Music

Music
Here are List of Discussion from my class, I want a Respond of at least 5-6 paragraph on each of the post listed, informs of : if agree disagree then you have to write down the reason that make you agree or disagree in detail with backup research please the response should also be number  accordingly . This should be a total of 275 word. Thanks.
PART 1
1.    LOGAN YUREK POSTED: The third Questlove essay was by far my favorite article yet. I think this article was very easy to follow and I found that it seemed to stay on the same track and didn’t bounce around as much as the past two articles. I love the way the he approached this piece and I think the connections that he made to strengthen his point and argument made the piece extremely convincing and strong. I agreed with him in this piece more than I have in all of the articles combined. I found myself consumed in this article and wanting more when it was over. There was one section of the piece that really stuck with me.
“The majority of any population listens to rules. Most people do what society tells them to, to a predictable degree. Those people don’t need to be monitored, because they aren’t any threat at all. There’s a second, smaller group that shows itself over time to be ungovernable. Most of those people are warehoused, locked away in prisons or otherwise contained.” (Questlove, part 3).
This statement to me is exactly what I was hoping he was trying to say with the black cool persona and idea. I cannot emphasize enough that the people that have enough self-empowerment to deviate from the system and be different are the ones deemed and accused of being wrong and disordered. The people of African decent that don’t follow the societies unreasonable expectations and rules or act in the manner that people automatically expect they will act are locked up or considered a problem. I think these people that choose to be on edge and make decisions that will make a statement are truly “cool”. The black cool is important. People should aspire to stand out and not just fit in. Make motions instead of just going with them. This article was amazing.

2.    Sidney Fuimaono-Malauulu Posted:
I think Questlove definitely hit it on the head. However, he defined it a little weird in his attempt to grasp the concept and display it for his readers. I, from first-hand experience, have definitely seen this BLACK COOL concept; as I’m sure each and everyone of you in this class (even if you didn’t know). I think black cool refers to what is popular around the African-American culture and I’m almost positive that that’s what sets the standard for “everyone’s cool”. From the way people dress, sports they play, and the music they listen to- black cool definitely sets the standard for what a lot (maybe not a lot of people) of people define as “cool”. For example, off brand versus brand-name clothing- Ralph Lauren Polo versus U.S. Polo Assn. (LOL) There’s just something about having the Ralph Lauren that is so much cooler than the U.S. Polo Assn. And it simply just goes all back to people being able to say that they have expensive things; letting people know that they have money. What’s so nice about an $80 shirt? The fact that, that shit is $80 – that’s what’s so cool about it.
Now, I know a lot of people are wanting to pull the race card (even if you don’t want to admit it). Just because it’s labeled BLACK COOL it does not mean that you have to be black to do it. There are plenty of Caucasian, Hispanic, or even Asian individuals that express their “coolness” through black standards. I think BLACK COOL doesn’t meet it’s limits at being black. It’s just heavily popular within the African-American population. I know a lot of people who aren’t black that have a little sag in their pants and a little dip in their step. You know why? It’s because it has nothing to do with being black. I absolutely hate when people ask others, “why do you act black?”- What does “acting black” even mean? Because they slur their words a little bit or they don’t pronounce eve-ry syll-a-ble in their words, they’re automatically assumed to be acting black? Vice versa when black people don’t slur their words, they’re assumed to be speaking in a Caucasian dialect. It’s a crazy world we live in and everyone is so judgmental without even knowing it.
Back to Questlove’s point of “what happens when Black Cool isn’t cool anymore?”- I truly endeavor in his examples that he uses to portray how repetitive the lifestyle of a lot of these hip hop artists. His example of Lorde’s “Royals” makes so much sense to me that it’s not even funny.
“But every song’s like:
Gold teeth
Grey Goose
Tripping in the bathroom
Bloodstains
Ball gowns
Trashing the hotel room…
But everybody’s like:
Crystal
Maybach
Diamonds on your timepiece
Jet planes
Islands
Tigers on a gold leash”
Look at Lorde’s examples! Those are what basically every hip hop artists today rap about. They just rap about the shit they have. A lot of these things are so repetitive and I feel like a lot of my posts are going to be complaining about what these rappers put out (LOL). But what else do we have to argue about besides the repetitiveness of every hip hop song that’s out today? That’s what Questlove’s essays are about anyways. Please, intrigue me with your ideas classmates.

