As this is a forum for discussion, and not simply for listing what music you happen to like the best, I have a few conundrums I would like people to help me out with.
As R&B and Hip-Hop is the current popular music of the moment I would like to ask, how has a genre of music with such noble and artistic roots degraded into what it is today? I realize that the answer is largely capitalism as the same thing happened with metal years ago... Glam Rock bands flying at us from every angle during the 80's but I don't remember anything quite like what we have now.
I have chose Four relatively popular songs (as in the got substantial enough radio and T.V. play to have been brought to my attention which is somewhat impressive as i don't tend to listen to this genre at all) to display for your consideration.
Exhibit A: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zaH4lEWSD4
(please excuse the Youtube links, :\)
This song is sadly the LEAST ridiculous and over the top of my examples, but the Champagne bottle imagery, the amazing degradation of women AND men, and the idea that any women would like to hear "Wait till you see my dick hey Bitch." or "Imma Beat that pussy up" i find unbelievable
Exhibit B: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKIwnd3VbVs
Ok, The reference to childhood candy obviously brings a somewhat humorous nostalgia, and the linking it to various womens sexual parts and acts brings that into the insane. Though i have been assure that this song is good to "grind" to, but I can't figure out how, as there is a total of 6 main beats, which (at the risk of angering video game music fans) sound like they came out of a NES sound chip.
Exhibit C: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid= ... 1850412350
Oh My sister heard this on the radio at her work and showed it to me, I as many of you may or may not know, collect really strange and often "musically" horrible songs that i find so ridiculously bad they amuse me, and the "chipmunk" voice at the beginning of this otherwise standard R&B track always has me laughing ... then I watched the video... This guy was serious after all ... :\
Exhibit D: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid= ... 8858812413
I can't describe how incredibly odd it is to see a rapper sing about how awesome his jewelry is in front of an ice cream truck. at the end of the video, just to make sure you portray a good image of your own culture you show the children thieving from the ice cream truck driver while he is distracted by a prostitute looking (I'm assuming relative of some form)
My questions are,
Are these people trying to be taken seriously?
Are they being taken seriously? Or is their popularity some form of mass joke?
Do people actually think this is "cool"
Do people inside of that culture realize how insanely ludicrous this all is and are asking themselves WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?
I would like to end with not a rap but a spoken word Video I had found, discussing Popular Rap culture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTPNwkEjD7Y

