What has happened to black music?

Bitch, I said what I said.

I’ve wondered the same thing for years. How could the same people who have produced the best music in the world degraded so much?

Wow I didn't realize she was singing about her "wart ass pussy" I totally misheard that.

Don't let Doja catch you calling her "black."

Music period, as promoted by the industry, is god-awful vocoder TikTok throwaway crap. There were articles this year about industry insiders saying that they don’t know what to do about it. I’m ready for rock music to make a return. Techno rap is unlistenable, especially these female vocalists with vocal fry.

Jesus.

Rap and hip hop were the downfall.

R7 But I do miss those artists from the late 80s that mixed singing and rap, like Neneh Cherry and D Mob.

r7 is the old timer who pops in to whine about rap and hip hop in all these threads

What happened to white music?

Fuck off, racists

Country music is still the same R10

Black music started going downhill around the time that the coloreds actually had the nerve not to sing in black face or asked not to have to fuck the husbands of their white mistresses.

I miss those golden days

Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Aretha...loved 'em.

It's almost as if fat, old, white gay guys aren't the target audience...

R14 So the Commodores created all of their music for white people?

This is black music made for white people. Black people listen to r&b.

R16 Every single one of them? Have you taken a poll?

Race music. That's what it was called on Billboard hit lists years ago. Then it morphed into R&B and from there -- I've lost track. Loved James Brown and Ray Charles through it all.

Maybe OP's 'black music' is any music sung by Black people.

It is kind of shocking to see the deterioration of black music. You go from Louis Armstrong. Ella Fitzgerald through great artists like Prince and MJ to the stuff today. Is there one great music artist today other than Beyoncé who is basically mediocre but not openly disgusting?

The output of the music industry in general has degenerated significantly over the last couple of decades. It’s not helped by the TikTok influence and the fact a lot of people have truly dire taste. There are still a lot of great artists out there, particularly in the alternative genre but not many break through to the mainstream.

R20, there’s The Weeknd and John Legend, but that’s about it.

That song at R6 is hilarious - like a Mad TV parody.

No melodies. No singing, Just talking over a beat.

You don't need any talent, just connections.

The death of Shirley Horn in 2005.

I jest. There are plenty of talented Black musicians working in all genres, including hip hop/R&B, and I know that OP is essentially a dog whistle. But I wanted an excuse to post a video of the peerless Shirley Horn performing in evening gloves (they were actually gloves to help with circulation, as she was diabetic):

Invaded by mealy-mouth Ni**ers.

Ah, r26 is the poster who wrote "You'll live" in the "My mom is dying" thread.

Better than Ella, Billie or Sarah!!

[quote]What has happened to black music?

It's degenerated in the same way that black American culture had degenerated.

I’m not sure, I don’t consume it.

Black music has always had a sensual, earthy side.

I really wouldn’t call Dionne’s Burt Bacharach hits or much of the stuff Ella and similar singers black music as it was written by white men. Blues, Motown, 70s funk, etc. yes. Still you’re right most of it sucks now.

The Dionne Warwick song OP references is not Black music. It is mainstream pop music, sung by a Black woman. Nothing more and you could say that for literally thousands of tracks by many artists of color in especially the 60s, 70s and 80s.

There’s a duo out now with an album called RAW, an acronym for Real Ass Whores.

I know that I’m going to get dragged for asking this, but isn’t it kind of idiotic to just assume that Black people only listen to certain kinds of music? I’ve met Black people who listen to everything from Justin Timberlake, to jazz, to classical music.

The fact that this shit makes money. They might as well be hookers, oh, excuse, sex workers.

I’m with Camille Paglia on this, the sexual revolution was one, girls, you don’t need to be doing this. It’s not shocking. It’s not pushing the envelope or liberating you.

I just assume anyone making this garbage or listening to it is low class with limited intelligence and trashy tastes. I just move on looking down my rich, white nose. Sorry, not sorry. Call it as I see it.

All American music is black music.

OP and people like r38 are talking like all black people sat around and decided that songs about WAP would be the anthem for black people everywhere. Stop being jackasses. A better question would be why hip-hop/rap/trap is now just the most popular form of black music, and why R&B is no longer on trend. There are many many black R&B singers who have gone broke in the last 10-20 years, wondering the same thing.

And also DL forgets that there are three generations between someone like Dionne Warwick and Cardi B. There are so many great black singers from the 80s, 90s and 2000s that never get mentioned either way.

holland dozier holland, gamble and huff, Curtis mayfield, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Thom bell, Lionel Richie, Quincy jones, prince, babyface, Rick James, all created.

Most of what does well now is a lot of copy and paste.

R38 I never mentioned black people. While I can see who performs that shit music, I have no idea who produces and finances it. Could be black could be white could be anything. And I know all kinds of people listen to it. I'm questioning the taste of these people, not assuming they are black. I am white which I made clear but that was the only time I mentioned race.

All those old songs about papa eating jelly roll were about pussy, too.

So true and so gnarly.

Doja Cat is half white. Her music reminds me of that side

To be fair white music today is also terrible.

It’s called hip hop. But real talk mainstream outlets won’t play soul music sung straight unless there done by white artists. They won’t play Jazmine Sullivan, Maxwell, Jill Scott, Aloe Black. Black artists have to be subversive or overly sexual negative stereotypes for mainstream play. And I’m talking about from jump that’s how I know its an agenda.

It is very a complicated subject matter. Btw Doja whom I’m not a big fan of rips hers verses on this track. Wordplay is sick. Sometimes you might just be too old to get it. Much better than Nicki, the better rapper, trash Rick James sampled dud.

[quote] It’s not pushing the envelope or liberating you.

