WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO SAY???

What Have You Got to Say?

Music used to mean something. You used to have to have some semblance of talent to be a part of the music industry. Be it the able to sing, or play an instrument, or a unique combination of both, you had to be able to over something that not everyone could. You also needed to have something to SAY.

Excuse my language, but shit ain’t like that no more.

With the influx of the internet and social media, anyone with a laptop and too much damn time on their hands can put out music, photos, articles and the like to the masses from the comfort of their bedroom or desk or mother’s basement. (And yes, the irony that THIS blog falls into that category is not lost on me as I write this.)

Every single day, I and millions of people all over the internet are bombarded with request to check out the music pages and songs of artists. And every single day, I and those millions of people all over the internet are told by these artists that “we haven’t heard anything like this!!” or “This is that HOTNESS!!!”  We are supposed to believe that these artists have something unique and …..different to say and THAT is what we should click play.

I have been clicking play….and I have been lied too.

Everything I click on, and listen to and have been told is supposed to be that hot shit is not even close. What happened to creativity? What happened to TALENT? What happened to lyricists? They are either writing simplistic rhymes over someone else’s already hot beat, while stealing their already hot hook, or putting out some shit that is so weak and boring my 16 year old could write it.

I think the main problem is these so called “hip hop artists” need to stay in their lane. No, you ain’t rollin’ in a Bentley; this is Wisconsin. No one in their right mind would roll a Bentley here. It SNOWS here. No, you don’t have the baddest bitches on the planet. Again, you are in Wisconsin. That statement ALONE makes your bad bitch argument invalid. No, you ain’t the Best Rapper in Wisconsin. And in the grand scheme of things, is that REALLY something you want to aspire to? Being the best Rapper in Wisconsin is kinda like being the tallest midget. At the end of the day, you are still short.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some GREAT artists here. Just to name a few, in my humble opinion, you have cats like Dubceez, who is an absolute legend here; the squad over at Spotlight; Handz Onn, Ms. Felony, RockzSolid and Lou Streets. There are others, but those are the names that come to mind for me.

The main problem for THESE artists is that the market is just diluted with such bullshit. Too many mumble mouth motherfuckers that ain’t got a damn thing to say, and put out such crap that REAL artists get overlooked because they just assume since its hip hop, it’s got to be as bad as the other shit they have heard. And that is SO far from the truth. The artists I named and artists associated with them take the time to work on the CRAFT. (Now, me and Mellow G had a disagreement about IMAGE, but Mellow still crafts a helluva song, so I will give him a pass on the image shit.)

And that is another thing: Why are some many of these so called artists so worried about what they LOOK LIKE and what they are SEEN in, and NOT worried about honing their CRAFT? You think Kanye STARTED in $250 t-shirts? No. He started by crafted GREAT MUSIC. The material shit for artists like Kanye and Jay-Z came because of the CRAFT. They took the time to hone the craft ALONG with the image.

So again, I ask…

What have YOU got to say?