Defining Modern Music
Is it possible that Pop culture has encouraged our youth to live a less rewarding lifestyle? The cover of Hip Hop Magazine XXL's March 2010 issue asks the question: "Does getting locked up hurt or help rappers?" Since when did our morality lose so much ground that purposely engaging in unethical practice to create a fraudulent image of overcoming adversity help anyone? A street reputation has become embedded in the mission statement of the music business, attempting to persuade and influence the music culture. What about fraudulent authorship? Did pop stars who have risen to fame find a new way to promote their music careers? I don't know about you, but I've noticed a lot of book writing from celebrities who have never showed any interest in literature prior to becoming famous.
The war on intellectualism involves rewarding ignorance for its ability to infiltrate young minds, something I don't find entertaining. Rappers getting in trouble and using the publicity to sell records is not the problem, but the fact that the fans are inspired by immoral leadership qualities is. Picture how many fans support these unstable successors. Requests to hear songs with derogatory material, promotion of violence, and incoherent slang is common amongst teens and immature adults who have given up on the proper use of grammar. The balance between talented and marketable has been measured, shocking intellectuals with it's results. Society has redefined it's icons, trading heroism, idealism, and intellectualism, for fame, criminology, and sexuality. Already, the parties of stupidity have found new ways to implement this message via TV screen, directly into the minds of our youth. I use stupidity without caution because it deserve no censorship.
Intellectual leadership is slowly being destroyed by unconscious and careless yet nonetheless influential idols who through their unethical and uneducated expressions inspire a new type of leadership: Leadership that instead of managing the important and urgent, manages the petty and time-consuming. How would invaluable Hip Hop material measure up to presumably uncoordinated and simplistic verbal assembly? Popularity is a perception absorbed by the instantly gratified mindset that challenges nothing, trusts majority, and focuses on convenience rather than gift. In a society that consumes hype, realism is vaguely expressed. It may even at times be redefined, for example: Who when faced with a dangerous fad, or, a trendy yet ignorant method of communication would combat the popular conception?
Why is there a war on intellectualism in modern music? The influential power of music itself can inspire change. We must all remember, a voice is an instrument of power. Ideas are like weapons of mass destruction therefor, impenetrable. When Information and freedom, both having the power to inspire a revolution in music, are backed by voices advocating change, it is like an atomic bomb within the entertainment Industry, if such a voice were to present itself. Suppose Britney Spears, Jay Z, Kanya West, Lil Wayne, and Justin Bieber were to make albums encouraging youth to be more informed, would this have an affect the average listener? Eventually, a change would take place in the music industry that would become a platform for intellectual growth.
A message of self-destruction can become viral amongst the population that absorbs such material in music. Ideas are often imitated, expressed with no originality, or overly-promoted which can then become memorable to the minds of youth in our society who have not fully developed a sense of moral and ethical principles. Trendy songs with demeaning characteristics can easily be viewed as entertaining. The maturity of those who are unaffected by the messages portrayed in modern Pop music culture are intellectuals who understand free expression which is in my opinion rare. A balance is needed to advocate positive influence as well as express unique and indifferent ideas. Unfortunately without a balance, true intellectualism will diminish causing adolescent youth to sacrifice positive influence.
Published in the Lincoln Eagle
Email Righteuse.Balisong@gmail, for consideration