3.    Jareth Roberts  Posted:  Actually thinking about what defines cool is a new one for me.  I never put a specific value to what made someone cool, but now that Questlove mentions indifference it does seem to be commonly used to present cool.  I can think of countless situations from movies where the hero or the villain is portrayed as cool by having them walk past in slow motion while ignoring basically everyone.  To me this seems very similar to the mainstream success of hip-hop about money and possessions that not everyone can have.  Just like we can’t have the things famous people can afford, we can’t have the attention of these cool people.
Questlove’s paraphrasing of Barnes, “American hip-hop is usually based on imitation, and it is meant to produce artists who are users of the existing tradition, not creators. And because of that, black culture in general — which has defaulted into hip-hop — is no longer perceived as an interesting vanguard, as a source of potential disruption or a challenge to the dominant,” seems to fall in line with what we have seen thus far in our reading and discussions.  Of course this is a generalization about what falls into mainstream hip-hop, but to me it accurately describes that section of hip-hop.  I do however, think that there are plenty of more obscure artists who don’t fall into that generalization at all.
I can’t say whether this is good or bad, but Questlove seems very focused on industry music and the mainstream.  He makes good points about things that can be seen there, but he doesn’t really address underground artists who are nothing like what we see in that mainstream.  It is good to have a specific focus for an article series like this, but it makes me wonder how he feels about the other side of hip-hop.

4.    Indy Dhillon Posted: I keep trying to find points in Questlove’s essays that I disagree with but I fail almost entirely. This man knows about Hip-Hop, the direction that it is headed in and the reasons behind it. The Roots, though a powerful thought provoking band, have never been very popular. Maybe thats why we hear them on Jimmy Fallon on weekday nights rather than on the popular radio stations. In my opinion, it seems like Questlove has partially, like many older artists, given up on trying to change the direction that Hip-Hop is headed in and is staying more behind the scenes, trying to impart wisdom through essays like these than music itself. This particular section of his essay has to deal with the dwindling “black cool” of Hip-Hop and the impact on its future.
Hip-Hop has been a strong force in popular culture for a long time and maybe its had its time at the top. Rather than disappearing, I believe balance has been reached between black culture and white. If you look at fashion for example, there was a time that Hip-Hop was so popular that it’s artists were wearing baggy FUBU jeans etc. and others were copying them. I certainly bought a pair of FUBU jeans for $100+ dollars when it was the thing to do as everyone from basketball stars to regular people were trying to imitate this Hip-Hop style. But that has changed, if you look at Hip-Hop stars today, Jay-Z, T.I. etc. they are still making bold fashion statements but now they are doing so in designer clothes. Some of these guys have been on the cover of fashion magazines in 3 piece suits. As Hip-Hop has becomes more accepted the rebellious aspect of it has died down. In the essay Questlove says “But when the melody becomes monotonous, when things continue on in the same vein for too long — again, back to Lorde — cool peters out.” and thats what I believe has happened. Hip-Hop becoming so accepted into popular culture has also in a sense killed it. Now its so much about selling records and making hits that innovation had died. These mega rappers and the imitators learning from them keep rapping about money, girls, success and we are sick of it. For us its no longer “cool” to continue to hear about these things over and over on the radio. I have read many posts in this class and find that most agree with this belief.
The other problem that is taking away from Hip-Hop’s cool, and Questlove does not address this in his essay, is that it has now gotten competition. EDM music and its popularity is on another scale than it was a few years ago. Hip-Hop has always had to compete with the other the other genres of music but now it has to compete with EDM as well but the difference is that EDM is also bringing its culture and “cool” aspects to the table. Much of EDM has borrowed from Hip-Hop and the two are somewhat intertwined but the theme around most EDM is about having fun, jumping around, dancing and mostly positivity. EDM still has its dark sides like drug use and the whole “sex sells” aspect but for the most part in this day and age its far easier to relate to than most of what these mega rappers are talking about. Hip-Hop and its artists are somewhat failing to recognize that the modern day impression of “cool” has changed but thats difficult because as Questlove says in his essay “American hip-hop is usually based on imitation, and it is meant to produce artists who are users of the existing tradition, not creators.” So as long as the majority of these up and coming Hip-Hop artists continue to mimic their idols it will continue to take away from the popularity of Hip-Hop

