Music Needs To Wake And Smell The Coffee

It’s true, music today sucks.  At least for me but I need more that scond hand lyrics about how rich and hot some one is.  It’s just repetitive and stupid, music needs a revolution of sorts and with the enormous amounts of cash flowing in, I’m sure that it won’t be the artists bringning it about. No. It has to be us at home listening to our ipods and records who have to take a stand and say “You know what Redheadedyeti is right this music has no soul and no values!” We have to make it known that we won’t buy this music just because the media tells us we should.  I’m not trying to take stabs at people who actually like today’s music, in fact power to you, that’s your choice but I guarantee most people don’t really like some of the music on their mp3’s, they just ahve it because it’s trendy and 5 months down the road they’ll be listening to something else.  It has to be use the consumers who need to install the change otherwise it won’t happen.

Breaking Hip Hop Stereotypes

There are stereotypes everywhere and for eveything that you could possibly imagine.  This is also true of hip hop, and many people may avoid an artist or group wimply because of their name.  A perfect example of this is the Geto Boys.  While yes the name does reveal quite a bit about the group, it is also misleading.  The Geto Boys have in particular one song which is a perfect example of breaking the stereotype their name suggests.  The song is called “Time Taker”, and while there are elements of a Ghetto mentality in it that’s not what the song is about.  It describes a murder and how the man who commited the murder feels after, and the regret that plagues his mind every second of every day.  In the song you can hear the regret and pain and although it employs stereotypical events, it also breakes the stereotypes.

Detecting Hip Hop’s Roots In Poetry

Well if you’re listening to any of the artists I’ve recommended in previous posts, then you will definitely understand what I mean.  Hip Hop has an undeniable root in poetry and after listening to good artists it’s easy to see why that is.  Aside from the poetic devices employed in Hip Hop teh easiest way to identify poetry is to simply listen tothe lyrics and metaphors thatr the artists has used. It’s hard to describe this and the easiest way is t show you songs.

Black Star: \”Respiration\”

Black Star\: \”Thieves In The Night\”

Another make up assignment

This time I’m not going to continue the on-going story of my friend’s emotional status and how our little group is doing; instead I’m goign to touch on the importance of the beat in hip hop.  A beat is everything, the way the beat goes directly impacts the way the song sounds and the tone of the song.  There are a multitude of different beats that can be used ranging from fast pace beats which utilize the procrussion of the drum to create an appealing tchtchtch sound.  This is often used by mainstream artists and in my opinion doesnt sound good at all. Other beats include a large volume of bass.  These songs are usually by hardcore gangsters such as Biggie Smalls, Tupac, or Geto Boys.  Then there are beats that use a mild bass and others which use background music and sounds in combination of little bass in order to create a different sound.  The artists who use this method often include strings, piano or other instraments, a good example of these artists is Uknown Prophets.  All in all the beat is very important the basic beat and bassline can differentiate between sub-genres of hip hop and to a trained ear make all the difference in a quality beat.

Sub-Genres of Hardcore

In hip hop most would catagorize the genre into three sections: Mainstream, softcore/underground, and hardcore.  Each of these sections has many sub-genres and these mostly depend on your area, whether it’s a difference of city, state, coast, country or hemisphere.  That’s why you have Eastcoast vs. Westcoast rap and how ypu will find French rap different to British or North American.  one of these sections is hardcore.  Now in hardcore you have mainly underground and death rap.  Both are technically underground and most hardcore rappers are death rappers and it’s a very fine line between the two.  Quite often these labels are not put on artists but are rather done song by song.  One song can be hardcore underground and another could eb considered death rap.  The only real difference in the songs is there content.  Hardcore underground will be pretty raw it will swear and not be afraid to get in peoples’ faces but will also have a moral behind the song (usually).  Death rap however does what it wants how it wnats and doesn’t care whatsoever. These artists will say if you don’t like it don’t listen to it. 

Death Rap: Most Necro songs

Hardcore underground: Trail of Lies by Jedi Mind Tricks

Why People Don’t Like Hip Hop

The main reason I hear when people express their hatred of hip hop is the word “gangster”.  They don’t want to hear about thugs and gangsters.  This to me is sad because a single portion of hip hop has become the face of the entire genre and it just so happens that this portion is the negative side of hip hop.  People automatically assume that if a song is hip hop then it most certainly has to have drug, and murder related content.  People then miss the pure magic that a good hip hop song is.  The mastery of the lyricism and talent that true emcees bring to the table is like nothing in any other genre of music, and a good emcee can turn even the most adament hip hop hater (such as I was) into a lover of everything the genre is (such as I am now).  People hate hip hop without even giving it a fair chance, and as sad as it is I suppose that’s life.

