Day 6: Feelings on Mainstream Music

Can we actually refer to the mass marketed, cookie-cutter, over-sexualized, auto-tune/club beats stuff they overplay on the radio music today?

When I think of music, I think of the music I was exposed to growing up- The Temptations, The Beatles, The Isley Brothers, Lauryn Hill, SWV, Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Michael Jackson, Boyz II Men... artists who believed in actually singing, with real lyrics, harmonies, and production value. These and many other artists have songs, shoot albums, that are classic and ultimately timeless. And yes, during these times, there were those artists that were much more commercialized, and/or more risque. I mean, who really wants their young child singing, "I wanna sex you up" or pretty much anything by Lil' Kim or Foxy Brown. But, even in those instances, there was actual talent present, even if the songs themselves were not appropriate for wider audiences.

Today's artists entertainers have reduced us to such classic lyrics such as "I just wanna f*** every girl in the world," "wheelchair stuntin'- Spongebob making crabby patties," or "sticks and stones may break my bones but chains and whips excite me." Mainstream music today is "aight" for parties and one hit wonders. And admittedly, there are those songs out there that as much as I want to hate on it do catch my ear. (I had to hate myself for lovin' Waka Flocka's No Hands but that sucka was catchy). But to find real music by real artists who are about the craft, for the most part you have to look underground, which is sad.

Sadly, I feel the same applies to gospel music today as well. Gospel is what I grew up on and secular was something that came later. I don't even really follow gospel today because of it. In a recent conversation with a friend, he commented on how back in the day it was gospel music that influenced our secular music. It was artists who came out of the church who took that same sound and brought it to the masses. Today it's the opposite, with gospel biting off of the secular to still seem "hip" or "modern."

Bottom line, whatever happened to originality and actual musical talent in mainstream music?