Rappin' Rap - a black musician speaks out

[Seabiscuit]

Received this in my e-mail inbox from a jazz musician friend who put together a group that played at my wedding:

> What the F**k Happened to Black Popular Music?
> By Kenny Drew, Jr.
> April 6, 2006
>
> I've decided to add this section to my website as a vehicle to
> express my views on various topics, musical and otherwise, that
> have been on my mind lately. You may wonder why I'm talking about
> popular music in this first installment, since I am generally
> thought of as a "jazz" musician. However, anyone who knows me knows
> that my tastes in music are very eclectic (as are
> those of most jazz musicians, quiet as it's kept). In fact when I
> started my career as a professional musician, I was not playing
> jazz. I started out playing in R&B groups and Top-40 bands. We only
> played jazz if the club was almost empty! The 60s - 80s was such an
> incredible time for all styles of popular music, but for the sake
> of this discussion I will concentrate specifically on black music
> (or rhythm-and-blues, or funk, or whatever the hell you want to
> call it).
>
> Recently, I've been listening to a lot of my favorite music from
> that time, and to be honest, I am disgusted and sickened at how far
> our music has declined in the quality of the music and its message.
> How the hell did we get from Motown to Death Row; from Earth Wind &
> Fire to Ludacris; from Luther Vandross to 50Cent?
>
> I remember a time in our music when songs had great melodies and
> chord changes, you actually had to be able to sing or play an
> instrument to become a musician, and Michael Jackson was black!
> It's a sad commentary on our culture and society when the biggest
> thing in popular music is an ex-crack dealer whose claim to fame is
> being shot nine times, and one of the greatest
> entertainers in the world was on trial for child molestation. If
> that's not a sign of the coming Apocalypse, I don't know what is!
> And if 50Cent was really shot nine times, why couldn't one of those
> bullets have hit a vital organ? Who the fuck was shooting at him:
> Stevie Wonder? And as far as all these black rappers getting shot,
> how about a little equal opportunity violence here? Can't somebody
> pop a cap in Eminem's white ass?
>
> Another issue in the decline of music today is the stupidity and
> negativity in the lyrics and the video images that accompany this
> so-called "music". I recently discovered that there is now a form
> of rap called "coke rap", in which the lyrics deal mainly with the
> sale, distribution and use of cocaine and crack. I find it
> offensive that any record company would try to make a profit from
> glorifying something that has decimated the black community the way
> that crack has. I hope that one day while 50Cent is lounging by the
> pool in his humongous mansion surrounded by beautiful groupies, he
> might consider how many lives were ruined by the poison he used to
> sell, and how many more lives will be potentially damaged by the
> musical poison he's selling now.
> There's a video by Ludacris that I've seen of a song called "Act a
> Fool". All I can remember about the video is that there were a lot
> of shots of him and his boys running from the cops. Don't we have
> enough young black men running around acting like fools without
> some idiot rapper encouraging it? (But then again, Ludacris
> probably makes more money in one month than I'll make in my entire
> life as a jazz musician. So who's the idiot here? Maybe it's me!)
> Remember when the lyrics in our music spoke of love or the loss of
> love? Who can forget the uplifting messages of peace, hope and
> spirituality in the lyrics of Earth Wind & Fire? Or the social
> consciousness and protest messages in the lyrics of Gil Scott-Heron
> and Marvin Gaye? How the hell did we get from "Just to be Close to
> You Girl" to "Back That Ass Up Bitch"? How the hell did we get from
> "What's Goin' On" and "You Haven't Done Nothin' " to "Me So Horny"
> and "My Hump"?
>
> Last, but not least, it's time to address the musical quality of
> this bullshit, or more accurately, the lack of it. Way back when,
> when I first started studying music I was told that music had to
> consist of three elements: melody, harmony and rhythm. Rap music
> (an oxymoron similar to "military intelligence "or "jumbo shrimp")
> has basically discarded the first two elements and is left with
> nothing but rhythm.
>
> Since only one element of music is present in most of this crap it
> doesn't even justify being called music. Our culture has been
> dumbed down to the point where your average dumb-ass American
> can't tell the difference between a truly great musician and
> somebody who's been studying their instrument for a week. Playing a
> musical instrument at a high level is no longer a
> well-respected skill in our society. (I'm not 100% sure that it
> ever really was.) In fact, to be honest, I think that most of the
> students in music schools today who are studying jazz and classical
> music are wasting their fucking time and their parents' money!
> (Boy, am I gonna get in trouble for saying this!) Why spend all
> that time mastering an instrument when you can just get a drum
> machine and a microphone, write some asinine lyrics about bitches,
> ho's and pimps and make a ton of money? Sometimes I wonder whether
> I'm wasting my time in this cesspool called the music industry.
> These days it seems like the only way to make any serious money in
> music is to produce some bullshit that doesn't even sound like music!
>
> So what's the solution here? Damned if I know! But I did see an
> encouraging story on the news recently. A billboard advertising
> 50Cent's new movie was put up in a black neighborhood not far from
> a school. In the billboard 50Cent is seen with his heavily tattooed
> back to the camera with his arms outstretched in a crucifix-like
> pose with a microphone in one hand and a gun in the other.
> Understandably, the community was outraged. They held protests, got
> some media coverage, and eventually succeeded in getting the movie
> company to remove the billboard. I say that we use this as a model
> nationwide.
>
> I propose a nationwide boycott of rap music; perhaps by picketing
> in front of record company offices and major record store chains.
> Anybody remember the "Disco Sucks" movement in the 70s? Maybe it's
> time for a "Rap Sucks" movement now. Who's with me here? (Actually,
> looking back on the disco era, that music sounds like Beethoven in
> comparison to the rap garbage that's poisoning our airwaves now!)
> Maybe we could have a big "Rap Sucks" rally somewhere. (As long as
> it doesn't escalate into a riot like the "Disco Sucks" one did.)

