Solar Bell

This was sent to me by George Benson, a great jazz player in Detroit....

Angry words from Kenny Drew Jr.....a jazz pianist

What the ____ Happened to Black Popular Music?

By AAJ Staff By Kenny Drew, Jr. April 6, 2006

I've decided to add this section to my website as a vehicle to
express my views on various topics, musical and otherwise, that have
been on my mind lately. You may wonder why I'm talking about popular
music in this first installment, since I am generally thought of as a
"jazz" musician. However, anyone who knows me knows that my tastes in
music are very eclectic (as are those of most jazz musicians, quiet as
it's kept). In fact when I started my career as a professional
musician,

I was not playing jazz. I started out playing in R&B groups and
Top-40 bands. We only played jazz if the club was almost empty! The
60s - 80s was such an incredible time for all styles of popular music,
but for the sake of this discussion I will concentrate specifically on
black music (or rhythm-and-blues, or funk, or whatever the hell you
want to call it).

Recently, I've been listening to a lot of my favorite music from that
time, and to be honest, I am disgusted and sickened at how far our
music has declined in the quality of the music and its message. How
the hell did we get from Motown to Death Row; from Earth Wind & Fire
to Ludacris; from Luther Vandross to 50Cent?

I remember a time in our music when songs had great melodies and
chord changes, you actually had to be able to sing or play an
instrument to become a musician, and Michael Jackson was black!

It's a sad commentary on our culture and society when the biggest
thing in popular music is an ex-crack dealer whose claim to fame is
being shot nine times, and one of the greatest entertainers in the
world was on trial for child molestation. If that's not a sign of the
coming Apocalypse, I don't know what is!

And if 50 Cent was really shot nine times, why couldn't one of those
bullets have hit a vital organ? Who the ____ was shooting at him:
Stevie Wonder? And as far as all these black rappers getting shot, how
about a little equal opportunity violence here? Can't somebody pop a
cap in Eminem's white ___ ?

Another issue in the decline of music today is the stupidity and
negativity in the lyrics and the video images that accompany this
so-called "music". I recently discovered that there is now a form of
rap called "coke rap", in which the lyrics deal mainly with the sale,
distribution and use of cocaine and crack.

I find it offensive that any record company would try to make a
profit from glorifying something that has decimated the black
community the way that crack has. I hope that one day while 50 Cent is
lounging by the pool in his humongous mansion surrounded by beautiful
groupies, he might consider how many lives were ruined by the poison
he used to sell, and how many more lives will be potentially damaged
by the musical poison he's selling now. "

Another issue in the decline of music today is the stupidity and
negativity in the lyrics and the video images that accompany this
so-called 'music'."

There's a video by Ludacris that I've seen of a song called "Act a
Fool". All I can remember about the video is that there were a lot of
shots of him and his boys running from the cops. Don't we have enough
young black men running around acting like fools without some idiot
rapper encouraging it?( But then again, Ludacris probably makes more
money in one month than I'll make in my entire life as a jazz
musician. So who's the idiot here? Maybe it's me!)

Remember when the lyrics in our music spoke of love or the loss of
love? Who can forget the uplifting messages of peace, hope and
spirituality in the lyrics of Earth Wind & Fire? Or the social
consciousness and protest messages in the lyrics of Gil Scott-Heron
and Marvin Gaye? How the hell did we get from "Just to be Close to You
Girl" to "Back That ___ Up B___"? How the hell did we get from
"What's Goin' On" and "You Haven't Done Nothin' " to "Me So Horny" and
"My Hump"? Last, but not least, it's time to address the musical
quality of this bullshit, or more accurately, the lack of it.

Way back when, when I first started studying music I was told that
music had to consist of three elements: melody, harmony and rhythm.
Rap music (an oxymoron similar to "military intelligence "or "jumbo
shrimp") has basically discarded the first two elements and is left
with nothing but rhythm. Since only one element of music is present in
most of this crap it doesn't even justify being called music.

Our culture has been dumbed down to the point where your average
dumb-ass American can't tell the difference between a truly great
musician and somebody who's been studying their instrument for a week.
Playing a musical instrument at a high level is no longer a
well-respected skill in our society. (I'm not 100% sure that it ever
really was.) In fact, to be honest, I think that most of the students
in music schools today who are studying jazz and classical music are
wasting their ______ time and their parents' money! (Boy, am I gonna
get in trouble for saying this!)

Why spend all that time mastering an instrument when you can just get
a drum machine and a microphone, write some asinine lyrics about
b____ , ho's and pimps and make a ton of money? Sometimes I wonder
whether I'm wasting my time in this cesspool called the music
industry. These days it seems like the only way to make any serious
money in music is to produce some bullshit that doesn't even sound
like music!

So what's the solution here? Damned if I know! But I did see an
encouraging story on the news recently. A billboard advertising
50Cent's new movie was put up in a black neighborhood not far from a
school. In the billboard 50Cent is seen with his heavily tattooed back
to the camera with his arms outstretched in a crucifix-like pose with
a microphone in one hand and a gun in the other. Understandably, the
community was outraged. They held protests, got some media coverage,
and eventually succeeded in getting the movie company to remove the
billboard.

I say that we use this as a model nationwide. I propose a nationwide
boycott of rap music; perhaps by picketing in front of record company
offices and major record store chains. Anybody remember the "Disco
Sucks" movement in the 70's? Maybe it's time for a "Rap Sucks"
movement now. Who's with me here? (Actually, looking back on the disco
era, that music sounds like Beethoven in comparison to the rap garbage
that's poisoning our airwaves now!) Maybe we could have a big "Rap
Sucks" rally somewhere. (As long as it doesn't escalate into a riot
like the "Disco Sucks" one did.)

Kenny Drew, Jr.


-cw-

__________________
Chuck Willard
The Willard of Oz

"Don't be afraid to see what you see."
Ronald Reagan

Annie

Kudos to him! That's what I'm talking about! It's great to hear someone speaking out!

__________________
~Annie

*I may not be great yet, but I'm working hard on it and one day I'm gonna be there.*

Manny Laureano

Here's a bit about the author:

http://www.jayweb.com/kennydrew/bio.html

ML

ebtromba

I believe Wynton and Spike Lee have similar opinions of rap muzak.

Isn’t it ironic that the main target audience of rap is white males, ages 16-25.

__________________
www.Ebtpt.com

Youri le god

Miles didn't think so