Old and the New Pt 2

When I first started paying attention to hip hop is when Scott Storch arrived on the seen. He the mark of a producer who pretty much pionnered the cross between using complex musical elements into hip hop to diversify it. You may have never heard of him but you have heard of his music by working with such artist as Boyz to Men, Lil Kim and the list goes on (click link for more: SCOTT STORCH CREDITS ). Of course this also led to his downfall due to drugs which sounds very much like the rocktars from the 60's and on up. He's an example of a proudcer taking an artist roll very much like Philp Glass who uses the artistic approach to enhance who the artist is.

Old with the New Pt 1

There are very few producers who impress me and Ryan Leslie is one of those few who actually demand respect in his productions. He was able to take the idea of Harmonies and the complexity of more classical music and intertwined it with the form of modern minimalism in hip hop and r&b. Hip Hop started off as minimalistic as possible with just the use of samples but as technology has developed so has the thought process of conscious artist who are looking to diversify the what was becoming so dead that is why hip hop is still around it has ceased to be just one format but as a genre has mingled with other genres in order to create something new and fresh constantly.

Messages that you don't really listen to but your kids are

Last week in class we talked a little bit about just how when you listen to certain songs now that you use to long ago and hear the lyrics and you say...WOW WHAT WAS I SINGING!!!! As an uncle of boys and girls I've become more mindful of the things that I'm listening to especially when they're around me. These songs are usually the most catchiest ones that the kids gravitate towards so easily. So I actually tried to remember some brief recent ones that are pretty catchy and something that a kid may listen to and lo and behold I found two of obviously many.

Now this is what gets me, there are little kids in the beginning of this video and throughout it, were drinkin and dancin all night yea yea yea.....I defintely don't want my 8 year old niece singing about throwin down some bottles, not the greatest moment of my life if I want to protect my niece from making a fool out of herself.

This is something I threw in here because of the kids I see singing along! DRUGS, PLAYBOY MANSION......apparently this is ROCK STAR status and to maybe some above the age of 20 can handle a message like this without acting a fool but this is something kids are saying so you have this generation of kids that wanna be ROCK STAR's but are to cranked up on DRUGS to do much of anything. This is just something to be mindful of and things that I think about when it involves kids.

Opera & Musicals

Apparently this has been an on going debate with people defining what the difference is between an opera and a musical and no one ever seems to have a definitive explanation that separates the two. From what I've been able to gather Musicals are plays with song and dance while operas are sung primarily throughout the whole time. Now there are many forms of opera which is what makes it hard to have something definitive on how to describe it due to how it has changed over time. Here's a list I looked through which goes through different types of operas.
http://www.infoplease.com/search?q=operas&in=all&x=0&y=0&fr=iptn

Now I have my personal opinions of opera and what I think of when the word drops to mind which many of you may remeber from a movie long ago called the 5th Element.













Great movie for those who are into sci fi, now one of my favorite musicals has to be grease, Watching this as a kid I was drawn to the rhytms and songs that were being played from the t.v and for those who remember the legendary VHS!!!











Just for kicks I added the newest performances they've done lol good stuff Travoltas old but still got it!!

Swing It

In class we began talking about some of the swing music and how in that era is was pretty big. One thing that always blows me away is that no matter the way the music is played or what is played people always find a way to dance to it somehow. Those brave groups of individuals pioneer the steps to keep the music going. The reason I bring this up is the fact that dancing makes a lot of music popular because it now allows the listener to be a part of the song by using their body. If you think of the songs that get aired most today or heard mostly are songs that people usually dance to in a club, bar, etc. The link attached below is from a movie called "SWING BOYS", I brought it up in class because it was also a form of music that was raunchy for its time and if you look at the dancing that's done now you would probably agree that it's nothing like the way people normally dance today.

Combining Forms

Thinking back to how America is this this melting pot of unique forms of music I came across this song a while back called "bust your windows" by Jasmine Sullivan. When I heard it I automatically thought of the Spanish music I listened to growing up. This song had an R&B singer on it though so it through me in a loop but I can spot that Spanish rhythm anywhere it what I use to dance to. Tango originated from Spain although some say Morocco. It was in the early 1900's when women would actually dance by themselves. Later on the couples became added but that has a whole nother history to it. This dance form was soon to be considered immoral and in some places even illegal! The melodies and rhythm of tango was considered very flirtatious and it was for many good reasons, the way that the bodies linked together caused for much commotion.
Below is Jasmine Sullivan's song used in Step Up 3

Below is the ballroom tango that most of us see now and notice due to it being the most popular form which came together in Argentina.

Same Song Different Styles

So as class began Tuesday morning I began thinking about the different songs that I've heard done differently. This is a song done by an Artist name Omarion who was the former leader of a group now disbanded called b2k. Born and raised in watts California led to his influence in the various forms of music and dance which led to Christopher B. Stokes managing him.

As you listen to the original you can hear that the groove is something you could move to of course with it being produced by Timbaland that comes at no surprise. Now take a listen to the cover done of this song by Alejandro from boyce avenue.

The tone of the song completely changes, this is way more laid back really has that melodic feel to it. It also show the difference in influence that these artist carry.