I don’t think that’s what it’s about for a lot of these artists. It’s about bringing to the forefront what’s already been happening. How these women are a part of “that life” as they say. As in, if you’re aren’t from that life, you don’t understand it. Cardi B for all her crudeness, is an excellent rapper. Her lyrics, as explicit as they are, are really crisp and clean in their flow (I don’t know how else to describe it as I am not her generation) . She can be funny, crude even poignant (but only a tad). It pushed the envelope in terms of mainstream acceptance.

I am super sick of the explicit lyrics about sex in so much music today, but that’s because it’s still trendy. From another perspective it really speaks to just how prurient Americans mostly are that curse words and explicit sexuality came to be the fresh new edgy thing.

R1 and it sounds awful. Where is Diana Ross?

This is general aside, nothing to do with music. The current style for instaho women in general sucks. Ugly unflattering pointy witch nails, jewelry galore, gallons of makeup, fake looking lashes, clothes designed not for comfort but befitting a blow up doll or prostitute. Literal Only Fans pimping your pics for money. No one getting married anymore, just sleep with men for money.

Our society has declined and it is disgusting.

^ Now contrast that to the 70s where people were more into far out things.

Neither R&B nor rap has been good since the early to mid 00s.

For my money it has not been immune to the generalized mediocrity of all pop music of recent years. It is dominated by rap which for me is about anger and often intolerance, and hip hop which has long since stagnated.

Black music is R&B

Hip-hop is the culture and rap is the music.

Those are separate genres.

R54 Hip-hop can be used to express the culture and the music genre itself. The term rap came about in the 90s and can be used interchangeably with hip hop. But hip hop is a musical genre. Beyoncé is hip hop even though she primarily sings. Starting in the early aughts pop stars begin singing over hip hop beats.

Hip-hop is a sound as well. And black Americans say all of that—r&b, rap, hip hop—is their music.

R50 I'm not going to argue with you because it's not worth any of our time BUT Beyonce is NOT hip-hop. She IS part of the culture tho.

all mainstream music post 1935 is kinda bad

Hip hop sounds good.

The stuff on the radio currently does not.

What fucking century are we in? Black Music?

Bunch of old white fags here.

This is hip hop you dumb cow.

r58 = the ghost of Hoagy Carmichael

Put your tin-foil hat on for this: The people who own the record labels and decide what kind of music we’re going to get, decided that degenerate lyrics and dark, low-frequency sounds was better for us. Certainly not because they also own the privately owned prisons and profit from black kids being influenced by the music and committing crimes and going to prison. No one would do something like that. No one would destroy a community through music.

Rap is played out. Not to say there are currently not talented artists, but the genre has been around for over 40 years now. There's only so many avenues you can go down before the whole city has been traversed. Just about ALL genres are played out. That's why we now have so much over-produced, forgettable, disposable, synthetic music now, e.g., 'content'. Labels and artists have always cared about $$$, but, the cynicism and greed in music today is next level. Music is no longer formulated for the audience, it's formulated with hopes of being used for a pharmaceutical ad down the line.

Rap is played out?? Have you checked the charts..or the highest-grossing tour acts?

For whatever reason, the popular music of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s has proven particularly enduring. I was born in the early 1980s, and no one of my generation listened to popular music of the 1940s or 1950s. A number of 1960s songs were still played, and the 1970s and 1980s were quite popular.

I teach university students (who at this point were all born post-2000), and every semester we construct a Spotify playlist. Their tastes are either current hits, or hits of the 1960s-1980s. Lots of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd fans. I find it quite interesting.

Taylor Swift added rap?

I was born in the sixties. There was a connection between the music I listened to in the seventies through the early nineties and the music that my parents generation listened to - naturally talented singers and musicians who played real instruments. You don’t have a connection with modern performers now. It’s all about gimmicks and shock value.

AND GET OFF OF MY LAWN!

R66 - R65 means played out creatively / artistically -- just because an act is popular and makes money doesn't mean their music is any good.

As an example of this I will point out the current thread on Air Supply (who were once popular, are and always were terrible, and about as far from Hip-Hop as you can get.)

While we're here, what happened to country music?

If you can't write a song people will like without being crude, you don't know how to write a song.

While I do love this song, the actual music is just a sampling of Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love"

The main audience for rap is privledged white kids who

Who what r74…

R73 Derivative. Totally sampled. The lyrics are juvenile and nasty. Be better people. Be better.

R71 - Country has been Rock'n'Roll since the '70s.

R65 - Yes, and R66 - actually proves his point. The first comment is a reference to the music itself, the second comment references audience choices, two completely different things.

There is so much 'noise' in today's media, you have to get louder and louder and more and more outrageous in order to cut through that noise to get noticed. Personally, I'm waiting for Lang Lang to walk out on the stage, sit down at the piano, and then pull out a gun and shoot his brains out. He'll get all that wide media attention he craves.

Better than what, r76? I listen to many types of music. Right now, I am listening to a Mass of Dominique Phinot, and I've also been on a Shirley Horn kick lately (I posted above). I like highbrow and lowbrow and many things in between.

There's low brow and there's filth. And yes, we need to be better than filth.

"We," r79?

Speak for yourself.

I speak for civilized people. And yes, I am allowed to do just that.

[quote]I speak for civilized people.

🙄

Be better...

