Excerpts from a Diary

Musically Challenged

I spent the better part of today listening and watching music videos online. I can't say that I was a hardcore (if that is possible) fan of R&B and Hip Hop but what I saw and heard today was enough to make that a definite no!!!

Do you realize how much of what is produced, published and aired sounds like the same thing over and over? With the exception of artists like Jill Scott (whose music seems to be a direct reflection of her) I can't find anyone out there that had made and developed their own sound.

Take for example the American Idol craze that all of America dialing up a storm on their mobile phone. Fantasia won...great but I previewing her album today and I did not get the point of all that fussy. She sound a whole lot better when she was singing other people's music (no offense to her fans, I heard the woman blow and she was amazing in comparison to the other contestants) but let's be honest - is she any different from what is already out there?

I am just not impressed. All I have seen so far just convinces me that we have evolved into a new era...we keep recycling the same thing. Am I supposed to believe that if Kanye West or Snoop Dogg makes a cameo appearance in your music video or on your album and says "YEAH" three or four times you are the new "hotness". I am tired of see these "celebrities" sitting in a dark corner during the jump shots of music videos nodding to the music, bling bling and skanks in tote, that the upcoming artist have got it made. I was enduring one today and I saw Kanye West pull of his hoodie and say "Kanye West is in this one" or something to that effect (don't quote me directly) and throughout the video he says a few lines, while the lead singer - a young black woman in her mid-twenties - thirties wiggled and jiggled her way down the sidewalk in hot pants. I was floored. I mean, was Kanye's appearance coupled with her red weave, halter top and hotpants supposed to distract us from the obvious lack of talent. Has the music industry, this "industry" that so many have crooned about in basement freestyles and demo tapes, reduced itself to cameos and hotpants.

What is with the female artists that must appear in their videos - breast, thigh and leg on display, rotissarie chicken for oogling fans? I was really embarassed to see artists (those that actually have talent) go from tasteful costume selections to simply tasteless. I saw one artist cover herself in what appeared to be oil and roll around on a revolving platform, while lipsyncing her lyrics. I figured she had to concentrated on not falling off the platform - I immediately referenced that scene in Flashdance where she empties water on herself while performing on stage. But that was a movie, the character was dancing for money and the joint was seedy...I guess there must be no difference.

I am at a lost. I can't keep replaying the oldies and as I continue my quest for "good music" I can't shake the feeling that we have done all that we can, Hip-Hop-Honeys and Rap-Thugs and R&B-Lovers have come to the end of their "creative" ropes. When, as a single black female born in the eighties, I am constantly suprised when the remix of an album debuts at the top of the charts and the orignal has not been heard. Can someone please direct me to the orignal version of Usher's "Yeah (the remix)"?

posted by Onika @ 2:51 PM