So who is Kenny Drew? I'm so glad you asked:

http://www.jayweb.com/kennydrew/bio.html

[Selatius]

1. It was corporate greed that hijacked their music for its own profit

The entire music industry is now dominated by four multinational corporations. If you want to know why so much garbage is on the radio nowadays, you can ask the corporations that put up the money to make that garbage that is in radio circulation every day.

Greed is this country's worst sin.

[Seabiscuit]

2. Good point. Maybe if you could name for me the four corporations

I could get the message back to Mr. Drew and he could organize "rap sucks" rallies at their corporate headquarters in front of the media.

[Selatius]

4. These are the big four, which control 75% of the market:

• Universal Music Group ($7 billion revenue), which includes A&M, Decca/London, Deutsche Grammophon, Island/Def Jam, MCA, Motown, Philips, Rampagge, and others;
  
• Sony BMG Music Entertainment ($5 billion), which includes American Columbia, Epic, Arista, Jive, Ravenous, J, RCA and others;
  
• EMI Group ($4 billion), which includes Angel, Blue Note, Capitol, European Columbia, Elektrola, Odeon, Parlophone, Pathé Marconi, Virgin, Positiva and others;
  
• Warner Music Group (a.k.a. WEA) ($2.5 billion), which includes Asylum, Elektra, Erato, Atlantic, Sire, Sub Pop (49% Warner ownership), Reprise, Rhino and others.
  


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_record_labels

[Seabiscuit]

7. Thanks - I'll forward it on... n/t

[IndyOp]

5. The corporations enable, but the people making this 'music' are the

ones who are allowing the outrageous decline in quality. White and black musicians who create quick turn-around, sensationalized, sex-overloaded, sexist, druggie, racist "entertainment" have got to re-discover their souls. Making music, listening to music like this brings us down.

Compare two songs with "STAND" in the title - the first by Ludacris (modern) and the second by Sly & the Family Stone (classic).

STAND UP by Ludacris


Stand up! Stand up!
Stand up! Stand up!


When I move you move (just like that?)
When I move you move (just like that?)
When I move you move (just like that?)
Hell yeah! Hey DJ bring that back!
(When I move you move) just like that?
(When I move you move) just like that?
(When I move you move) just like that?
(Hell yeah, Hey DJ bring that back!)