Lyrics Real Hot Girl shit, ah (And if the beat live, you know Lil Ju made it) Ay, bitch, I'm a problem nobody solvin' You can keep hating, I'm poppin' regardless He want a bitch look like Megan Thee Stallion Don't want your nigga 'cause I want his daddy I like to switch up my style every week I gotta switch up my hair every day I ain't no ho, but I do be on go And I promise my nigga's gon' love me the same I'm a Hot Girl, don't try it at home I wear the shit that be showing my thong I like to drink and I like to have sex I fuck the niggas that's cutting the checks Dance on the dick, now, you been served I like a dick with a little bit of curve Hit this pussy with an uppercut Call that nigga Captain Hook Ay, I go shopping, mmh, want it, then I cop it, ay, yeah Bitches boppin', mmh, I do it, they copy, ay, look He's a sweetie, mmh, kiss it when he eat it, ay, yeah Know it's good when you chewin' and you singin' I love niggas with conversation That find the clit with no navigation Mandatory that I get the head But no guarantees on the penetration (huh) I be texting with a bi chick We both freaky, just trying shit (mwah) Main nigga getting super jealous He don't even know about the other fellas I need a Mr. Clean, make that pussy beam (ooh, ooh) Okay, I just might need a baker, make that pussy cream (pussy cream) Okay, you woke up mad at me 'fore you ain't brush your teeth Mm-mm-mm, that's just super sad, fuck it, carpe diem, ah I'm so indecisive, you can't cuff me, but I'm wifey (but I'm wifey) I just want a nigga who gon' slurp me like an Icee (slurp me like an Icee) Bitches bite me so hard, had to put them on a diet (put them on a diet) Bitch, this ain't no tryout So lil' ho, you better not try me (ho, you better not try me) I got a man, I got a bitch I'm a banana, they gotta split (hey, hey, ah) One in your top, one in your tip (hey, hey) One for the club, one for the crib (one for the crib) My nigga fine, I wanna fuck Ice in his mouth, eat me up Rockin' his chain, wearin' his ring Gettin' some brain, ah, ah, ah Ay, I go shopping, mmh, want it, then I cop it, ay, yeah Bitches boppin', mmh, I do it, they copy, ay, look He's a sweetie, mmh, kiss it when he eat it, ay, yeah Know it's good when you chewin' and you singin' Hot Girl Summer, I ain't fucking with no drama, huh (fuckin' with no drama) He was tripping, so I hung out with his partner, huh (hey, with his partner) Fuck him good, introduce me to his mama, huh (to his mama) Thought he had me 'til I came out with the condom, huh (with the condom) Drinking D'USSÉ out the motherfuckin' bottle, hey (out the motherfuckin' bottle) I'm a rapper, not no motherfuckin' model, huh (not no motherfuckin' model) Got a nigga, but I think I'll have another, huh (think I'll have another) I'm too sexy to be fucking under covers, huh I know you know me, I ain't gotta introduce shit, hmm (introduce shit) Same crew, I ain't hanging with no new bitch, hmm (hangin' with no new bitch) I'ma buy it when I land, I rock new shit, hmm (bitch, I rock new shit) I ain't fucking with that nigga, I got new dick, hmm (whoa) Please don't try me lil' bitch You know I'm with that, hmm (bitch, you know I'm 'bout that) I'll break a ho in half like a Kit-Kat, hmm (like a Kit-Kat) Please don't ask me 'bout it If you know I did that, huh (bitch, you know I did that) Not a stylist, but I'll push your fucking wig back, huh Real Hot Girl shit, ah, mwah

Pure garbage

[quote] What fucking century are we in? Black Music?

The segregation is not coming from the white people.

Articulate yourself r85

I’m not saying this stuff isn’t negative as fuck but come on elders. You guys are smart. Realize you are very old now.

Young white people love this stuff even more so than black people. Us blacks will still listen to r&b with melody and conscious hip hop. Only educated whites like conscious hip hop. The white masses love the most ratchet degenerate hip hop. I notice increasingly so. When I was in military the young white guys love not J Cole or Kendrick but the most god awful ignorant hip hop. Wack trap beats and wack flows but saying the most salacious stuff. Trap can be done well but some of it is just crap.

And white people love old school blues more than black folk do…

Yes, R66, played out. Brilliant rappers still exist, but 99% of what is out there is unimaginative crap that will be long forgotten in a short period of time. Everything is 'noise' the purpose of which is selling the 'brand'. Same goes for country, which also rakes in the tour cash but is mostly barely intelligible stadium pablum. But people identify with the 'brand', so here we are. It wasn't always this bad. There used to be a level of craftmanship - even for fare meant for the masses. Now, the labels don't even bother as they can sell the brand.

I don't know that I can fault the labels, though. The majority of their target demos are now conditioned to constantly consume media that quickly evaporates. Why make something of quality that will easily be papered over by the next spectacle, whatever that may be?

And Mariah Sampled the Tom Tom clubs song at R73 on fantasy nearly 30 years before. Hopefully Chris Franz and Tina Weymouth made a ton of money from it.

With age comes wisdom. Stop demonizing people over 50.

R90 is correct. But she actually sampled Mariah fantasy because it has same rhythmic backbeat and references I can be your fantasy. Of course Tom is still getting paid regardless but I believe the sampled loop is directly from the Mariah song. Mariah’s fantasy actually samples a few songs. The final bridge and chorus incorporates Gap band’s outstanding.

It's never topped this classic.

Dear Shirley Horn Troll - I love Shirley too! Both her early stuff and the fabulous Here's To Life, which has special meaning to me.

Are you a fan of Nancy Wilson? I LOVE Miss Nancy.

R94 I love Nancy Wilson. And Ann Wilson too. But they’re white.

OP, I'm sure you didn't overtly mean to be racist. Though you kinda were.

But, I sort of get your point. I just don't think it's limited to "black" music or musicians of color. The music industry as we knew it has slowly imploded in the last 20 to 25 years, with the rise of things like Napster and then Spotify, etc. It's nearly impossible for more traditional artists of any race in any genre to make a suitable living with their music these days.

