I find that in the world we live in today music, mainly of the hip hop genre, has become something people do to mainly to make money. Now there’s nothing really inherently wrong with that, but at the same time that want of money forces them to try to fit into this cookie cutter mold that we as everyday people are also kind of forced into. It causes them to loose their, and some may disagree with this, artistic freedom. I honestly feel that rap isn’t all about a blaring beat with some really hard bass and a bunch of girls shaking boobies and twerking for a cameraman, although that is one part of rap. To be honest, how can you tell me that a form of music that was basically created from and has often been compared to, poetry itself can be summed up in those few words in the previous sentence. I have ABSOLUTELY no dislike for the music previously mentioned. I feel that it is a form of expression though a bit vulgar and primal at times, it still gets the point across and proceeds to invoke some form of excitement in one soul, and isn’t that what music is all about. See to me no matter what genre of music it is if it causes an emotional response whether tears, or maybe just sadness, happiness, laughter, anger, hope, satisfaction, sensuality, love, or even just plain simple excitement, to me you’ve created music. I feel music is the sound of feelings and emotions. If emotions where audible they would sound as vast and different as different forms of music. Just like love for instance, I’ve had many girlfriends, for some most it was purely a physical attraction and a pursuit of getting her to disrobe or otherwise “let me in”(sadly to no avail) but if I could have made a song for each relationship, which seemingly on the surface they all seem the same or similar, each song would be totally different. This is simply because while superficially they may all look or sound the same they’re not depending on what phase of your life your going through, your unique outlook at the time, the inner workings of the actual relationship, and many other factors uniquely shape that specific relationship to be what it was or is. I’m saying all this to say that’s why there’s a million love songs in the world because if I ,as one person, could write a different love song for each of my relationships then there’s no limit to the amount of love songs that could be made, even though a few might share similarities, each one would be unique to that person in someway. I say this because even though words are necessary for a lyrical song, instrumentals and/or beats invoke almost as strong of an emotional response as the words themselves. I feel a songs tone is in fact determined by the beat, for instance no matter how happy the lyrics are for a song if the beat has a blatantly obvious sad tune the song doesn’t have a happy feel or vice versa. One great song that’s an example of this, at least for me, is “If I Ever Feel Better” by Phoenix. In this song the beat itself isn’t necessarily “happy” but it’s got a happy vibe to it which when you listen to the lyrics the song is actually rather sad but because of this combination of a “happy” beat with sad lyrics if gives this song a Sappy(or manic depressed lol) feel. This exploration of music was mainly what the driving force between my creation of Dopemind was based off of. I dont want to make typical rap i want to make art. This is where I’ll end this little rant…until next time.
-Love, Peace, Happiness, and Music