How you ain't gon' FUCK! bitch out me?
I'm the GOD DAMN reason you in VIP
CEO you don't have to see ID
I'm young, wild, and strapped like Chi-Ali
BLAOW! We ain't got nothing to worry about
Whoop ass, let security carry em out
Watch out for the medallion my diamonds are wreckless
Feels like a MIDGET is hanging from my neckless
I pulled up wit a million trucks
Looking, smelling, feeling like a million bucks-ahh!
Pass the bottles, the heat is on
We in the huddle all smoking that Cheech & Chong
What's wrong?! The club and moon is full
And I'm lookin for a THICK young lady to pull
One sure shot way to get em outta them pants
Take note to the brand new dance, like this

STAND by Sly & The Family Stone

Stand
In the end you'll still be you
One that's done all the things you set out to do
Stand
There's a cross for you to bear
Things to go through if you're going anywhere
Stand
For the things you know are right
It s the truth that the truth makes them so uptight
Stand
All the things you want are real
You have you to complete and there is no deal
Stand. stand, stand
Stand. stand, stand
Stand
You've been sitting much too long
There's a permanent crease in your right and wrong
Stand
There's a midget standing tall
And the giant beside him about to fall
Stand. stand, stand
Stand. stand, stand
Stand
They will try to make you crawl
And they know what you're saying makes sense and all
Stand
Don't you know that you are free
Well at least in your mind if you want to be

Everybody
Stand, stand, stand

[Seabiscuit]

8. Good contrast - pretty much spells out the whole problem.

[B3Nut]

30. Ayup.

Ludacris is ludicrous. Sly stone could fart and outdo that moronic blather. And "Stand" by Sly&Fam actually has CHORD CHANGES and MELODY! It actually MOVES! Actually, the changes are pretty damn brilliant in that tune, it's one of my all-time faves ("Stand" by Sly & The Family Stone and "In A Gadda Da Vida" by Iron Butterfly were my first rock records...at the age of 3. No wonder I'm messed up! :D )

STAND! <horn hit> Na na na na na na na na, na naaaaaaaaaaa!

Todd in Beerbratistan

[Seabiscuit]

33. "Beerbratistan"? Where's that?

Sounds like a suburb of Munich.

[B3Nut]

36. Wisconsin

home of beer and brats (and lots of cheese! we are the dairy state after all!) :D

Just a pet name...I sometimes call it Cheesecurdistan after the fried cheese curds we Wisconsinites eat too many of.... ;)

Todd in Beerbratistan

[Seabiscuit]

37. OK - that makes sense!

And Green Bay Packers fans are from Cheeseheadistan?

[B3Nut]

38. Pretty much!

:D

[ALago1]

3. It's not just "black" popular music that sucks

"White" popular music isn't anything to write home about either. The good news is that with access to the internet and cheaper recording technology becoming readily available, I think we're slowly but surely seeing the music industry becoming more democratized so that the decisionmaking isn't in the hands of some money-hungry execs looking out not for artistic merit but rather the bottom line.

So, if the writer of this essay just did some minimal digging, he'd find some really great music out there right now...and there is plenty of reason to be optimistic too for reasons I just stated...

[Seabiscuit]

21. True... as Kenny Drew pointed out:

"...how about a little equal opportunity violence here? Can't somebody
pop a cap in Eminem's white ass?"

[rocktivity]

6. "Why spend all that time mastering an instrument

when you can just get a drum machine and a microphone...These days it seems like the only way to make any serious money in music is to produce some bullshit..."

From a financial standpoint, the drum machine and microphone are your only real overhead, as opposed to two or three guitars, keyboards, studio time and a drum set. The rest you can invest in bling rather than touring.

Also, rap is more user-friendly. You don't need a great singing voice or instrumental talent--it carries the promise that anyone in the right place at the right time with the right producer has a chance to make it. I've passed many a young man in the street who appeared to be talking to himself, but was acutally practicing his rap. The flip side of that coin is that longevity is very hard to come by--but for the record labels, that's just as well.

