“A great song doesn’t attempt to be anything – it just is.” (Carter). This is a quote from an essay written by Jay Z in a Rolling Stone article in 2011. Jay Z is a multi-platinum recording artist with many hit songs, including a few that are in Rolling Stone’s top 500 songs list. Because of Jay Z’s accomplishments, Rolling Stone felt that he would be a good person to ask about how to make a classic song. Jay Z references different songs and ideals on what he thinks makes a classic song, but is he really the right person to ask for insight on this topic? Jay Z is just a rapper, and we live in a time where it is more important for an artist to sell records than present a legitimate message, and the best way for one to that is to gain popularity.
Jay Z may be one of the most popular rappers ever, but other than his business ventures he is only a rapper. Jay Z may have worked with many different kinds of artists and producers but he has no personal experience doing solo work outside his genre. Looking beyond the fact that he is solely a rapper, Jay Z has in fact sold millions of records. Two of his solo songs, “99 Problems” and “Big Pimpin” are on the Rolling Stone top 500 list. However, Jay Z himself has admitted that his most popular song are not necessarily his best. “Some of my best songs aren't the biggest ones.” (Carter). Everybody has a difference in opinion and musical tastes, so one man, even if it is Jay Z, should not determine what makes a classic song. Especially if the person trying to determine is not skilled in more than on aspect of creating a song. By having a wider range of skills in music, one can better understand and pick apart a song and see if the pieces match those of a song that is widely considered a classi...
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...ieves that if he spends more than five minutes on a song then it would not work, but there a plenty of classic songs that have taken longer than 5 minutes to make, some of which are longer than five minutes after they were finished such as “Bohemian Rhapsody”. If someone as big in the music industry as Jay Z has proven differences in opinion of what constitutes a classic song as artists such as Queen, can anybody really determine what makes a song a classic?
Works Cited
"500 Greatest Songs of All Time." Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
Carter, Sean. "Jay-Z on What Makes a Classic Track." Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, 27
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Horowitz, Steven J. "Jay-Z Explains What Makes A "Classic Track"" HipHopDX RSS.
HipHopDX, 31 May 2011. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
"Searchable Database." Http://www.riaa.com. RIAA, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
There are a lot of songs to choose form when there is songs that break down norms and one that reinforce some. There are songs that mean nothing. Great songs always have a hidden mean behind them even if when listen to them we do not know what they are.
I was so interested in the truth that I suspended my assumptions about West as I pursued more information through research, giving me an objective lens. It truly rattled me to have been so wrong in my assumptions, it felt weird to know that because of something I didn’t know, I had believed something. It genuinely shook my self-confidence. I really prided myself on my knowledge of Hip-Hop, I thought I knew all the classic albums, how could I have overlooked this one for so long? So, jolted by this sting of self embarrassment, I searched further, I wanted to know what else I had been oblivious to. It became increasingly clearer to me that there were two completely opposite views about Kanye, the more popular view: he’s a worthless egotistical pop star, who’s created nothing of value, and, as I was shocked to learn over time, the informed view, and the truth, that he was and is one the most influential artists of the 21’st
Kanye Omari West, rapper, producer, professional celebrity, and with an ego to match, has forced himself into the limelight of the music industry. Kanye West has made a lasting impression on all of those around him, whether it be a good one or bad. With seven full length albums, a multimillion record label company, and a successful fashion business all under his belt, it’s fair to say that Kanye has done his fair share of creating. Over the last twelve years Kanye went from a young Chicago kid just trying to get his flows off, to one of the most decorated musicians of all time. With over 20 Grammy’s and 3 of his albums ending up on the Rolling stones “500 greatest albums of all time”. He has continuously created, entertained, and spoken his mind for years. Whether it be “George Bush does not care about black people” or “Taylor imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had
Many believe that the words of a song are what makes the largest impact on viewers, but on the contrary in an article posted by hiphopdx it states that “Like any form of art, there are those that are a cut above the rest. Telling a story is an art form in itself, whether you’re recalling a story to your boys at the bar, writing songs or making movies. A true storyteller can make an average story great, and a great story unforgettable.” (J-23) As many of these songs illustrate, it isn’t just the story, it is how you tell it. putting in those small, seemingly insignificant details, which make the listener feel like they are there. It is using a metaphor that captures a situation in a way that a description could never do. The songs that are so deep you could picture it like a movie in your mind are more powerful than any words of a rap song just sung to be sung. These are the songs that are almost cinematic to listen too. These are the types of rap artists that are down to earth, true to themselves as well as their audience, and also the artists that sing for the pure enjoyment to tell stories, not to be plastered on social media or to worry about how many instagram, twitter, facebook followers they have, or how many people bought or listened to their songs
Although “Reasonable Doubt” wasn’t a huge success, it showed that the young man from Brooklyn had skills and was not to be taken More importantly, it earned the admirations of stars as varied as Notorious B.I.G. to the Ice Cube. One of his songs even made its way onto the nutty professor soundtrack. Shawn’s career only went up from there. In 1997, Jay-Z's follow-up, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, peaked at #3 on the Billboard album charts, and helped establish his career and mainstream success. He continued releasing top selling records until 2003, when he announced the release of the Black Album as his last record.