Another Make up Assigment

After the incident with the police my friend completely withdrew from the world.  He had his phone turend off all the time and when he didn’t pay the bill and his number was disconnected he didn’t care, in fact he preferred it that way.  I didn’t hear from him for a two month period and I was very worried about him.  He was very depressed, but just after the two month period he began to talk to me on facebook.  His opinions about everything were very bleak and I was startled at some of the things he said.  A lot of what he said revolved around death, and everything he wouldn’t experience in life.  Everything some one like him couldn’t have.  It was very hard to talk to him in this state but I never said no if he wanted to talk.  Eventually his outlook became brighter and we started talking about what was good in life. It was then that I mentioned bringing back Honest incentive (our rap duo).  We both thought that it had died when the incident happened and we never once thought it would revive itself and breathe new life.  We were both thrilled at the idea of rapping again and we quickly began writing new material.  Slowly we began the process of creating a new style for ourselves but that I will get into on the next make up blog.

Music That Means Something

Today most songs have the same central idea and don’t focus on the truley artistic aspect of the artform and instead focus on what will sell. This is why music is so devoid off any real substance anymore; every pop song (for the most part) sounds the same focusing on main idea of sexuality.  Artists like Hannah Montana have quickly grown into Miley Cyrus, that is to say from family fun and care free to stripping down in music videos and soiling the eyes of many young people. The lyrical content of the average mega star in the music industry is so very lacking that it in my opinion it can hardly be called a song.  Instead they’ve taken computerized sounds and thrown random repetitive words here and there so that it can be marketable.  Singers and rappers today utilize things such as auotone so frequently that i’s hard to distinguish when it’s the artists real voice or the computer.  I listen to songs written by people who’ve experienced much and who onvey those experiences through music  So when I hear music that has absolutely no meaning, I consider it an insult to real artists to even call it music.  Here is a song which has meaning and tells a story:

Time Taker – by the Geto Boys

An Honest Incentive Update

My buddy and I did very lttile recording this weekend, infact I only recorded one verse,what we decided to do was focus on our freestles and until about four in the morning we freestyled and freestyled until we were satisfied with what we could accomplish by rapping on the spot.  During the course of the night we  got so deep into what we were saying that our freestyles gradually became better than what we ha written.  It was a magical night, the snow was falling down and the time seemed absolutely perfect to work on our verbal skills.  All in all the night was a success and we feel very confident in our abilities now. I can see us shooting off songs soon, which will dwarf what we accomplished before.

This Is My Make Up Assisgnment #1

So here’s the whole story.  My friend who I record with got into a lot of trouble and in something out of a tv drama, he was taken chased down by the police and taken to the Victopria General Hospital. 

I was at work, cooking when i felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.  It was busy at work and as per usual when it’s busy I ignored the text. About an hour later when the restaurant had slowed down considerably I went to check my phone.  In the hour period I had waited my phone had received 3 more messages all similar to one another and they read: Please pick up ur phone man I really need to talk I’m in so much shit.  Immediately I tell my Lead hand AJ  that I need to go outside to make a phone call and once in the back compound I phone my friend.  When he picks up he sounds absolutely distraught he’s quiet and I can barely hear what he is saying.  I start asking questions and he tells me that when his girlfriend texted him sayin that she was breaking up with him he texted back saying that he was going to overdose himself on cocaine. Unitl the I had no idea that he was doping coke and despite my shock I continued to listen to the story.  He then siad that she called someone and they called the police who promptly came to my firends house.  These calls are taken very seriously by the police and they wasted no time in reaching my friend.  Upon seeing the police my friend gets scared and runs.  The police give chase and tackle him to the ground, and bring him back to his house where his mother is crying and his father is dumbfounded.  I listened to his story and after offering words of encouragement he said he had to go.  Over the next few months he was ina  deep depression and I constsntly talked to him to try and snap him out of it.  After about 3 months I figured that he would never be happy again but one day I got a call asking if  I wanted to come to his house and record. I immediately said yes and the recordign session we had had a drastic effect on hima nd now he’s back to his old self.  He’s hasn’t touched coke againa nd his life is in a much better position than it was. 

I realize that this story could be hard to read but it’s an important part of not only my freidns history but mine as well, this even effected me so deeply that I know I will never forget it for as long as I live.