Another factor is that today's popular music is now such a visual phenomenon. Video DID kill the radio star--music you HAD to listen to was replaced by six-pack abs and sultry closeups. Rap took took to video like a duck to water, churning out mini-fantasies of youngbloods ruling the streets, befuddling the cops, mastering the ladies, and raking in the cash. Bad hip-hop is the ultimate example of instant gratification.

:headbang:
rocknation

[IndyOp]

10. Rap as a spoken/rhythmic/folk creation is great --

Leave it for the street musicians and for people with at least as much talent as Snoop Doggy Dogg --

Much of what is currently parading as 'rap music' is disgusting.

On Edit: As an example of what I mean by 'disgusting' see the Ludacris' lyrics above in this thread...

[wordpix2]

9. my friend (white) is very talented musician, singer-songwriter, plays

guitar, violin, harmonica, all very well. Barely ekes out a living with all that talent. He's written several songs that knock people over they're so great. But he can barely make a living, mostly he does that doing children's programs and bday parties.

SAD

[Aimah]

11. Why would you do a Rap Sucks movement?

In part I agree with him although I'm probably a lot younger than him. I'm a child of the 80s having been born in 79 but I have older siblings some that may be about your age so I grew up listing to music of those older than me. I love rap music I can safely say that I've spent several thousand dollars over the years just on Cd's ( I'm older and wiser now I don't spend as much and lime wire is my friend). I can no longer listen to the radio. They play the same lame misogynistic and glorifying drugs, money, and jewelry. It's as if every rapper is rapping about the same things that no one can afford to buy. Even they don't buy the cars and jewelry they have in their videos. That being said, I buy Cd's of the rappers that I want to support. Mos Def, The Roots, K-Os,Dead Prez, Kumasi, Little Brother.

One thing I have to realize also is that maybe my time has passed. Maybe I'm the old person that hates all of the new forms of music. I still support rap I just don't care for what's being focused on.

[Dogmudgeon]

12. We've got the price of everything, but the value of nothing

There's a couple of musicians who are the saving grace of hip-hop, as in any genre. But it's not just the corporations' fault for the decline in art. We Americans have come to disdain anything that isn't practical, remunerative, and given a fresh coat of phony empiricism. Anything else is for fools, losers, and hippies.

We're paying for it now, too, as human life has no value, but each "ass" has a price.

The good news is that it can't last. The bad news is that it could be ended by mass cultural suicide. Kenny Drew could easily end up playing for an audience of one with his dying breath. Our music, our art, our literature, each are microcosms of our culture and its current malaise -- and in recent decades, it seems that all we have is malaise. Weltschmertz, the old school existentialists and romanticists called it. World-Ache.

Mr. Drew still has his heart and his soul intact, and probably also learned early how to use his head. That's a rare combination these days. He will always be worth listening to, both as a musician and as a polemicist. And as a man. It's worth aspiring to.

--p!

[Seabiscuit]

17. Well put!

[YouthInAsia]

13. If you guys wanna hear real POLITICAL hip hop/rap, listen

to Immortal TEchnique. All he talks about is injustice, racism and politics. Hee's fantastically talented. But you wil never ever ever ever EVER hear him on the radio or see him on MTV/BET. NO CHANCE. He's too "controversial" aka he doesnt talk about money, cars, girls and diamonds. I havent listened to the radio in years. I now download everything I need to hear BEFORE I buy it. There is quality, informative rap music (rap is supposed to be about reportin what you see going in around you) but you'll never hear it played publically.

[Seabiscuit]

45. When I grew up folk music was the main medium for protest songs.

Even if Immortal Technique was played on the radio I might have a hard time adjusting.

I think the author of the article was mainly concerned with the kind of Rap that *is* played on the radio.

[Kahuna]

14. Here here my brother!!!

:toast:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. The blame goes to white-owned music production companies, who

have chosen to promote some of these nihilistic, crime-glorifying, and misogynistic performers.

I've seen kids rapping live (at transit stops in Portland), and it's definitely a skill. But the music producers could be promoting the political and positive rappers and hip-hop performers instead of those who act as if their job is to encourage crime, violence, and ignorance.