Some of the loudest and most vulgar acts are the ones capturing attention and sales. And without more powerful radio DJs or knowledgeable industry leaders to sort of nudge talented up and comers into the spotlight, the ones who get the attention and the radio sales are the ones who stir up the most shit and/or are the most vulgar.

And thus, we have Wet Ass Pussy. And thus, we have a song by some fat redneck moron about someone eating too many cookies sitting at number 1 for weeks.

Some of this is independent labels and "viral" stars coming up through grassroots. If they have a big/offensive message, the more attention it gets and the more $$$ it makes.

And like much of the mainstream media and news network/platforms, the big corporations no longer care who says what or how relevant, attractive or truthful the message might be. As long as it makes money, sells content and gets clicks and eyeballs, it's all that matters.

Through the years I've loved soul, jazz, R&B and early rap and hip hop. But "trap" bores me and so does anything with EDM vibes, songs that seem to be invented solely to blow out someone's car speakers and make that person the most obnoxious asshole in a 10 mile radius. And literally, all the male voices on today's rap/trap songs sound exactly the same, as do most of the women's voices, too.

NOT Nancy Wilson of Heart. She's white, yes.

The Nancy Wilson I mentioned to the Shirley Horn troll was a black woman who sang jazz and R&B music (as shown at R94).

The old stereotypes of rapey black men and slutty black women were true after all.

The black community have proven that they turn any place into Sodom & Gomorrah.

Look at how sexualized the Oscars have gotten post-2016 (aka #OscarsSoWhite).

I was recently lamenting with some friends about how glamorous the Oscars used to be into the 2010s.

Now, they look like the AVN Awards.

r98, don't you have a Klan meeting to get to?

There's still great black music out there in jazz, blues, soul, gospel and R&B. Sorry you don't seem to be listening to any of it.

Weren’t they saying this about blues artists in the 1910’s and 1920’s?

I don’t get why white people haven’t figured this out.

Black people invent cool. You won’t understand for another decade.

Thanks R98, I thought that once I stopped hanging out in bars and dealing with drunken racists that I'd be safe from the likes of you. Thanks for reminding me that trashy bigots are everywhere.

What r98 said is true. The Oscars are not as glamorous as they once were.

R50 thinks things were better when homosexuality was a mental illness and Jim Crow laws were on the books

Conservatism is a mental illness

R102 right. And the irony of what I presume to be a gay man referencing sodom and Gomorrah. I sometimes think these are fraus who have infiltrated our site. They post regularly on fun threads but on threads like this they post racist and homophobic.

Black neighborhoods are not Sodom and Gomorrah. They're dystopian nightmares.

If a white person like some of you posting here were killed in a black neighborhood, I'd have a fish fry. You are all toxic af. So full of hatred. I'd feel sorry for you but I can't. You don't deserve sympathy or anything a decent person would be capable of giving someone.

r96 Fuck off with your thoughtful commentary and well reasoned points!!

R106 There are plenty of black neighborhoods than your stereotypical slums of the inner city. LA has Baldwin Hills, DC has Pentworth and Fort Totten. There are countless others as well. Sucks to be a FAILURE in life doesn’t it.

WAP is subversively brilliant. But the culture at large is overly sexualized.

Susan Sontag, thank you.

Lazy ass rap spoken lyrics happened. The great singers have been told to be quiet. Some black guy with bad breath is yapping in my face. No thank you.

Who's that creepy girl shaking her booty at me? Oh yeah, Ice Spice. Oh yuck. Smells like ass.

[quote]But, I sort of get your point. I just don't think it's limited to "black" music or musicians of color. The music industry as we knew it has slowly imploded in the last 20 to 25 years, with the rise of things like Napster and then Spotify, etc. It's nearly impossible for more traditional artists of any race in any genre to make a suitable living with their music these days.

r96 I think this is the answer to OP's question and addresses the larger issue of music now in general. Artists with talent used to be carefully trained, styled and developed by labels. Now the market is oversaturated with artists on the internet, plus there is hardly any money music sales. You have to build your own following now, and then the label will come in to mass distribute. The system is built on followers instead of talent today, which is why quality has suffered.

Its interesting how people complain about WAP, but Khia went on about getting her pussy licked 20 years ago and people still love the song. The difference is Khia is a real songwriter and arranger who understands musicality. The lyrics were vulgar but she knew the basic fundamentals about what makes a hit song.

Did the budget cuts to public school arts also have a negative effect on the quality of singers and musicians?

Someone like Tracy Chapman would never make it today.

But then again, white "artists" these days suck just as bad too

[quote]DC has Pentworth

It's Petworth. Which, btw, some DL elder shrieked and rolled his eyes at me for even mentioning in a thread about DC five years ago or more.

I like do wop and smooth r and b.

R104 no, not really. It's more about the general state of things and Blac Chyna agrees.

[quote] Sucks to be a FAILURE in life doesn’t it.

You should see MY neighborhood, darling. You can't afford it.

And most black neighborhoods are dystopian nightmares.

R113 and the Khia song was one of one at the time. By that I mean, there wasn't 27 spots in the top 40 with the same/similar song. There's ALWAYS been raunchy music (hello, Millie Jackson) but the difference is that the mainstream music market is just saturated with the most attention getting noise now.

And as I said, I think a lot of the black male and female singers sound exceptionally similar, as do their songs, but I don't say that as a shortcoming of any of the artists - it's either what's selling or what someone is pushing, or both.

It's just as true that most white female singers sound similar - either whispery Billie Eyelash style or the weird pronunciations of words tic/vocal fry. Or they all want to be Adele or Club Chick #5, with melisma to match. That's what bores me terribly about the singing contest shows. Not a single person has emerged from that with a truly unique, new style. All of them are imitating someone who existed before. Which probably ties into the repetitive culture/lack of culture thread from a few weeks back.

