Importance of Music

I bn listening to a lot of people who either like or hate Justin Bieber and various others like Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus and so on. It got me thinking what it is i like and hate about their music and i have to say much of it i dislike, it made me start comparing them with the music i grew up listening and analyzing why i like what i like.  I started listening to music due to my uncles listening to the radio while working on their cars, they would listen to old rock like Creedence Clearwater, Eric Clapton and so on. It was good music at least to me at the time since it was all i knew. As i got older i started to listen to rap not b/c i liked it but b/c it was everywhere it was new and people wanted to listen to bands like NWA, Beasty Boys, at 1st i didnt like it much b/c they were very negative and i didnt like what they had to say. Later on i started to listen to the lyrics and realized that the people were singing about their lives and problems with society what i saw as being negative was anger and desperation for a need of change, that is when i began to listen more carefully and began enjoying the music and saw it more then entertainment.   I like everyone else also heard and listen to MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice,  i tolerated it and listen to it more for laughs then for legitimate music enjoyment, knowing that there was a market for what i thought at the time was drivel.
 
But what really got my attention to music was when Snoop Dog, Tupac and Dre came out, it was like all their songs had something to say and wasnt out  just to sing nonsense rhymes that fit the beat. that is when i really started to listen to music and began to understand how my uncles felt about rock and oldie music of their time, how they would tell me the old singers and music had something to say and was more then music but a message for change for the establishment. That is how i saw Tupac and Snoop dog they sung about the hardship of life of growing up poor in the ghetto and being raised by a single mother and so on, this was something real not made up to sell CD's and it was something i could relate to. It was something i felt the rest of the United States needed to hear of what happens in inner cities and police corruption and so on.  This was music with a message even though many did not and still do not want to hear.
 
Now that time has passed there are no more rappers with anything meaningful to say most often you cant even understand what the guy or girl has to say and can barely make out a shout out to Tupac in their songs as they equate themselves to him while singing about clubs and bling. You have Suburbia kids using the rap genre to sing about party on the weekends and kissing boys while dressing nice, they pay certain people money to show up in their video to solidify and attract listeners. That is fine to an extend i think music needs to grow and it shouldnt belong to one group or type of people but the problem i have is that a lot of the music is like this turning a blind eye to the harshness of the world something that old rappers did not shy away from. 
 
We even have a term for it, "Candy Rap" it is what you hear on the radio marketed for a select group of people and even goin as far to block other performers by buying airtime and crowding others from radio and TV media. I think that is a shame b/c there is a lot more problems in the world that others are willing to talk about but are not given the chance, this is music that could easily topple those who are currently being marketed from the Lady Gaga's the Justin Biebers and Miley Cyrus if given the same level of exposure. I am not a conspiracist by any means but one  cannot deny that the news of today has drastically changed from what it once was, now it focuses more on entertainment then news and some channels have the nerve to market it that way. 
 
 
There are news organizations who will refuse to interview certain celebrities and even edit the content of a broadcast b/c of the controversial views one person may have. Now imagine if a singer rapped about politics of a country, Religion, and was muslim, can you not see why one would not wish to televise such a person? Instead they run to the celebrity that is adorable barely out of his tweens with nothing important to say asking him if he has a GF yet, or when is he gonna learn to drive?
 
We have forgotten that music cannot only entertain us but that it was once used by the youth of a nation and disfranchised  to show dissatisfaction toward the current government and yes even effect change with it's powerful lyrics. We need to remember that music once had soul, feeling and told a story from the slaves in the underground railroad, to the blues, Rock, Rap, R&B, and it was not always meaningless lyrics and to that end i would like to share this man, Brother Ali: 
    

Way to be philosophical. 

Way to be philosophical. 

@castleking: Whatever you want it to be.. 

 
Odd Future Wolf Gang is making a movement for Rap/Hip Hop. When I first heard Tyler the Creator's Bastard, I got chills literally. If you haven't heard of the group, they receive negative mainstream criticism for their unconventional lyrics. They talk about Atheism, violence, sex, other artist, daily life. . . they basically talk about the atmosphere around them more so than what's trending on the radio.   
Tyler the Creator
  

When I let my brother and one of his friends listen to Tyler, they were horrified. They watched the Yonkers video and spazzed out. Then I showed them another video by Earl, another member of the OF collective. They watched wide eyed glancing at me every once in a while like, "WTF you listen to this crazy sh#t? "  
 

i do not think it is meaningful in anyway at least to me nor does it have the emotions and relevance that i described in my blog. 
but, to each their own even more so in todays variety of genre

Lol nice thread I feel the same way about some of today's music...