What happened to the music? This is a question that I ask myself almost on a daily basis. I sincerely try to listen and get into the current musical landscape but I can't seem to get a connection to anything that remotely challenges or excites me. I'm not going to blame hiphop entirely for my dilemma....just partly. It pains me to think that I can't find the next Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder or Prince amongst today's artists but then the corporate structure is not exactly willing to invest in musical talent as it once did. In my estimation, Black music was the first casualty in the war against good music. No one seems to notice that we really do not have bands anymore in the Black music category. The only ones that come to mind in the modern era are Mint Condition, The Roots and Robert Randolph's Family Band. Well, actually let me rephrase that....more bands come to mind if you count the brief popularity of neo-soul during the mid-nineties but without corporate and public support, that glimmer of hope has fallen by the wasteside.
It has been stated before that hiphop came into prominence because of the cutting of school music programs dating back to the mid 1970s which I am inclined to believe. But now we are at least two generations removed from learning music theory and playing instruments and the seams are starting to burst. Even if you evaluate hiphop closely, generation Y discusses music in terms of fashion, cd sales and violence and not lyrical dexterity or content. What is going on and how can this be turned around? I think I may have some answers which I will address in my next entry. Meanwhile check out the clip below and remember how things used to be:
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