I may be An Old but I also love some great, innovative, talented artists - current artists - who don't shy away from their blackness. Thundercat has been an absolute constant on my playlist, as has Robert Glasper and his collaborations. Meshell Ndegeocello is an absolute genius of the highest order and is woefully underappreciated. Corinne Bailey Rae just released an amazing album (she is NOT all about put your records on this time, b).

I like Doja Cat.

[quote]Black people invent cool.

Uh, R101 -- read the room. GAY people invent cool.

R121, I was just about to mention Millie Jackson's famous song about her wanting and getting oral. Lo these many years ago, when I was stationed in W. Germany and surrounded by black men in my barracks (well, men in general, but a lot of them were black), I used to argue with them about giving their women oral. [And yes, I was out when I was in the Army -- in the late 70s.] Anyway, the words I most often heard from them were, "If I was supposed to eat that, there'd be a knife and a fork down there." I assured them that if they didn't want to do it, I most certainly would -- so perhaps they should try it. Didn't go over well.

It was in that environment that I first heard Millie Jackson's song "All The Way Lover." If any of you young'uns want to hear what we used to call "soul music" with references to oral sex done well, without the vocals inducing vomit, prick up your ears and listen to this.

I'm sorry, I meant R120.

Millie Jackson was the SHIT. Nasty lyrics, but something classy about her.

I'm white, BTW.

Millie was not only the shit, but she was also Back To The Shit! Gotta love the cover.

Ok, just one more Millie Jackson post. Great song about losing her virginity. Very soulful.

This is sexually explicit material done the right way.

Queen Bey still keeps it soulful.

Donahue audience vibes in this here thread

Oprah ate all the good black singers.

[quote] [And yes, I was out when I was in the Army -- in the late 70s.]

r123 Kudos to you. Before "Don't Ask Don't Tell". Lol.

My first boyfriend was black and Navy back when you couldn't tell anyone.

Thailors at Thea. He told me some stories.

R113 Strongly disagree.

20 years ago that song was being called stupid and ghetto, just like WAP is today.

Not only that but southern rap in the 90’s and early 2000’s was considered the lowest of the low brow of hip-hop. Khia was barely seen as a rapper.

But like I said, that’s how it always is. Blues and jazz and rock and roll were considered disgusting.

Now this is one of the only surviving recordings of this type of “after party” music.

These were the types of songs being sung in the clubs and bars where they’d perform.

Only a few were actually recorded.

R10 What IS white music? Polka?

All white contemporary influences has its roots in black American slavery. And you guys who roll your eyes at that can go WAH WAH on your banjo, which was invented by slaves.

Lucille Bogan was a mess. Doja Cat doesn’t rap about banging a guy with crabs in his gaping asshole.

I guess Renaissance was TOO black for the queens here on DL.

SZA just released an album last year. She can actually sing. But maybe she doesn't count?

Janelle Monet & Doechii if you need less mainstream.

Doja is controversial but her song "Need to Know" came out 2 years ago and is a very good track.

Ashanti is still performing live vocals out here.

You all do type old.

[quote][And yes, I was out when I was in the Army -- in the late 70s.]

No snark here. You were a good and brave man. More brave than a lot of men back then. I'm young enough to be your son.

We need more of this:

[quote] I guess Renaissance was TOO black for the queens here on DL.

I preferred Lemonade. I have respect for Beyonce but the fact that a dozen or more songwriters have to craft her tunes shows, and especially showed re Renaissance. I really felt she was exploring fantastic new territory in both 4 and Lemonade.

[quote] Janelle Monet & Doechii if you need less mainstream.

Janelle MONAE had two fabulous albums (ArchAndroid and Electric Lady) but her last two have been shamelessly aimed at the mainstream market.

[quote] White people are ignorant

You have your own biases and isms, dear. The fact that I don't know the name or recorded material of every Billboard charting artist does not make me "ignorant." If I'm unaware of someone's work, it may be more my age than my skin tone. I just don't think the wide swath of human culture is contained within the music charts or on the radio. I don't look to chart positions or let other people's likes or dislikes determine how I appreciate music and art. It either rings my bell, or it doesn't.

Lucky me, I have a stalker at R27.

R139, well clearly my comment does not apply to you since you seem informed on "black" music--a bias built into the OP.

Point being good music is still being made, if one cares to look.

Don't link mainstream crap on here and claim "what happened to black music."

Pop music today in general is shit. Every white artist wants to be Rachel Dolezal and every black artist is either going to warble or sound angry all the time. It's just a sign of the times.

R142 Don’t ever lie on Queen Bey again cunt.

[quote]If a white person like some of you posting here were killed in a black neighborhood, I'd have a fish fry. You are all toxic af. So full of hatred. I'd feel sorry for you but I can't. You don't deserve sympathy or anything a decent person would be capable of giving someone.

Oh, the irony.

I happened to stumble on " We Are the World" once again and realized that the old singers ( of all colors) could really sing and needed no studio enhancement, or dancing around in skimpy outfits, or singing filthy lyrics. Just good music.

R145 Agreed just like the Queen.

[quote] If a white person like some of you posting here were killed in a black neighborhood, I'd have a fish fry. You are all toxic af. So full of hatred. I'd feel sorry for you but I can't. You don't deserve sympathy or anything a decent person would be capable of giving someone. Oh the irony….

They are RIGHT. Anti black sentiment in Datalounge is at an all time high. As well as pro white nationalism and all the other isms many, of not all GWM Dataloungers love to celebrate without being one bit sorry….

