From "Fight the Power" to "Steady Mobbin'": Musical "Evolution" in American Culture

Daily…

1. I “hop out of bed and I turn my swag on“…
2. I take my commute to work with my motivation “all the way turned up“….
3. I walk in my office thinking “Oh let’s do it“…
4. I catch up with “my patna ‘dem” after work…

Popular music entertains.  However, a friend prompted reflection: is music evolving into an animal that is too wild for even National Geographic to recognize?

Does mainstream music still make us feel?

Does mainstream music still make us think?

Looking at hot singles from Billboard 25 and 50 years ago, the songs didn’t make me do a “jig” (except “The Twist by Chubbie Checker“), but the content was generally about feeling love – and who can’t appreciate stories about love, except maybe the scarred or cynical?

When I looked at just “urban” music over the decades, the content evolved/devolved.  By urban, I’m talking about the stuff that generally black folks like and black folks create (or Negro if you plan on counting yourself as such in Census 2010). Not to say that the music has no cross-over appeal.

Two Evolutions/De-evolutions:

• THEN popular black music=soul and funk; NOW popular music=rap and R&B
• THEN music defined love; NOW music dilutes love

And I mean “diluting love” broadly.

What is happening to the artists’  love for political engagement?  Their passion for social commentary?  The emphasis on not just glorifying street life, but also being a street journalist and their experiences being the human-interest piece? Their love for celebrating emceeing as an art form rather than a hustle? Their passion for conveying emotions?

• We gave up  “Tender Love” for some “Sex Therapy“.
• He stopped asking her to “Save The Last the Dance” but just wanted to know “How Low“ she could go.
• He stopped “Feeling the Beat” of her heart opting to just make her “Bed Rock“.
• We stopped “Fighting the Power” because now “We Steady Mobbin‘”
• “She Was Your Lady” but now she accepts being a “5 Star B****” or  “Bust It Baby“.

We have catchy hooks and beats.  But will that be the legacy of the music we leave behind?  Will it be me telling my child 20 years from now that back in my day “We Invented Sex“ and had “Money to Blow“?

Its hard to distinguish whether the chicken or the egg comes first – whether music reflects the sentiments of society, or society reflects the themes of music – but it is clear music is a story of our lives and a historical depiction of the growth of a nation.

1. Negro spirituals conveyed a sense of hope that intertwines itself throughout Black Americans’ history with the fight for something better -from the fields to the Freedom Rides.
2. Flapper Girls embraced Jazz music clubs to deny expectations of what is “lady-like” in exchange for their freer interpretations of liberalism.
3. The scarcity of black artists on earlier Billboard top 100 charts spoke to ideas of race and color.
4. Rock N Roll ascended to prominence as the music of Baby Boomers defined what it meant to be “young and hip”.
5. Music of the 60s/70s carried messages of protest and promoted freedom to do what one loved, for better or worse.
6. The 70s also saw the beginning of hip-hop as a cultural movement (Hip-Hop recipe = 1 parts DJing, 1 parts graffiti art, 1 parts breaking/dancing, 1 parts emceeing. Mix together with struggle).

Our musical legacy will be one in which we defined entertainment as music’s only purpose – making a clear distinction that knowledge, awareness, artistic prowess is not entertaining.

For example the top 10 songs on the  Billboard Hot 100 belonged to all African Americans for the first time ever the week of October 11th, 2003.  The songs?

1. Baby Boy- Beyonce
2. Shake Ya Tail feather- Nelly, P Diddy and Murphy Lee
3. Get Low- Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz
4. Right Thurr- Chingy
5. Frontin- Pharell
6. Damn- Young Bloodz
7. PIMP- 50 Cent
8. Into You- Fabolous
9. Stand Up- Ludacris
10. Where is the Love- Black Eyed Peas

Its an accomplishment – but this tells me black artists are appreciated most by society when they sell sex, partying, thug-life, cockiness, or big spending.

In all fairness, hip-hop has always been diverse – gangsta, party, pop-rap, quirky, educational, political .  That diversity of message used to be evident on the radio and in commercial digestion. But now, if its not “blunts, 40s, and b******“, it is saved for those that know music is far from one-dimensional.  The public appetite for “urban” music tells us: that thinking ‘ish is for the birds.

Dead Prez said it best:

Y’all don’t hear me though
These record labels slang our tapes like dope
You can be next in line, and signed
And still be writing rhymes and broke
You would rather have a Lexus or justice
A dream or some substance
A Beamer, a necklace or freedom
Still a nigga like me don’t playa’ hate
I just stay awake… (From Hip-Hop)

I am also not being fair to R&B – we have neo-soul, soul, and classic R&B artists still out there that keep it musically and lyrically diverse.  But most stations that boast playing the “hottest jams” of today leave these musical gems out of rotation.

I am not saying there is no place for fun/party music.  Personally, I am doomed to nod my head to new Atlanta one-single successes (“Another hot group is out?!  Oh their name is the Nutter-Butter Biscuit Bling Boys Clique?  I bet their single is dope!).

I grew up on So So Def, Kilo Ali, Luke Bass.  And yeah I grew up on Jodeci, Silk, R. Kelly.

But I also grew up on OutKast, The Roots, Lauryn Hill.  I grew up on Mary J. Blige, Boyz II Men, Tony! Toni! Tone!.  And like the university that conspicuously boasts its percentages of minorities enrolled in the “just” name of diversity, I am looking for some boasting of something more on the airwaves.

Diversity of content.

So I am not mad if popular music reminds us that we “Wanna Rock“.  Shoot, if its your thing, let music tell you to get  “Wasted“.

But popular music used to remind us that we could also “Heal the World“.  Music is just one avenue to give the individual thoughts and feelings a voice.  I want to see the collective voice we call popular music embrace “crunk” and consciousness, “swag” and substance,  entertainment and education.

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