[Jed Dilligan]

16. I think he's talking about the whole world,

not the music. If the music sucks it reflects the culture; you can't blame the sucky culture on the music, that's ridiculous.

The author wants to see an anti-rap backlash and cites the death of disco. "Yo," what came after disco? Rap, right? Didn't we start hearing Grandmaster Flash et al. right after those disco sucks riots (which seemed to suggest a permanent enthroning of stadium mullet rock)? I imagine the author would rather hear Donna Summer than Run-DMC. So what would be the point of "rap sucks"? It would probably lead to the emergence of some form of music where guys urinated on sound equipment until one of them was electrocuted, or something.

I liked the article, it was funny, but the author should be open to rap music, a lot of it's good, just as a lot of 60s to 80s pop was BAD and not in the badical sense.

[OneBlueSky]

18. someone once asked Ray Charles if he ever listened to rap . . .

"No," he replied, "because I can't learn anything from it." . . .

[Seabiscuit]

20. Smokey Robinson commented

in Las Vegas where I saw him perform a couple of years ago at the Paris Hotel/Casino, that he thought they should take the "music" word off the "rap" word: "rap isn't music".

I don't think any singers/songwriters from the Motown era hold "rap" in much esteem.

[wordpix2]

41. and for good reason! Although I do like some of Eminem

[suffragette]

19. Every era has its share of good and bad music

And each generation will have a special place in its heart for the music you listened to when you were younger. This artist names incredible artists from years past, but I remember there were plenty of forgettable songs and artists from then. There seemed to be a whole genre of Astrology themed hits for awhile.
And there are some very talented artists playing now, some in rap, some in other forms, some mixing it up. Some have been around awhile like Queen Latifah and others are newcomers like Kanye West. I guess Common fits somewhere in between the two timewise.
I realize he focuses on rap, but he also generalizes about the overall decline quite a bit. What about Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott, Alicia Keys, John Legend? They are maikng some incredible and indelible music. I imagine in the future, they will still be listened to and compared to andd contrasted against whatever the "new sound" is.

[rocktivity]

31. I saw poor Alicia on an awards show

she was great, but they just HAD to stick in some rappers and dancers. I guess the show's producers feared that the sight of just her, her piano, and her music onstage wasn't interesting enough in this music video age.

Meanwhile, Britney Spears canceled one of her tours due to a knee injury. A throat injury I can understand, but why couldn't she put on a long dress, sit on a stool, and sing? Because she sees herself as worthless without her dance moves? A Barbara Streisand or an Aretha Franklin wouldn't have canceled a concert because they couldn't spend it on their feet--and hopefully, Alicia wouldn't, either.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Seabiscuit]

34. Mary Travers *doesn't* let her bad knees stop her from performing.

I saw her in 1964 live and again two years ago - 40 years later. Peter, Paul & Mary were young the first time. Mary Travers had to be helped on and off her stool stage with her cane the second time.

Aw... poor Bwittany.

[rocktivity]

35. Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora is performing with a fractured upper arm

He's wearing a light cast under his shirt, and his guitar strap over his opposite shoulder. But he's performing.



:headbang:
rocknation

[baby_mouse]

22. WELL SAID, THAT MAN!

:toast: :yourock: :woohoo: :applause:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

23. I posted about a similar topic the other day:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=901342&mesg_id=901685

You'd think an overlooked musician like Drew would dig deeper into rap music and find the good stuff (see link above), especially considering other uninformed people might consider crap like Kenny G "jazz" instead of artists like Drew himself.

BTW, Kenny Drew, Jr.'s father, Kenny Sr., played the piano on John Coltrane's "Blue Train," among other things.
:thumbsup:

[laruemtt]

24. for another viewpoint:

down here in st. lucia the government / parents do NOT want rap coming onto the island (although it's already here, just in very small doses). they decry the criminality and mysoginy it endorses with its words. besides, how on earth can "rap music" begin to compare musically with the reggae, soca and calypso we hear all day and night here, taking your heart and making it glad to be beating?! :)

[Kaylee]

25. In what category do you put dancehall.......

I've heard dancehall that can rival anything 2LiveCrew has written. ;)
(edited to add - Admit it, there are some calypso songs that could make you blush too!)

