the floor by spinning something
new that they just play album versions of songs people are
tired of but are too drunk to notice. Then, they add insult
to injury by showing off their "skills" with
poorly-timed scratches, blends that don't line up and
screaming over the music. And consider yourself lucky if
you happen upon a DJ with ACTUAL! VINYL! RECORDS!
15. Mainstream Hip Hop Publications: Back in the 90's,
holding one of these rags in your hands was like holding a
monthly Bible to all things Hip Hop and R&B. Now,
they've all been relegated to chasing blogs and
reiterating things we already knew weeks ahead instead of
properly utilizing the print medium to do something unique.
Changes in personnel and ownership aside, they were already
marching towards irrelevance. Even the covers suck now, but
you probably won't get the damn thing delivered on time
in order to find out.
16. Bloggers: Guilty as charged! Trifle few of us are
qualified to be writing about music with any authority,
especially since most of the people behind blogs
haven't been alive long enough to have a healthy
perspective on the subject. Although it can be argued that
record companies rely on blogs for buzz, most of the music
championed by popular websites is the same music that
would've gotten attention anyway. Also, we have to
point out that the commenting system has turned discussions
about music into an unholy war of "haters" versus
"stans", where everyone is an expert on what they
hate or love, but have no concept of anything else including
real life. Oh, and providing your readers with the URL to
full album leaks doesn't "help" the artist.
17. Youtube & Myspace: On the Internet, everyone is a
star (thank you, thank you). But while sites like Myspace
and Youtube can provide mainstream and indie musicians with
a means of cultivating and connecting with an audience, it
becomes a chore to sort through the muck of people with a
webcam and a login classifying themselves as
"artists". And damn you all to Hell for having
the crap you made in Grandma's basement on auto-play.
18. Singing Rappers, Acting Rappers & Rapping Athletes:
We'll keep this short. Every now and then you'll
happen upon someone that has been able to organically
transition from one career to another. Will and Latifah
come to mind. To everyone else (coughCurtiscough), stay in
your lane. Again, we don't begrudge anyone the chance
to make some extra ends; it just shouldn't be at the
expense of the audience.
19. The End of Real Singing Groups: Once upon a time, you
not only had singing groups that weren't put together
by a reality show, but wherein each member contributed a
distinct voice or purpose to the group. Sometimes they had
members that barely sang a note, but who actually produced
or wrote the song. Point is, throwing a bunch of strangers
in a house with one phone and giving them makeovers
doesn't create synergy. Also, name a recent singing
group that wasn't created for a television show or for
the purpose of launching someone's solo career.
Exactly.
20. "Kanyitis" is a temporary, yet frequent,
illness that afflicts singers and rappers alike, wherein an
artist waits until the precise moment they are in front of a
camera, microphone or reporter to say something shocking and
stupid, which will then be quoted by bloggers and searched
on Youtube ad nauseum. Then the artist has to explain what
they "really" meant, but by that time everyone
already thinks they're nuts and doesn't care about
a retraction.
21. Death of Aaliyah: Not that Aaliyah took an entire genre
of music with her to the grave, but it can be argued that
her passing made way for a wave of young, pretty dancers
with okay voices and no personality. Only difference
between them and Aaliyah is, Aaliyah had personality along
with talent, ideas and a willingness to experiment. Also,
she wasn't so full of herself.
22. Money: Even worse than artists releasing garbage
because they know it sells is the audience's obsession
with how much an artist makes. Unfortunately, we've
given lack of artistry a pass because someone's
"making that paper", which totally undermines the
hard work of true creative talents that are constantly
writing, recording, and performing. When I buy an album I
don't want to hear an entrepreneur, which brings us
to--
23. Products & Brands: Whether rappers and singers are
inserting the names of designer alcoholic beverages into
their lyrics or cable companies are inserting rappers and
singers in their ad campaigns, things come to a point where
we need to start realizing how owned these artists are.
There's a thin line between businessperson and
corporate slave. We'd also like to reiterate a fact
that has been pointed out time and time again over the past
10 years: If you can't pronounce it, why should we care
that you're wearing it, driving it, or drinking it?
24. People That Aren't in Any Way Associated with
Music: Opportunities in the industry are built on
connections and there's almost never been a time when
someone didn't rise to stardom on someone else's
coattails. But now, things have gotten way out of hand. Why
be an actual artist when you can be someone that danced in
videos, screwed a bunch of rappers and got a book deal? Or,
you can be a butler or Executive In Charge of
Umbrella-Carrying? Or, worse, be the "Fifth Mic"
guy on stage and reliable instigator? Who needs a recording
studio?
25. Teenagers: Young people have always had the power to
determine trends in all genres of music, which is why
corporations defer to them. However, today's teenagers
seem to be slightly more insipid than they were in previous
generations and definitely have a shorter attention span.
Whether it's the teens themselves driving the garbage
labels are releasing, or the labels that are leading teens
down a path of ignorance, is totally up for debate.
It's the chicken/egg question in its purest form.
Urban Network wants to get your input on this op-ed, send your responses to dmitchell@urbannetwork.com
