Nostalgia
Music sounds a lot different when you're chillin with your childhood friends at 16 years old, and experimenting with 40s and blunts for the first time, than when you are 36, working a full time and part time job to support your wife, baby momma, and 3 kids. And, the only time you listen to music is when you're sitting in traffic during your morning and evening commutes.
Conditioning
I believe we condition our ears to appreciate certain sounds and that familiarity influences the sounds your ears are drawn to. If you've been raised on nothing but 90's West Coast hip hop music with its Zapp and Roger and P-Funk samples and emcees that rap in a slow conversational style thats easy to follow, you'd probably scratch your head the first time you see cats going crazy over O.C.'s "Time's Up." If you've only been exposed to hip hop with obscure jazz melody and drum samples with super lyrical emcees ripping over them, you may be put off the first time you hear Pimp C rapping in his unapologetically southern drawl over live bass guitars and organs.
Romanticization of Hip-Hop's past
Contrary to what some of my old head comrades would like the younger generation to believe, there was never a time when the most critically acclaimed hip hop was also the music being played on radio and video shows all day long or that was the popular music amongst the general black population during that time. Back then, dope music had to be searched out and passed around and if the buzz got too big you may see a video on Rap City or Yo! MTV Raps. If you listen to your local urban station between the hours of 6am and 6pm for the latest in dope hip hop music, you will be disappointed. Same as you would if you attempted this in 1994. We also didn't only listen to hip hop that required a dictionary to follow. We had our party records and silly shit back then just like we do today. It's not a nigga in here born between 1970 and 1980 that can't still rap the lyrics word for word to "Summertime" or smile when Skee-Lo's "I Wish" comes on.
"Hip-Hop is Dead"
Folks have complained about the state of hip hop since it hit the airwaves for the first time. Some of the most beloved hip hop records are "hip hop is dying" type records conceived and recorded during what is now considered the "golden age" of hip hop music. "Me, Myself, and I" (1989) "I Used to love H.E.R." (1994) "Stakes is High" (1996) etc. If you want to be technical, when art is commercialized, it loses the true essence of what it means to be artistic and is dead in a sense. It's up to you to determine if your music diet consists of mostly raw, nutrient dense foods from sources that you know will provide nothing but the best nutrician or if your diet is mainly processed bullshit from Walmart and McDonalds. But don't get mad at Walmart and McDonalds for doing their jobs. To make money.
Albums are not Movies
Albums are not made to be listened to once or twice then shelved. Sometimes, it's taken me much time and patience with a record/album before I found what a lot of others appreciated about the material. For example, when I was first getting into jazz, I kept seeing John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" given ultimate respect in everything that I read. I finally sat down with the album one night while sippin on something and that shit sounded like the worst thing my ears had ever heard. Literally. In my mind I thought, I don't know what the fuck the musicians are listening to, but they damn sure aren't listening to each other. However, I've always been the type to say "if all these people love this song/album, it must be something I'm missing." I'm humble like that. So, I ended up sitting down with the record sporadically for the next 2 years or so. Listened in the car, on headphones while going to sleep, while working out, cleaning, fucking, everything. During this time, I also was listening to all kinds of jazz and fell in love with Cannonball Adderley, Charles Mingus, Ahmad Jamal, and a lot of Coltrane's pre-free jazz period stuff. The album began to slowly make sense. Then, one afternoon I put the album on while lounging around the crib. That chambered symbol splash came from the speakers like a thick fog then Trane's horn stabbed thru the cloud like a piercing light. The whole room instantly felt warm and familiar. I sat back and got the best 33 minutes of music I'd ever heard.
Just a little something to try and help out fam who are stuggling with hip hop music right now. If you are real with yourself and recognize that some of these things affect your musical experience, try turning them off and listening to new music with open ears. Also try stepping all the way out of your comfort zone and listen to a genre of music that you've never listened to. Try getting into certain artists, their stories and everything. Just like you do hip hop music. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Feel free to add on or disagree.