R131 what kind of stories did he share? If you don't mind telling a couple. I was always curious what military life is like for gays who enlist.

R146 fuck off with your pathetic "queen bey" worshipping teacunt. She's not the only black female artist that exists and far from the most talented. The emperor has no clothes and you have mush for brains.

Today music is seen as a young persons industry.

It’s not just hip-hop.

I remember being a kid loving songs like “Run Around” by the Blues Travelers or Natalie Merchant.

Kids today would turn their nose up at that music. The artists were old looking and ugly.

Like the younger kids who work at my job were horrified when I showed them the music video of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” because they only know the recent cover version.

I think they just grew up in a very visual image based social media world where everything has to be flashy or glamorous or skanky to be appealing.

R149 she is the most talented. Followed by Erykah Badu, Alicia Keys, and Billie Holiday.

R149 She won a Peabody award. Awards and critical acclaim that cannot be bought. They have classes on her at Columbia. Deal with it.

I blame Madonna

[quote] If a white person like some of you posting here were killed in a black neighborhood, I'd have a fish fry.

That is truly one of the saddest and most fucked up statements I've ever seen on the DL.

R151 Alicia Keys was a gimmick created by Clive Davis.

Her boyfriend wrote most of her music and she can’t really sing or play the piano. She’s actually a terrible piano player.

R155 Yousa lying ass bitch. She is a classically trained musician. Plus I’ve witnessed countless live music performances in which the instrumentation was coming from her mafuckin fingers on the keyboard.

Don’t lie on another black person, ho. 1st warning.

[quote] followed by Erykah Badu…

Nah, she is the queen in my book. Love her music, looks and charitable works. No comparison to Bey.

That is actually right, R153. Madonna has released some fantastic music and has built a timeless mystique around her public persona, but this is only because she relied on the best songwriters, musicians, stylists and publicists in order to support her meager talents. Yes, she is a charismatic woman with a forceful personality, but we cannot deny that she isn't really good at anything, plagiarized endless ideas from niche communities and misrepresented them as if they had been her own, and constantly relied on tawdry gimmicks and promotional scandals. She may not have been anywhere near as awful as what we have now, but she is responsible for starting a downward trend that has ruined popular music.

Thanks for the sermonette r154.

[quote] Alicia Keys

[quote] Her boyfriend

Alicia is as dykey as they come

Erykah Badu actually might be the most talented contemporary female musician. Her vocals and storytelling are unmatched. I love me some Queen Bey. She is a goddess but she so big now could never do a small intimate show like this.

Erykah is fantastic, though I think she's either lost the plot a bit or just doesn't have anything else to say....or has been encouraged to stay out of the spotlight due to her political/philosophical beliefs.

Mama's Gun is amazing and Green Eyes is a masterpiece.

Ok, I know I am old at 48 years of age, but OP actually referencing singers from the 60s and 70s. You do know there have been a slew of black artist with great voices since then, don't you? Since you are positioning yourself as someone in the know, maybe you should look into them so you can update your references. And you are talking about POP artist and not Rhythm and Blues artist. If you want to hear good singing, you can rely on the Pop Charts - those have always been hit or miss - at least for the last forty years.

Pop is about packaging and selling units, especially now that the music industry is investing zero dollars in artist development. Artist are just products that check off a list for each genre. Lizo might as well be Dua Lipa might as well Olivia Rodrigo might as well be Doja Kat - packaged products.

As far as Rap and Hip Hop are concerned, there is still a process for rising up in the ranks in the streets that has always been, through mixtapes. And rappers like Cardi B and Nicki Minaj have done that. They are still somewhat in more control of their careers than others coming up behind them.

^ you CAN'T rely on pop charts.

Y'all disrespecting and forgetting

MISS

ANITA BAKER!

Never a queen of the pop charts but FLAWLESS FOREVER!

R163 you aren’t old at all. Before even reading the rest of your post I had to tell you 48 is not old now or even a decade ago.

Baybeeeeee!

The Beyhive is all the proof you need to know how much black music has declined.

R168 You were saying?

Black Excellence can never be diminished no matter how much you lie about our intellect.

But honestly Bey is as commercial and corporate a product as is Adele and Taylor.

And that's no disrespect to Beyonce herself, she has talent and I don't want to minimize her achievements. Of the three I can at least appreciate some of her work. But they have all been arranged, packaged and sold. There is nothing original or organic about any of those three.

Every image/post/song/lyric/vibe they put out has been carefully designed, developed and vetted to reach a wide audience.

I don't deeply disagree R168 but I just think it's not limited to one genre or cluster, ALL popular music has declined. As with other channels and corridors of culture, there is very little in the way of fresh content, only pastiche and recycled vibes.

I don’t know that I agree Madonna is to blame for any of this. The internet completely changed the game for the music industry. They’ve been in a panic since before 2010. Madonna was her own thing. Her own enterprise. I can’t think of any artist that I believe has been created (for lack of a better word) by a record company to walk in her footsteps. Or maybe I should say, marketed to be like her. I may not be 100% a fan of hers, but I will not deny she is a force. She made her own rules.

[quote]Don’t lie on another black person, ho. 1st warning.

You can be normal Teacake and then you post dumb shit like this. I can’t even tell if you’re joking or not.

If the video at r169 isn’t proof of how prepackaged she is, then I’m Prince William.

I have the poster blocked (Teacake, right?) but yeah, prepackaged. Like those vending machine burgers that some office building cafeterias use.

Beyoncé is known for getting more talented competitors blackballed from the industry.

Everyone young and educated loved it.

According to you losers Beyonce is the most powerful force in music ever. More powerful than Quincy Jones, Clive Davis, Sean Puffy Combs, and Dolly Parton combined.