PART 2
1.    Chavez Pownell Jr Posted: Hip hop today seems to all sound the same to me honestly. The music part of hip hop has artists that try to stand out like artsts like J.cole. J.cole stands out to me because he raps about real life situations and what he preaches has meaning. Another rapper that stands out is Kendrick lamar, Kendrick shows that he is one of the best rappers to this day because he is different than most rappers and chooses to be this way. Rap today is being taken over by the beats in a song and how the person sounds. When now the lyrics to songs don’t matter much anymore and the meaning of music also doesn’t. In the past couple months the songs in the top ten on hot new hip hop are by artists like Young Thug. No disrespect to Young Thug but the noises and lyrics he puts out makes it really hard to listen to his music when you want to listen to a song with some meaning.
Reality TV around Hip Hop is a lot different than it was in the 90’s when you had shows that actually had some purpose. By purpose I mean after you done watching a TV show you can actually get something from it and it have an impact on your life. I feel like the fresh prince of bel air is one of the shows that you can learn from. Today we have shows like “Love and Hip Hop” in this show after you have watched it you can rarely take anything from it and learn from it positively.

2.    Sidney Fuimaono-Malauulu Posted: This is such an easy subject to take notes on. Every hip hop company/ show/ artist is all about the same thing: property, money, and bitches. You literally don’t have to take notes or listen to too many radio stations and television shows before you hear such a repetitiveness that you have to turn it off. However, I think it’s hard to listen to those kind of lists because some songs that are on the lists, I wouldn’t personally connect them to hip hop. I wouldn’t, not even for a second, consider them as hip hop. For example, “Earned It” by The Weeknd is number three on the Top 40 hip-hop list and I wouldn’t have thought of that song in a million years to be considered hip hop. “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth isn’t really hip hop to me either. It includes a little bit too much pop and softness to it. But like I said in my other posts, who identifies what as hip hop? Who has those credentials? Everyone does. And if everyone does, then no one really has the power. Very confusing stuff, I know.
Now, if we take a look at the list there’s plenty of songs to dissect that rap about the same things- property, money, and bitches. “Trap Queen” by Fetty Wap talks about a female that he introduces to the drug game. He says, “We be countin’ up, watch how far them bands go/ We just set a goal, talkin’ matchin’ Lambos/ Got 56 a gram, prob’ a 100 grams though/ Man, I swear I love her how she work the damn pole/ Hit the strip club, we be letting bands go/ Everybody hating, we just call them fans though/ In love with the money, I ain’t never letting go.” In the chorus alone, he talks about how much money he has, his car, and how bad his bitch is. Let’s look at the next song on the Top 40 hip-hop hit list. “Nasty Freestyle” by T- Wayne starts off like, “First let me hop out the motherfucking Porsche/ I don’t want her if that ass don’t sit like a horse/ I be balling on these niggas got me feeling like sports/ Dash got so much wood I could build me a fort/ Ain’t too many things I ain’t done yet.” Do you guys see where I’m going with this? Same song, different lyrics. Let’s look at one more. “Post’ to Be” by Omarion featuring Chris Brown and Jhene Aiko. The chorus reads, “If your chick come close to me/ She ain’t going home when she post to be/ I’m getting money like I’m post to be/ I’m getting money like I’m post to be/ Ooh all my niggas close to me/ And all them other niggas where they post to be/ Ooh the hoes go for me/ Have your chick send a pic like pose for me/ That’s how it post to be/ That’s how it post to be/ That’s how it post to be/ Everything good like it post to be.” Do you see what I see? Repetitiveness. But it’s okay as long as you have a catchy beat and you “eat the booty like groceries.” #HANNN
You know what kind of assumptions these songs create? It creates the ones that we think ourselves. “Oh, this song is about money. This song is about cars. And this song is about bitches.” Songs like these only identify themselves to be exactly what we think they would be- songs about money, property, or bitches. And if we’re lucky they’ll throw all three subjects in at one time with a catchy beat and we’ll all be jamming out to it in no time. The thing is- these songs put a negative spin on what people who don’t listen to hip hop think about hip hop (but honestly who cares what they think). Songs like these make Caucasian assume that black people are savages (and I’m not talking that kind of savage B). These songs introduce to our youth that it is perfectly fine to call a female a bitch. Quite frankly, if she fits the profile of what these artists are rapping about then- well, yeah. If the shoe fits, wear it. However, it shouldn’t be like that. Hip hop isn’t what it used to be.

