Ok so my nephews stayed with me the other night. My oldest nephew, Jevon is a big Lebron James fan, so they watched the game over here. Well sunday morning we hopped in my car in hunt for a Nintendo Wii. Well that dag on thing was sold out everywhere, but thats not what i wanted to write about. While driving I told Jevon to plug his MP3 player in so we all could hear it. Well the first song he played was "Lip Gloss." Now this isn't my favorite hip hop song of all time by far, but i respect it. Especially after seeing how my other nephew Jaden was dancing in the backseat to it. Hey i guess this is today "Men In Black" or something. My only problem with the song was when she started singing. I wish i was in the studio to advice her thru it better..
Ok, so here is where it gets tricky. He played a mixture of songs. Most of them being hip hop. Well Fat Joe's "Make It Rain" comes on, and though all the curse words are edited out, I cant help but wonder if he should be listening to this. Does he know this is a song about paying strippers. He's 11 so maybe he sees it differently than the 33 year old who has been to Magic City before. Well Jim Jones' "Ballin" comes on soon after. Damn should I say something. I ask myself what did I listen to when I was 11 years old. I listen to hip hop just like him. Run DMC, Slick Rick, Dougie Fresh, Rakim. Sure there were curse words and they probably weren't bleeped out, but those songs weren't the main stream radio songs. Well "La Di Da Di" had some lyrics my parents wouldn't have approved of, but for the most part the song subjects were ear friendly. What hip hop today is ear friendly for the younger generation that loves hip hop? I guess "Lip Gloss" isn't that bad of a song after all.
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I'm not sure there is any ear-friendly hip hop...at least, in terms of mainstream music.
ReplyDeleteMan erro i dont even think I heard of lip gloss before i may have i live in a cave. but I think you would be the perfect person to dialogue with your not his dad but your hip ans ur still an adult that can be a beautiful thing for a young man to have to speak to since he has no older brothers. anyway and dont think he may not kno what the song means, even to I had it what was going on in your mind as an 11 year old boy, lol i kno what inqustiveness that crossed my mind as an 11 yr old girl, tho we dared to act on it, lol, I think for young people nowadays u add like 2 and 3 more years to their chronological age cuz they are exposed to so much at school and in the media and by their friends even if the parents monitor stuff, well be blessed and i gotta agree with j i am not sure if there is mainstream kid friendly hip hop neiher, but i like music but i aint a music head like you, j and other erfers, peace and take care
ReplyDeleteb
Hip hop today is just garbage. It's a shame the artists like Mos Def, Common, Talib Kweli, etc. who actually have something to say, don't get as much radio airplay as say Lil Wayne, Young Joc or Lil Mama. Thank God for XM radio. I can tune into real music should I so desire.
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteI wanted to write a few things to you, but I could not, as I had to become a member of "Google mail", so here I am now, with an email that I will not use, opened only to write this to you :)
This has nothing to do really with what you wrote, but more about your music.
I had never heard about you, until my friend whom had been on your showcase/concert in Stockholm, brought me the album. I nearly cried. Not because I was upset, because I was soo, soo happy. I miss the days of Maxwell,D'Angelo, Musiq, Angie etc..Or shall I say, I miss the days before the commercial wave came over and all genuine, artists, whom are artists for artistry drowned, and artists that wanted to become famous at any price, sold their souls to save themselves.
I must say, that I admire the risk you have taken, because in a way it is a risk. Being in the society we are in today, it is a risk to be real, to spread genuine messages and enlighten people.
I personally am a recoding artist and do pretty much the same style as you, nu soul, funk, jazz..but I moved to London, simply because Sweden has no market for it what so ever, to discover that artists such as Omar, and Don-E, whom are extremely gifted, cannot make it due to the same reason.
But do you know what, they still do their thing,and people respect them and attend to their every gig, religiously.
Your voice is amazing, the bands is great, the lyrics are real and even my mama likes it (which is a good sign, as everything else seems to be rock which she refers to as "headache music",lol )
anyway, it would be lovely to know when you are in Europe next, so that I can attend, and also bring some people with me to show them that real music still exists!!!!!!:)
I do not use this account too much, so If you will respond,do so at arbilinanissan@hotmail.com
I wish you success and happiness.
Take care, Lina
Wow...Erro baby that damn Lip Gloss song...it's real crazy. I went to 2 BBQ's this past Memorial Holiday weekend and "all" of the kids (and a few adults- unbelievable) at both sets were doing their "THING" on the Lip Gloss song. All I can say, it's NOT for the 30 something crew that understands the place where pure music comes from. It's a whole different spirit and things that are happening in world culture reflect the unnatural
ReplyDeletedigitized "cutey hook" music.
When I hear your music I LISTEN TO THE MELODY in your voice...your rhythm connects to the place where past soul greats musically flowed to reveal their life stories celebrations and pain... we heard their harmonies that blossomed like flowers, revealing the song. Be rest assured I copped "Left" a couple of weeks ago, "If I Had a Chance", "Right or Wrong", "Open Your Eyes", "Been In Love", and my all time until time, "Be With You" from the Vault 1 are your songs- they are your gateways from the past in the present to the future of music from the soul.
Keep doing your thing baby, I got you, and I'm looking forward to seeing you flow live in Brooklyn.
Remember - Don't ever be discouraged, Joy comes in the morning!
Peace & Blessings
That's a good question. I think there is ear friendly hip hop today but it is not the popular hip hop. So you would actually have to be in search of it. I can remember listening to songs when I was younger that I did not have any business listening to at that age but that was the hot stuff at the time. I listened to all of the east coast hip hop which was kewl but I grew up in Louisiana and we had alot of booty shakin songs. It was fun music but when does it go too far. I can understand the need for some songs today because some of them are just fun songs to dance to and it's not that serious. I have a problem when people in real life are trying to imitate these rappers when they are not truely being honest in their music themselve. There are mos def some songs that younger kids should not be listening and dancing too, even though they may or may not know what the lyrics are about something is registering in the mind. My mother would tell me that some songs I would play where out of order and I didn't understand at the time but dealing with all of my imperfections today I wonder how much better would I be as a person today had I feed myself more meaningful music. But when you are young, you are not always thinking like that. That's why we need parents to be parents. Let children have fun but don't let them get lost in the lyrics of some of this music today.
ReplyDeleteEAR FRIENDLY HIP HOP?....Is there even such thing now...? I think not...you have people like Common, Mos Def, Talib and even The Roots that have a message of meaning when it comes to "US" (Black people that is) and the "Main stream" music thats being played is just (to my knowledge) a bunch of GARBAGE,lol! E.Rob..keep making the music that you're making and keep a watch over your nephew's...they're gonna need it,lol!
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