Recently, rap has surpassed many genres of music. In the year 2017, eight of the 10 most listened to artists were rap artists. Artists like Lil Uzi Vert, Future, and Cardi B have many songs listed as the top 10 best selling tracks. What do all these rap artists have in common? They have the the three keys that make up the structure of a great rap album.
To say it lightly, Stanley Crouch does not like the hip-hop genre of music. The dreadlocks, the clothing style, and the "vulgar": gold chains are just a few things he does not approve of at all. (Crouch, 1 ) It astounds him to see how far African-American music has fallen since the days of the Motown. Stanley was quoted as saying this about rap, "It is rudeness, vulgarity, and pornography disguised as ‘keeping it real.'" (Crouch, 1) He also went on to say the hip-hop music genre has the worst impact of all music genres on our culture today. (Crouch, 2) Crouch believes one does not need much talent to become a successful rapper unlike the jazz greats he listens to all the time.
"Songs and the Civil Rights Movement." Songs and the Civil Rights Movement. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
My favorite type of music is country, and my least favorite is definitely rap. Music can have a powerful effect on the lives of those who listen, whether it is Country or Rap music. Just as people draw inspiration from music, music also draws inspiration from many sources, too.It is difficult to get to the root of creativity, but every work of art, including music, has a start. One’s opinion of what is creative or an inspiration will differ from person to person, which is why music is divided into genres. One characteristic of developing different musical genres, such as Country and Rap, is that it is created to preference individual taste. There are key aspects of Country and Rap music that contribute to the differences and similarities of
I feel that the narrative of thing is something that I enjoy the most. The songs to me seemed to have meaning. I believe this reasoning people go to a concerts in this new school age is because people enjoy their music and lyrics of the performer. Everyone singing together make the environment feel that they are a part of the concert when the artists want the people to sing along. The new hip-hop industry has artist wright about things that people want to hear, compared to old school hip-hop where they singed about actual life events. Hip-hop is forever evolving as to everything else in this world that is successful. Old school has evolved into a more narrative format that people can follow with. Such as Rap, it is still evolving; it is starting to get back into the club music with narrative bars so that its something you can dance to at a club. I believe that old school isn’t just evolving into new school; there are just a lot more different types of music to choose from. When it comes to old school I don’t believe that new school performances are as live as old school was. The difference in their performances shows as I viewed and compared the performances of the new and old school era. Music has always been a big part
Rap artists are still faced with numerous lawsuits despite taking care to avoid infringement. Jay-Z’s ‘Big Pimpin’ was “accused of using the flute melody from Baligh Hamdi’s 1957 Egyptian love ballad, ‘Khosara Khosara’” (Smith, 2015, para. 2). However, Jay-Z claimed to have successfully gone through all the proper procedures and licensing to be able to use the sample (Campbell, 2015, para. 6). Hamdi’s nephew, Osama Ahmed Fahmy, argued that Jay-Z should have “asked the family’s permission too, and that they purposefully avoided doing so because they knew it would [not] be granted due to Big Pimpin’s ‘vulgar’ and ‘risqué’ lyrics” (Smith, 2015, para. 5). The judge had ruled that the lyrics are irrelevant to the case and that by specifically using
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