3.    Kaytie Anderson  Posted: For my response I decided to go to iTunes top hip-hop/rap songs. I was quite surprised by some artists on there. I saw that Nicki Minaj was on there, and when I played her song it sounded like Taylor Swift and had almost dubstep sounds in it. How is this hip-hop… I thought to myself. I like some Nicki Minaj songs where she actually raps, but those songs usually aren’t as popular, which I find strange.
I have recently bought 4 albums/mixtapes where some of the singles are on this chart. A$AP Rocky, Chance the Rapper, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar all had songs on here. The songs are LSD, Sunday Candy, Know Yourself, and King Kunta. All of these songs I like and I think they deserve to be on the chart, but that is my opinion. Kendrick’s newest music is very based in a jazzy, blues sound which I really like and it reminds me of older hip-hop like Souls of Mischief. These are artists I would recognize as real hip-hop that deserve the recognition they get. Drake, A$AP, and Kendrick have all worked together.
In comparison to Kendrick’s new album, I also saw he featured on Taylor Swift’s new single Bad Blood. Now, I don’t like Taylor Swift so I hold some heavy bias. The sound of her song didn’t sound like anything Kendrick would do on his own so it kind of annoyed me that they teamed up on this single. It was almost like Taylor Swift needed a darker side for the message she was sending so she wanted a controversial rapper on her song. She is America’s sweetheart and he is the rebellious, dark image of “black cool.” Of course I think it is highly respectable that these artists can collaborate, but I feel like it is just for sales and that they normally wouldn’t choose each other. Any songs that have strange features like this make me raise an eyebrow. Pop and hip-hop run the charts and combining the two powerhouses just seems like a way to make the most money.
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4.    Jareth Roberts  Posted: From what I am seeing, hip-hop marketed by large scale media is more or less like any other media topic.  Big names draw lots of attention for magazines, but the “news” is often shallow.  Among this “news” we see relationship information, scandals, and other less than important details that shouldn’t be the face of a music genre or a culture.  There are still articles that have important things to say (acts of good/charity by artists, notification of deaths, ect.) they just don’t usually make the cover.  I don’t really blame this one hip-hop culture at all.  This is a problem with American culture.  Magazines write like this because it sells.  We put so much importance on things that aren’t really important.  What does it matter if artist x and artist y are in a relationship? Why does everyone need to know that artist a and artist b don’t get along?  It’s great to have celebrities that we can look up to, but I think they deserve some privacy just as much as we do (if they choose to make things public that’s different, but the media pushes for this lack of privacy).
Overall, music at the top of the charts reminds me of our previous discussions about mainstream hip-hop.  Sure the names are different than the ones that have been specifically mentioned up to now (that I know of), but charts change week to week and not all the big names have a new album out right now.  Even without them specifically, I still felt like a lot of the songs up there were more or less the same as what I’ve come to expect.  “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa gets me every time.  While it is a good song with a great message, the reason this song impacts me is because of its connection to the Fast and Furious franchise and I think that connection has greatly contributed to its success.
If we limit our media consumption to hip-hop media, I think we receive a warped sense of black culture as a whole.  I still agree with Questlove that black culture has been somewhat consumed by hip-hop and that now that it is everywhere, it is nowhere.  Amongst the corporate and mainstream hip-hop media we see the very successful.  They make songs about what they have and how great they are (only a generalization).  Without the rest of the media to fill in reality, this might lead people to make bad assumptions about how the African-American community as a whole is treated in modern America.  If more songs that (to me) trace back to hip-hops roots (struggles) made it into the mainstream media this would be very different, but I just don’t think enough of them make their way into the mainstream.