Music sounds a lot different when you're chillin with your childhood friends at 16 years old, and experimenting with 40s and blunts for the first time, than when you are 36, working a full time and part time job to support your wife, baby momma, and 3 kids. And, the only time you listen to music is when you're sitting in traffic during your morning and evening commutes.
Conditioning
I believe we condition our ears to appreciate certain sounds and that familiarity influences the sounds your ears are drawn to. If you've been raised on nothing but 90's West Coast hip hop music with its Zapp and Roger and P-Funk samples and emcees that rap in a slow conversational style thats easy to follow, you'd probably scratch your head the first time you see cats going crazy over O.C.'s "Time's Up." If you've only been exposed to hip hop with obscure jazz melody and drum samples with super lyrical emcees ripping over them, you may be put off the first time you hear Pimp C rapping in his unapologetically southern drawl over live bass guitars and organs.
Romanticization of Hip-Hop's past
Contrary to what some of my old head comrades would like the younger generation to believe, there was never a time when the most critically acclaimed hip hop was also the music being played on radio and video shows all day long or that was the popular music amongst the general black population during that time. Back then, dope music had to be searched out and passed around and if the buzz got too big you may see a video on Rap City or Yo! MTV Raps. If you listen to your local urban station between the hours of 6am and 6pm for the latest in dope hip hop music, you will be disappointed. Same as you would if you attempted this in 1994. We also didn't only listen to hip hop that required a dictionary to follow. We had our party records and silly shit back then just like we do today. It's not a nigga in here born between 1970 and 1980 that can't still rap the lyrics word for word to "Summertime" or smile when Skee-Lo's "I Wish" comes on.
"Hip-Hop is Dead"
Folks have complained about the state of hip hop since it hit the airwaves for the first time. Some of the most beloved hip hop records are "hip hop is dying" type records conceived and recorded during what is now considered the "golden age" of hip hop music. "Me, Myself, and I" (1989) "I Used to love H.E.R." (1994) "Stakes is High" (1996) etc. If you want to be technical, when art is commercialized, it loses the true essence of what it means to be artistic and is dead in a sense. It's up to you to determine if your music diet consists of mostly raw, nutrient dense foods from sources that you know will provide nothing but the best nutrician or if your diet is mainly processed bullshit from Walmart and McDonalds. But don't get mad at Walmart and McDonalds for doing their jobs. To make money.
Albums are not Movies
Albums are not made to be listened to once or twice then shelved. Sometimes, it's taken me much time and patience with a record/album before I found what a lot of others appreciated about the material. For example, when I was first getting into jazz, I kept seeing John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" given ultimate respect in everything that I read. I finally sat down with the album one night while sippin on something and that shit sounded like the worst thing my ears had ever heard. Literally. In my mind I thought, I don't know what the fuck the musicians are listening to, but they damn sure aren't listening to each other. However, I've always been the type to say "if all these people love this song/album, it must be something I'm missing." I'm humble like that. So, I ended up sitting down with the record sporadically for the next 2 years or so. Listened in the car, on headphones while going to sleep, while working out, cleaning, fucking, everything. During this time, I also was listening to all kinds of jazz and fell in love with Cannonball Adderley, Charles Mingus, Ahmad Jamal, and a lot of Coltrane's pre-free jazz period stuff. The album began to slowly make sense. Then, one afternoon I put the album on while lounging around the crib. That chambered symbol splash came from the speakers like a thick fog then Trane's horn stabbed thru the cloud like a piercing light. The whole room instantly felt warm and familiar. I sat back and got the best 33 minutes of music I'd ever heard.
Just a little something to try and help out fam who are stuggling with hip hop music right now. If you are real with yourself and recognize that some of these things affect your musical experience, try turning them off and listening to new music with open ears. Also try stepping all the way out of your comfort zone and listen to a genre of music that you've never listened to. Try getting into certain artists, their stories and everything. Just like you do hip hop music. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Feel free to add on or disagree.
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. that makes no sense at all. maybe its just me but i think for someone who is so into music i treat it like its disposable.
