What's the point in being different?

[Audiobellum]

I try my best to create music that at least sound unique in the moment but, I've always doubted that people really want to gravitate to anything different. I'm not claiming that my music is the most unique sounding that there is. My instrumentals are original but, they're still grounded in a theory of harmony that has probably existed for hundreds of years. I just notice that doing something that is truly different will insight backlash for a few reason. If music is truly subjective, then doing something different wouldn't necessarily mean doing anything that was better than before as the idea of better presupposes some objectivity. So where do our standards for what constitute good music come from? Well, it seems that it comes from expectations that have been established over time. It doesn't matter how subjective music actually is, people like familiarity. This is why musical trends and common chord progressions exist. In order to do something truly different, one must go against musical trends. In other words, doing something different means doing something counter-intuitive. For example, jazz music consist of a lot of trends that were a deviation from what was previously established. They're also a lot of well established ideas in classical music and jazz music that just would sound awful to most people like polytonality. People will eventually accept change but, slowly. The reason why I'm posting because I'd like to see how people grapple with these ideas, especially the type of people who don't like the sound of mainstream music these days. I'm also going to be posting two very strange sounding instrumentals and I don't know what the reactions will be like. Speaking of instrumentals, I notice that there is a lot of threads in this section promoting music. Is that really okay? I'm not sure if that is against the rules or not. Will be looking forward to responses.

 

[2GooD Productions]

How can you express yourself when trying to sound like somebody else?
Timbaland created a whole subgenre by being different. Hiphop used to be about freshness and originality, then it turned to shit

 

[Audiobellum]

How can you express yourself when trying to sound like somebody else?
Timbaland created a whole subgenre by being different. Hiphop used to be about freshness and originality, then it turned to shit

I relate to the feeling. However, I need more than just that. I mean, is sampling of music really considered original? I think one can be original while participating in sampling but, people who are antagonistic towards hip hop might see things differently. They're folks who want rock music to be the dominate genre again and they suck. I just don't want to end up being the contemporary equivalent of those guys. As for Timbaland, his songs sound are really dope. However, they don't seem to be far out there were harmony is concerned.

 

[2GooD Productions]

Hiphop isnt just sampled any more, it evolved because of clearance costs

 

[OGBama]

Hip Hop @2GooD Productions turned to shit when so called fans weren't discerning w/their personal tastes and it doesn't help when media throws any bum who rhymes in the pile of "rapper" and there was always something for everyone who was willing to deeply listen and look for what style they prefer(red) discerningly but also musical elitism which is what every genre has is why I never put Hip Hop on a pedestal of any kind.

 

[Audiobellum]

Also, there is the problem of producers needing to eat.

Hiphop isnt just sampled any more, it evolved because of clearance costs

I know but, weren't the hip hop songs that used samples good? I think many of them are great and that's from someone who avoid sampling. Sampling seems to be a way in which the future speaks to the past in regrades to what was best, in my opinion. Don't you use samples?

 

[2GooD Productions]

hip hop isnt just music, it was a culture, an anti establishment culture that included break dancing, graffiti, scratch djing, and rapping. Its the clothes you wear and the mindset you carry. IMO hip hop has done more for racial unity than anything else. Work that is rapidly being undone by "progressive" identity politics and the victimhood olympics.

 

[OGBama]

Honestly @Digitali Musix people are antagonistic toward Hip Hop because of race, class, gender, etc. and people need to educate themselves about how Hip Hop is created through each of the aforementioned lenses. Unlike Rock, Hip Hop's inherent ageism prevents it from social maturity being acceptable. Nobody tells rockers who are legends to get their asses off stage regardless of health issues, etc. Think about why it looks, from an image view, stupid when rappers past their 20s dress and behave like teens and their friends. Think about why the idea of someone older than their 20s gets penalized in the corporate view of rap for wanting to make music that speaks to their lived experiences and the majority of men ain't swimming balls deep in bad bitches, liquor bottles and video prop blue money and the majority of women ain't bad bitches who stay late nights in the club.

 

[Audiobellum]

This is the realist shit I've ever heard all day. I agree with you 100%. I guess I'm just too much of a pessimistic bastard. Oh and agree with what 2GoodMusicProduction said able Hiphop culture. That's super real.

