By: Gage Miskimen @gagemisky
Good music is hard to find these days, specifically good, well-made hip-hop music/ R&B music. If someone were to turn on a radio or go to a party, they would probably hear a lot of mainstream rap like 2 Chainz or A$AP Rocky. Little do most students know, these artists are not half as talented as others that aren’t played on the radio. Rappers that just rap about partying and drugs are usually sell-outs and just rap what the producers and record company want them to rap about. The only big “gangsta” rapper today that is actually very good is Compton’s Kendrick Lamar. Hip-hop also has different branches. Not everything is “gangsta”. There are a lot of concept albums that came out last year. Concept is like experimental music that doesn’t really fit into one genre. Kanye West’s, Yeezus was a big hit last summer and received mixed reviews but overall got positive feedback. Childish Gambino’s, Because The Internet was also a surprising hit which moved the underground rapper into mainstream spotlight.
Hip-hop doesn’t have to be about guns and drugs. Most musicians have a higher potential than to sell-out like that. Musicians should stay true to themselves and write about what they want to write about and be creative while doing so because that’s what makes better music. Artists that stay true to themselves usually make it higher on the charts too. The rap group, Odd Future, do a good job at staying true to themselves even with the explicit themes and lyrics plastered all over their songs and albums. Odd Future members, Tyler, The Creator , Frank Ocean, and Earl Sweatshirt have all had successful solo albums and their instrumentals and lyrics are all very unique and it’s because they do most of the work for their albums. Frank Ocean especially does a great job at putting together albums and is flawless vocally. He has a new album that’s supposed to be released later in the summer.
It seems most teens just listen to whatever their friends or everyone else listens to. People need to be their own person and listen to whatever they want and find new musicians that they like. Teens need to be their own individual and not follow whatever other people do. If someone wants to find good new music, just look. Youtube random things, look on music sharing websites, browse iTunes, there are so many ways to find new artists and there are so many artists that are good. Just go out and look.