No one got Keri Hilson blackballed. The streets stopped fucking with her after she foolishly made a diss track in which she stated that a woman(Beyoncé) who was not even 30yrs old yet should slow down, stop doing music, and have some babies. This from a self proclaimed “feminist” and Emory University graduate. She played herself big time.

And if you think thin voice Keri Hilson who is absolutely beautiful in person btw is more talented than Bey then I can’t help you. She is a cute little pop songwriter tho.

I never asserted Queen Bey wasn’t a commercial product. I don’t know why people are so pretentious about music. You will gladly see an excellent Hollywood film that is perfectly acted, great screenplay and art direction but when it comes to music it’s different.

Why is commercial bad. I like good music indie or corporate. The end results is always what matters.

Oh yes r174. It’s known. Where’s karma when you need it?

Just maybe some folks simply don’t think that Beyoncé is all that…

Lizzo has some catchy music. She can sing and write songs. Rihanna is fivehead trash with no vocal ability. It’s good for her that she’s becoming a successful businessperson because she’s not a good singer at all.

And black male singers have gone the way of the 🦤.

He may be controversial, but Chris Brown can sing.

So can Johnny Gill:

and Tevin Campbell can SANG!

R181 You betta say that or I’m gon’ beat’cho ass bitch!

is the roof, the roof, the roof still on fire?

A few posters here done brought they matches, hunty!

Giveon can sing. If anything his voice is even better live. This is not a live performance linked below though.

[quote]but OP actually referencing singers from the 60s and 70s. You do know there have been a slew of black artist with great voices since then, don't you?

r163 I said the same at r40...some people here forget that there are many outstanding singers that came after the 60s and 70s. r162 mentioned Erykah Badu, who is perfect example. Erykah has been in the business almost 30 years now. And she is absolutely not out of the spotlight, she may not be charting with artists her kids age, but she still tours extensively and has hosted the Soul Train awards a zillion times.

Tevin Campbell, Lauryn Hill, Faith Evans, Kelly Price, Brian McKnight, Wyatt, Cece Peniston, Brandy, Nicci Gilbert, Chante Moore, Jill Scott, Toni Braxton, Monica, D'Angelo, all talented black singers who have been at it for decades, still getting overlooked in favor of the older artists, or dead ones! Its time to give these people their roses.

I have to admit I don’t know Jill Scott’s music. But I was a HUGE fan of that HBO series that she did with Anika Noni Rose.

R189. Nice so you discovered her through HBO.

WAIT...Beyonce won a Peabody? For standing around getting her nails did while thousands of people created for her?

R191 You are a fucking idiot. Artists produce something called records. She didn’t win a Peabody for a live performance you feeble minded cunt.

R191 Stay mad cunt.

Speaking of Khia....she recently got into it with new rapper Sexxy Red, known for her song Pound Town in which raps: "My pussy pink my bootyhole brown", claiming she didn't influence modern rappers.

r194 Khia is live on Youtube RIGHT NOW taking calls about this 🤣🤣 this is why love her

Khia is one to talk. She had one of the most legendary rap Ho songs ever put on a track. My neck, my back, lick my pussy and my crack.

Just like everything else we now longer have educated gatekeepers. The trash is taking over the world.

I totally understand having favorite musicians.

I will never understanding getting so personally invested in those musicians past age 17.

R192 Did I specify live performances, you fucking donut? Read my post again--this time slowly and out loud. If you need me to explain it to you, I would be more than happy to do so. But I fear we'd BOTH be disappointed with the outcome.

[quote]Giveon can sing. If anything his voice is even better live.

Here he is live.

R193 for the love of christ teacake will you shut the fuck up about Beyonce?!! This could have been a great discussion about contemporary black music but you're derailing with your pathetic beehive stanning. You're just like her you know, you don't let other black artists shine.

Teacake is stupid and bipolar.

I adore and love Teacake. My favorite poster! Stay mad, haters!

Teacake, you do you girl!

Teacake is a cunt

T__C_K_ _S _ N_____ C__T

Why don't you just ignore him and move with on your conversation about music, avoiding any post that he contributes? The answer is so simple, but maybe, those who complain really want it to continue. If that's the case, the thread is over.

[quote]Khia is one to talk. She had one of the most legendary rap Ho songs ever put on a track. My neck, my back, lick my pussy and my crack.

Khia had the original “my pussy” song, but now she’s trying to act like she’s above all these current hoes. Yes they’re just copycats of her, but she’s just as ratchet as they are.

Welp r207 according to Khia's live last night, she never had to "lick the doo doo crumbs out a n*ggas ass" to get a hit record, and she kindly reminded those who were viewing that she "writes her own shit". So in her mind she is a class above these current hoes! 😁

R208 wow, Capote would be envious of her prose.

The nice thing about white trash is you can call them out for trashy behavior, but hood trash… you’re “racist!!!”

The casual racism. Fuck off. There are amazing black artists out there for those who care. Op, you listen to your local Z100 station and think that’s the epitome of music.

R210 Hoodrats are trash because of systemic racism so it's not their fault. White trash are that way because of personal choice and lack of education.

Great black music is still being produced, but all of the publicity and exposure is going to the shitty hip-hoppers. Just look at the nominees for music awards.

I find myself listening to the ‘best of’ compilations these days. I hear music on car radios when I’m in my Uber and I have no clue what I’m listening to. Other than most of the songs and voices sound pretty similar to my ear.

I really liked that period of music in the very early 90s. I guess you could describe it as a transition. Between 80s pop and 90s “urban?” Like Vanessa Williams “The Comfort Zone” or Donna Summer “Mistaken Identity.”

[quote]and she kindly reminded those who were viewing that she "writes her own shit".