[laruemtt]

28. dh is jamaican, and

he's got a great music library. i tell ya, there's a reason everybody walks around with a smile in the islands!

[wordpix2]

43. Hi, St. Lucia---beautiful place

[LWolf]

26. I agree.

Maybe we can "dig deeper" and find someone playing this genre that's "better."

Of course, that's not who my middle school students are listening to. They're growing up fans of crime, violence, mysogyny, and aggression. If I have to "dig deeper" to find it, they aren't going to hear it.

Isn't rap all about aggression? Getting in someone's face, "winning" a verbal battle? Is there any rap about peace, love, harmony, and understanding?

I can sort of imagine someone using movement, rythm, and spoken words as an art form, to express something in a constructive way. I've just never heard it. At this point in the evolution of rap, when I hear "Rap," I think "bully-glorifying ugly/hate speech."

[Seabiscuit]

32. I wouldn't have the stomach or fortitude to "dig deeper" anyway

Think of all the crap you'd be covered with on the way down. And what's at the bottom? A love song? I doubt it. If it's got melody and harmony, it's not "rap" anyway. And if it doesn't, it isn't music, as Mr. Drew has said.

[Chovexani]

27. There is still good music out there, in every genre

You are just not going to see it on (e)M(p)TV or hear it on your local ClearChannel station.

[lildreamer316]

29. THANK you.

My husband and I both work in a nightclub. 'nuff said.

[FredScuttle]

39. A look back at critical movements in popular music

1950's: Rock Sucks (sponsored by Mitch Miller and the Concerned White Citizens Council)
1960's: Psychedelic Rock Sucks (sponsored by Art Linkletter and the Rev. Billy Sol Hargis)
1970's: Disco Sucks (sponsored by every Neanderthal, Homophobe, Racist Rock Guy)
1980's: Hard Rock Sucks (sponsored by the PMRC)
1990's: Grunge Rock Sucks (sponsored by all the Hard Rock guys put out to pasture thanks to the PMRC)
2000's: Rap Sucks (sponsored by noted urban musicologists Bill O'Reilly and Stanley Crouch)

The lesson from all these campaigns? They have as much impact as a fart in the wind.

If you don't like a particular genre of music, here's a clue...DON'T LISTEN TO IT. TURN THE RADIO. PUT ON A COLTRANE CD AND CHILL THE FUCK OUT.

This sentiment of "this style of art doesn't appeal to me, so therefore I must prevent anyone from enjoying it" is insane. Who the hell is this guy to declare what is music and what isn't? I like some hip-hop and am pretty clueless about the rest...but there's good and bad in every style of music. Are we to ban country music because of Billy Ray Cyrus and Carrie Underwood?

Nothing promotes a style of popular music more than by telling kids how dangerous it is.

[Buddyblazon]

40. I went to school for Classical Guitar.

What a waste of time. Hours and hours and hours holed up in either a practice room at school or my abode.

Just to get out and realize...nobody gives a rats ass about classical music. Sure, I can sight read. Sure I learned how to resolve a seventh chord. Sure I honed my pedagological skills.

But it doesn't matter. Nobody in the states wants to hear classical guitar. I wish I had studied Jazz more. But even though it's called the "True American Art Form"...nobody cares about Jazz either. The only bonus would've been upping my soloing skills.

Now I owe numerous student loans...and I am NOT a working musician. I make my money in ways...NOT making music. And only a handful of my fellow students are making money making music...and they're scraping by.

My one suggestion to anybody considering it...unless you have tons of money to throw away...stay away from music school.

[wordpix2]

42. don't give it up, you're probably great. You'll use your skills for some-

thing related to music.

You could always try playing bday parties just to get by, my friend makes about $250/party, depending on how far he travels, how long they want him to perform and so on.

[Seabiscuit]

44. For what's it worth, I love classical guitar.

But there's really no financial future for students of classical guitar. It's really sad, considering the crap the big corps market today and call "music".