I don't listen to EVERYTHING that EVERYONE listens to. I listen to what FEELS good to me. Some songs I like STRICTLY for the lyrical content...other things I like from a production aspect. There is some music that does it for me on both levels and then other music gives me nostalgia and that's what keeps it on repeat. If someone tells me it sucks ass, that's fine...that's their opinion. To tell me that I cannot simply like the production alone is retarded...classical music doesn't really have any lyrics so should I not listen to that? What about the instrumental version of any song?
Sometimes I want to shake people and ask them if they are even aware of HOW music is made. The production is created separate from the lyrics. Most singers/rappers focus on their lyrical content and then they make the magic happen in the studio when they sit down with the Producer to see if it "sounds right". Watch Fade to Black; there are parts that show the process of how Jay-Z put together his music. Some of the tracks that the producers didn't end up using with him, were sold to other artists, some who weren't even rappers. So yes, you can like the beat aside from the words and vice versa.
It isn't until someone says side ways shat like, "I can't respect you if you listen to (insert whatever musical artist you hate)". What the hell are you saying? So you should be respected because you listen to a rap artist who created an album called NIGGA but I should be thrown under the bus because I think Nicki Minaj has some talent? All wigs and seizure like facial expressions aside, she does. Seriously, she reminds me of when I was a teenager and I had this simple obsession with Lil Kim. Listening to Kim made me FEEL like even though I was a female, I could do male things. Who am I to take that away from someone 10 years younger than me because Nicki makes retarded faces? Because I FEEL every bit of music I listen to, there are different aspects of artists that I appreciate. A real artist will bring a different perspective to ANYTHING they do. THAT is what I appreciate AND what I look for.
So when the 2Pac vs B.I.G. debates start up, I gracefully bow out. I have my favorite out of the two but I don't owe you an explanation as to why I like one more than the other. I just do and could it be that there was more I could relate to in one than the other? It doesn't lessen the importance of the other artist...I just like what I like. Telling me that this song of this artist is better than that one is all relative...to what you like more.
When I was in high school, No Limit was worshiped and Cash Money was right behind them fighting for me and my peers attention. The first time my father heard a Cash Money song, he told me it was the worst thing he'd ever listened to. You know what the equivalent of that is today? Someone my age telling an 18 year old that Young Money is garbage and none of them are talented. When my father was a teenager, my grandmother told him that funk and disco was a bunch of noise...because she preferred blues. I grew up on A LOT of funk and disco...a lot of which gets sampled today. My grandmother was too busy hating my parents music to realize that most of the artists they liked actually respected the music she listened to regularly.
Do you understand what I'm saying here? Music is something that will never go away and you don't have to like everything that is put out but don't bash younger artists because you cannot relate to them. That doesn't automatically turn their stuff into "bad music". Yes, I think there are tons of artists that could perfect their craft but instead of taking these artists under their wings and showing them the ropes, old heads artists are just sitting by complaining about "how it used to be".
If we think it is such a travesty that a 17 year old doesn't know who Phyllis Hyman is, play one of her records. Are you shocked and appalled that a 21 year old has never heard of Grand Puba? Pull out your music and enlighten them. This music elitism is some bullshat though and from what I see, I think old heads like knowing something younger people don't know. My opinion? Share your musical knowledge or shut up :-)
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