Is There More To Black Music Than Hip-Hop and R & B?
Most, of the hottest producers and artists are black. They are on our TV screens, in the clubs and on the radio 70% of the time. So naturally, most people are drawn to urban music. Historically, black musicians have created music that has influenced society in a way that is unparalleled.
However, I've started to wonder whether there is more to commercial black music then just Hip-Hop and R & B. Think about it. The only black musicians we see in the mainstream media are rappers or R & B singers.
Unfortunately, the truth is black artists are becoming very predictable, which means they are easily replaceable. You can never replace Tina, Aretha, Michael, Whitney or Prince. However, there will be another young black artist who can sing and pop to dance beats.
I am not saying those who do are not great at what they do. But... the more we listen to those artists, the more we will imitate them. Therefore, black musicians of tomorrow are not going to be as creative as black artists of yesterday.
Underground artists like Zion I and Slum Village are creatively superior to their commercial counterparts. Unfortunately, their voices are only being heard by people who seek out their music.If black music is gonna survive creatively, it needs to branch out and experiment with something new. Otherwise the death of Hip-Hop might signify the death of commercial black music as a whole.
However, I've started to wonder whether there is more to commercial black music then just Hip-Hop and R & B. Think about it. The only black musicians we see in the mainstream media are rappers or R & B singers.
Unfortunately, the truth is black artists are becoming very predictable, which means they are easily replaceable. You can never replace Tina, Aretha, Michael, Whitney or Prince. However, there will be another young black artist who can sing and pop to dance beats.
I am not saying those who do are not great at what they do. But... the more we listen to those artists, the more we will imitate them. Therefore, black musicians of tomorrow are not going to be as creative as black artists of yesterday.
Underground artists like Zion I and Slum Village are creatively superior to their commercial counterparts. Unfortunately, their voices are only being heard by people who seek out their music.If black music is gonna survive creatively, it needs to branch out and experiment with something new. Otherwise the death of Hip-Hop might signify the death of commercial black music as a whole.
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Or rather, as you hinted , 'underground'/less well known artists need to be recognized by the popular channels. For example, Capital fm and Choice radio are owned by the same company. On both radio channels they tend to repeat whatever is in the charts or 'mainstream' for their audiences.
ReplyDeleteThat is why BBC 1extra and radio 6 are v.v.important for black music as they have a mandate to recognize those artists.
I totally agree, but like I said the industry is run by people who don't care about creativity.
ReplyDeleteThey are only interested in money and are not willing to take a risk on new artists or new styles of music.
Which is a shame.
Black artists also make drum & bass, dubstep, house, techno and a ton of other genres, the US mainstream just avoids the knowledge of this. They only play what sells, and what the money is behind. Labels won't move anything forward because they make to much money as is. Stop buying pop.
ReplyDeletexcuse It's not just the US but the UK aswell. We have a very talented artist soul artist called Adele over here who has just broken a UK pop record.
ReplyDeleteEven though I am a fan I think its a shame that black artists in the same genre are slept on.