Hathaway
Someday, We'll All Be Free
Timeless meaning a classic. Played for generations to come. Legendary. MJ, Prince, Marvin, Stevie, Luther, Whitney type shyt. Pac, Hov, BIG, Nas type shyt. Be honest. When is the last time you heard a song from any of these new nikkas and said "this song will be played for lifetimes"?
My intent is not to bash the current landscape of music. I think we do that enough. I want to diagnose the why behind it all. It's not purely nostalgia. No, it's more than that. I'm tapped into the contemporary music scene. I've checked out SiR, HER, Ari, SZA, Lucky Daye, Victoria Monet, Yebba, Summer, Coco, Normani. I'm even tapped into underground R&B: Ellie Eliades, Christian Kuria, Masego, Alex Isley, Tiana Major9, etc.
These are great artists. Talented. Gifted. Well out of that crop, I'd say only HER, Yebba & Victoria Monet are truly gifted. The others are great though. But none have truly seperated themselves from the pack as being generation defining talent. None have a classic song, let alone a classic album. I mean, HER & Daniel Ceasars Best Part is beautiful but I'm not quite sure if it's "timeless". Victoria's On my Mama was a hit but is it a "classic"?
Idk maybe my standards are too high. But when I compare today to the heavy hitters of the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s, I'm dumbfounded why the drop in quality has been so drastic. I can't really blame record companies anymore because nikkas can blow up just from their own social media presence alone. You don't need a huge marketing machine behind you anymore to make waves. Maybe consumers just don't value true artistry anymore or they dont know how to recognize it.
My intent is not to bash the current landscape of music. I think we do that enough. I want to diagnose the why behind it all. It's not purely nostalgia. No, it's more than that. I'm tapped into the contemporary music scene. I've checked out SiR, HER, Ari, SZA, Lucky Daye, Victoria Monet, Yebba, Summer, Coco, Normani. I'm even tapped into underground R&B: Ellie Eliades, Christian Kuria, Masego, Alex Isley, Tiana Major9, etc.
These are great artists. Talented. Gifted. Well out of that crop, I'd say only HER, Yebba & Victoria Monet are truly gifted. The others are great though. But none have truly seperated themselves from the pack as being generation defining talent. None have a classic song, let alone a classic album. I mean, HER & Daniel Ceasars Best Part is beautiful but I'm not quite sure if it's "timeless". Victoria's On my Mama was a hit but is it a "classic"?
Idk maybe my standards are too high. But when I compare today to the heavy hitters of the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s, I'm dumbfounded why the drop in quality has been so drastic. I can't really blame record companies anymore because nikkas can blow up just from their own social media presence alone. You don't need a huge marketing machine behind you anymore to make waves. Maybe consumers just don't value true artistry anymore or they dont know how to recognize it.