 

[OGBama]

Thanks @Digitali Musix and my views are colored, no pun intended, by me being a Black female who wants to and will make this music I love, so much I critique it out of love, and hate it, not for what it is (Trap, mumble, etc.) to current participants, but for the fact that people fail to be honest about the fact that everything Hip Hop was and/or is, is embedded in the soul (or soul-less ness) of the people who create(d) it. Hip Hop is regression, progression, gender wars, profane, vulgar, negative, positive, etc, everything we as people can be at any time. I live by this:

"We have to continue to celebrate and critique, to be on watch and be critical. Black music culture is a clock, a map, and a bloodline." Dr. William Banfield

“We can’t just blend in and be one, we erase who we are.” Portia Maultsby

"Once black music leaves its original context, it begins to take on different meanings and serve different functions, and it is interpreted very differently." Portia Maultsby

 

[2GooD Productions]

Also, there is the problem of producers needing to eat.

I know but, weren't the hip hop songs that used samples good? I think many of them are great and that's from someone who avoid sampling. Sampling seems to be a way in which the future speaks to the past in regrades to what was best, in my opinion. Don't you use samples?

Dont get me wrong, sampling is to hip hop what eggs are to an omelette, but my point was that most modern hip hop is composed now, its just how things evolved due to the extortionate clearance fees. Sampling made hip hop what it is today like christianity gave us our freedoms and human rights. I dont have to be religious to respect that fact or acknowledge it, its just credit where its due. After a recent heart attack I realised that I should just do me, if Im popular doing me then great, if not, so what. Just do you.

 

[2GooD Productions]

Thanks @Digitali Musix and my views are colored, no pun intended, by me being a Black female who wants to and will make this music I love, so much I critique it out of love, and hate it, not for what it is (Trap, mumble, etc.) to current participants, but for the fact that people fail to be honest about the fact that everything Hip Hop was and/or is, is embedded in the soul (or soul-less ness) of the people who create(d) it. Hip Hop is regression, progression, gender wars, profane, vulgar, negative, positive, etc, everything we as people can be at any time. I live by this:

"We have to continue to celebrate and critique, to be on watch and be critical. Black music culture is a clock, a map, and a bloodline." Dr. William Banfield

“We can’t just blend in and be one, we erase who we are.” Portia Maultsby

"Once black music leaves its original context, it begins to take on different meanings and serve different functions, and it is interpreted very differently." Portia Maultsby

fucking a!!!

 

[2GooD Productions]

I guess I'm just too much of a pessimistic bastard.

Join the club mate

 

[OGBama]

I @2GooD Productions and @Digitali Musix am likewise but in the interest of me wanting to develop my rap voice, I want to move away from my pessimism as it's a crutch when not tamed.

 

[2GooD Productions]

Take it from me, nothing like winning a couple of beat battles to get rid of some of that pessimism and self defeatism, which is my biggest problem, not believing in my music or the industry as a whole

 

[2GooD Productions]

One last thing. Be the change you would like to see. Pioneer it.

 

[Audiobellum]

I'm surrounding by people who would want me to make simpler sounding beats while being original and it drives me nuts. I know it sells and people have a tendency to listen to music with their eyes but, the easiest way to stand out seems to be by adding more complexity. What hurts me the most is that I know for certain that they don't want to hear anything new. I feel like I'm being pulled in two directions. Will be checking out those beat battles soon.

 

[2GooD Productions]

I'm surrounding by people who would want me to make simpler sounding beats while being original and it drives me nuts. I know it sells and people have a tendency to listen to music with their eyes but, the easiest way to stand out seems to be by adding more complexity. What hurts me the most is that I know for certain that they don't want to hear anything new. I feel like I'm being pulled in two directions. Will be checking out those beat battles soon.

Really you need to ask yourself some questions, like who do you make music for in the first place?
Do you seek fame and fortune?, if so become a banker or an actor. Being broke is part an parcel of being an "artist". With most "artists" only being appreciated once they are dead and gone. Are you a leader, pioneer and trendsetter or a follower of trends and fashion and other people?

 

[OGBama]

Simple @Digitali Musix matters for the cadence, voice and vibe. Rap songwriting is not an essay. Also get a job that pays infinitely more than music ever will and/or can as the art of making music is for everyone who is interested but the business is not for everyone due to elitism.

 

[Audiobellum]

Really you need to ask yourself some questions, like who do you make music for in the first place?
Do you seek fame and fortune?, if so become a banker or an actor. Being broke is part an parcel of being an "artist". With most "artists" only being appreciated once they are dead and gone. Are you a leader, pioneer and trendsetter or a follower of trends and fashion and other people?

Those questions are ones that I'm going to have to live.