Musical Provocation

We don't all listen to the same types of music, that's pretty apparent.

There are literally thousands of genres of music, each seems to have some distinguishing characteristic that separates it from the next. What's even more interesting to me is that executive somewhere decided that you can divide music by "demographic." If I've ever heard a more political way of saying "discrimination," I'd be hard pressed to remember it.

I listen to a lot of different types of music. Some of the genres that I enjoy, I simply enjoy for the sake of enjoying. Some of the genres that I enjoy, I enjoy for watching the evolution of that genre. Some genres... I simply don't enjoy.

On my iPod, you'd find collections of Tears for Fears, the Police, Sting, Norah Jones, Duran Duran, Nine Inch Nails, 311, Boyz II Men, Bobby Valentino, Ne-yo, the Crystal Method, David Bowie, Filter, Jay-Z, Kanye West, and the list goes on...

I didn't spew that amalgamation of artists for you to be impressed, I'm just saying that I don't understand how one classifies musical taste by demographic. If someone were to say to me "you look like you'd be interested in these Ja Rule tickets", I might just smack them.

Now I'm not sure what your belief is, but I'm absolutely convinced that Hip Hop holds the key to the evolution of our musical substance. Justin Timberlake has already given us a preview of this with his R&B/Club/Pop album "FutureSex LoveSounds". Even Sting has given way with a few remixes from his 2003 release "Sacred Love".

I would tell you that I don't distinctly like Hip Hop, per se. I believe that a lot of it is wasteful and simply takes advantage of a crowd that either does not know what they're interested in music for. Perhaps I'm missing out on a secret where a deep bassline and a repetitious chorus were enough.

I follow producers like Timbaland, David Banner and Just Blaze for the ideas that I feel they are bringing to Hip Hop and all other forms. I see the potential to take that music beyond a 3 minute song. Lyrically, I'm very interested in T.I., The Game and especially Kayne West. T.I. and The Game have a proper understanding of flow and rhythm that is absent from a lot of rappers today (Mims just disappoints in this category). Kanye to me, is the one to watch. While his tracks were interesting for a while, but his beats have become formulaic. Lyrically, Kayne has things to teach the world, though, that are so impressive. He understand things about rhyme that we haven't seen since B.I.G.

You may have already noticed a slow and steady adoption of some of the ideals that Hip Hop music represents, and vice versa: Rhianna's "Umbrella" brings back memories of The Cranberries "Zombie". I think it's the most interesting thing to listen for the changes in our music, as it evolves, and the genres begin to steal from each other, where eventually all genres become something else.

Will we ever see these elements in Jazz music? Blues? Classical? Maybe opera? I'll certainly be keeping a watch for those changes, maybe I'll be able to make some of them myself. I find all music so interesting and so contributive.

Except for country. Fuck country.