Is Khia trying to insinuate that Cardi the illiterate dumbass and Megh the Horse didn’t write that Bongos shit??

Wet Ass Pussy sums up so much about our “culture” now. That’s pretty much where it’s at.

White music is also in the shitter so I don't see the point of bringing race into it

Maybe because the reasons for its deterioration is different than that of white music?

[quote]White music is also in the shitter

It’s not.

[quote]Hoodrats are trash because of systemic racism so it's not their fault. White trash are that way because of personal choice and lack of education

It is their fault. Please don’t act like these people have no agency. As a black person I take offense to they can’t help it. Of course they can. It’s hard as hell. But human beings have choice. Not for nothing that is white liberal racism - as if they have marbles in their head and can’t navigate basic human interactions.

I WILL say this though. You all are discrediting the crazy word play and skill it takes to write some of these songs. A lot of them are mu guilty pleasure. They make me laugh and some of the lyrics just keep going, folding in on themselves, double entendres, sometimes triple. You can take it at face value. But sometimes I’m like damn, that’s so funny and creative. The subject is ratchet but I love the word play.

Where the hustlas, who ain't stingy with the tricks I'm only sittin' on the dick if he a money making bitch I show 'em I know how to throw it back if he can pitch We can switch, I can be the nine and you can be the six Give me shoes, give me jewels, put a slurpy on my wrist Got a zoom in the afternoon, boy, you gotta dip It ain't rude, it's a ruse, I'm just stickin' to the script My six inch heels click, leavin' Louis prints

Or

My ex used to act like he owned me / Ain't enough just to treat me like a trophy / I had that, passed that, knew I had to trash that / Bounced on his ass, turn that boy into a flashback / I'm a 5 star bitch with the price tag / Gotta find me somebody that could match that

My last one got on my last nerve / Made me go change my passwords / I hit the curve with bad swerve / You know I get the last word

Pull up in my hood best dressed (best dressed) / Next thing, upgrade, who's next? (Who's next?) / Rich boy got him on deck (on deck) / Good boy, tell that nigga fetch, I / Put my new man on a leash (on a leash) / Traded in my old nigga, he was just a lease / I ride around town 'til I leave / I gave the boy a round spin him back to the streets

THAT's what happened to black music, OP.

R203 was feeling the love until your last statement. Don’t ever disrespect me you wild cunt.

[quote] what kind of stories did he share? If you don't mind telling a couple. I was always curious what military life is like for gays who enlist.

r148 Oh, it's just that there was so much sex on the ship at sea. This was Navy when there were no women on the ships and they'd be at sea for months sometimes. Of course it was all secretive and on the downlow.

r224 Teacake, I never liked it when gay men call other gay men female names. It makes me cringe but it's just so de rigueur here I ignore it.

Well, we can see what happened to OP.

[quote]Sexxy Red, known for her song Pound Town in which raps: "My pussy pink my bootyhole brown"

Bleach dat shit.

White kids are buying all this shitty music. Blame them.

"My pussy stink my bootyhole blown"

[quote]White kids are buying all this shitty music. Blame them.

It's always whitey's fault.

Always R231. I’m ready to move to Europe.

There’s actually a lot of great music out there but the stuff that gets into the charts, is by and large, pure trash. It’s the same when I look at, say, the top movies or tv shows people are watching on Netflix. A lot of it is cheap, tacky, lowest common denominator garbage. A snob I may be, but I stand by the observation.

I guess the title of the thread should be What has happened to Black Popular Music. There was a time when the black popular artist were Anita Baker, Luther Vandross, Sade, Billy Ocean, Whitney Houston. Even in the 90s Mary J. Blige, Guy, Jodi, Boys 2 Men, were popular artist.

But things shifted in the entire music industry when getting music for free off the internet became pervasive. There was no more money in nurturing an artist if what they were going to produce would just be stolen. So Producers became King and artist became filler. The industry became more about producing one-off multi million dollar commercial hits than albums - making music not for the ages, but for now.

There are plenty of popular black artists still making quality music:

Beyoncé, Anderson Paak, Chance the rapper, J Cole, Kendrick, Maxwell, Mary J Blige, Jay-Z,

It’s just that the most popular or streamed among teenagers and 20 something’s is the most demeaning vulgar for the sake of being vulgar crap. And we still place high emphasis on youth culture. I listened to vulgar hip hop growing but it was done within a story. Now it’s just like:

Pop my pistol, suck my dick while I lick your bootyhole.

Guess I’m finally getting old.

Don’t singers and musicians make the bulk of their money from touring?

Probably not so much anymore. Touring costs a fortune and the cost of everything continues skyrocketing.

R236 Yes. That and publishing rights.

Well if it's any consolation, the City Girls latest album (Real Ass Whores) is barely charting. They blame it on poor management and the pandemic ending. Both things might have some truth to them, but I think the real reason is their extremely limited talent.

Santana is actually a better rapper than both of them combined and his career will probably be longer.

Those Real Ass Whores look totally hideous.

Most pop artists are too reliant on visual gimmicks - garish outfits and hairstyles. And don’t get me started on the tattoos. It’s gotten so prevalent that even the worst singers in the world can be successful if they look like ass.

Stunning and brave.

Here is a beautiful moment in music from 4 months ago. I wish this group would do a tour. Babyface is such an amazing musician.

This is a classic from a while back - She Said! My favorite lyric is "I love to hear nookie fartin'"

R244 so cliche just repeating the same shot over and over.

“Yeah Lil mama I heard she a freak…”

Lalah Hathaway is an amazing contralto

"black music" is so diverse, comparing Lalah Hathaway, Beyonce and the City Girls is like comparing apples, oranges and bananas. Moral of the story, don't box in music created by black artists