Hathaway
Someday, We'll All Be Free
I'm an R&B/Soul head so the majority of the shyt I listen to is that. I spend hours searching for creative new artist to stan but the most of these new artist are chasing the money and not the art. Music is an art form and art is supposed to make you feel. Make you emote. Think. It's supposed to touch parts of your being that go untouched. I understand the need for wanting to let loose and just party. There is music for all of those "turn up" lifestyles. I get it. But I wish there was more balance. Let me explain further. Check out these lyrics from a few songs I was bumping yesterday:
I don't wanna rain on this parade.
But I'm starting to question the love that was made.
I'm not looking for just an affair.
I wanna love that is based on truth not dare.
You will not hurt my pride if right now you decide,
That you are not ready to settle down.
But if you want my heart then it's time you start,
To act like you're mine in the light and the dark.
Here's a song from a woman's perspective about a man she wants to be with but he clearly is not sure what he wants to do with this relationship. Look at the poetry. It's not overly wordy. It's not too dumbed down. Its perfect. It's like a conversation, only it rhymes. She's telling him she'd rather be told the truth than to be led down this road of un-mutual attachment. But also, if he chooses to proceed, then he has to commit. I love shyt like this. I've been on both sides of this situation with women and hearing this song was enlightening and brought back some interesting memories. Lets look at another one:
Early one morning while you were asleep.
I received a letter but there was no addressee.
I paid it no mind, in fact, I wanted to send it back.
But something I was feeling told me to open it.
It said "dear reader once close friend of mine.
I'm hoping this letter finds you in time.
Cause your love is ending and my life's just beginning,
With a woman that you hold so dear to you"
And it made me wanna say
I don't ever wanna see you again.
Tell me why did it have to be my best friend
That you were messing round with
I didn't wanna notice it.
I was true to my love for you baby.
Here's another song I remember being struck by lyrics. A guy gets a letter from his "best friend" telling him how he and his girl have been having an affair. I guess his guilty conscious made him reveal this affair to the singer. I always liked this song because of the way the songwriter told us this story. I was listening moreso for the story than I was the actual song. Again, it wasn't overdone and it wasn't too shallow. It was the perfect mixture to me. The effort that went into these lyrics always gained my admiration. When was the last time you got hooked on a song because of the story? Nas' "Rewind" comes to mind for me. I got one more.
I left my baby girl a message
It said I won't be coming home.
I'd rather be alone.
She doesn't fully understand me,
And why I'd rather leave than to cheat.
If she gave me some time, I can be the man she needs.
But there's a lot of lust inside of me.
And we been together since our teenage years.
I really don't mean to hurt her but I need,
Some time to be alone.
But when you love someone
You just don't treat them bad.
Oh how I feel so sad now that I wanna leave.
She's crying her heart to me
How could you let this be?
I just need time to see
Where I wanna be.
nikka you talking bout poetry. This shyt was some of the coldest lyrics I've ever heard. The truth wrapped up in this song. I know exactly how this man was feeling. I've been in that predicament so many times. You're with a girl that you've been with for a long time and you realize you're missing out. You can't ignore your primal urges but you don't wanna cheat on her. So what do we do? We call it off. We break up with her so we can go be the dogs we were all created to be. It's in our nature and many of us lack the will power to resist that urge. This song makes you wonder. If you love somebody, you don't do shyt like that, right? But you don't want to stick around and end up cheating on her. That would make the situation worse. So, it's better to just leave. Either way she'll be hurt. You gotta figure out which "hurt" would be best. You gotta figure out where you wanna be.
I could do this shyt all day.
Carl Thomas' I Wish
R. Kelly's When a Woman's Fed Up.
Trey Songz Cheat on You or Coming For You
Even some newer shyt like Summer Walkers Session 32.
Me and my wife would listen to these songs form the 70's, 80's, 90's and even 00's and I would tell her its fukked up that we'll never hear shyt like this again. Listening to Usher's U Got it Bad and I told her music will probably never sound like this ever again. Not just the lyrics but the musicality. The instrumentation. As a pianist myself, I listen intently for real instrumentation. Real keyboards. Real guitars. Real strings. Real drums. Real bass. Real horns. Real instruments. It's rare. Everything is computerized. I get it though. nikkas not growing up in church anymore like we were. They not being mesmerized by real musicians anymore. nikkas not flocking to the musicians corner after church service anymore to listen to the musicians jam out. nikkas not inspired in that way anymore. Inspiration is coming from other places. Those places are foreign to me. I barely even recognize R&B anymore. It's all blended with pop and trap music to form this horrid amalgam of hollow nothingness. No substance at all.
I hate that a nikka like Bruno Mars is carrying R&B on his back. He not even black. This our shyt. Just like when nikkas was tryna crown Em as the GOAT rapper after his 00's run. fukk that. This lil nikka Bruno talented though, I'll give him that. Went to his Silk Sonic concert with Anderson Paak in Vegas and it was the best fukking show I had ever seen in my life. But I noticed something, yeah he got the voice but all his musicians was us. That magic was being created by black men. Except for his guitarist. that nikka was Brazilian or some shyt
I digress.
A lot of these new nikkas are just in it for the money and chart success. We don't have many ARTISTS anymore. There is no more art. The substance is gone. When was the last time a song made you emotional? Like sad? Joyous? Fearful? Regretful? Hopeful? Even gospel music lacks those characteristics that it once had. Gospel nikkas are too busy trying to appeal to wider audiences so they mix their shyt to sound like Hip-Hop/Trap. I have no problem with being innovative but gospel is supposed to be separate form "worldly" music. It's not supposed to sound the same. nikkas is lost. I have no issue with entertainers wanting to make money. That is the goal at the end of the day. But we used to have nikkas that put the art of music foremost because they knew the $$$ would likely follow.
Think about that shyt. We'll never get anything remotely close to Thriller, What's Going On, Innervisions, etc. Nikkas are not trying to put together classic albums anymore.
Look at Thriller. Did you know that shyt had 9 songs on it and it was so fukking good that they made 7 of the 9 songs singles. Did you know that the fukking song Thriller wasn't even the 1st single? It was the last single released for the album. The album dropped November 1982. Thriller wasn't released as a single until almost a year later in November 1983. That shyt is crazy. We will never hear lyrics, production, singing, artistry on that level ever again.
I'm almost done nikka. One more story. I'm not sure which year it was but during Stevie Wonders classic era run in the 70's, this man was sweeping the Grammys every year. Well one year, some cac won Album of the Year and when he went up to accept his Grammy, the first thing he said was "I'm sure we'd all like to thank Stevie Wonder for not releasing an album this year and actually giving the rest of us a chance". The reverence to the God Stevie. He was on another level and other big time entertainers knew it. They knew they couldn't compete with his genius. They had no chance. Do we even have somebody like that today? Do nikkas revere Drake like that? Bey? Maybe Hov? He doesn't really do music anymore though.
TL:DR cliff notes - I hate that lyricism will probably never be at the forefront of musical artistry anymore. We don't really hear substance in our music anymore. It's all very watered down. Will that trend ever change?
I don't wanna rain on this parade.
But I'm starting to question the love that was made.
I'm not looking for just an affair.
I wanna love that is based on truth not dare.
You will not hurt my pride if right now you decide,
That you are not ready to settle down.
But if you want my heart then it's time you start,
To act like you're mine in the light and the dark.
Here's a song from a woman's perspective about a man she wants to be with but he clearly is not sure what he wants to do with this relationship. Look at the poetry. It's not overly wordy. It's not too dumbed down. Its perfect. It's like a conversation, only it rhymes. She's telling him she'd rather be told the truth than to be led down this road of un-mutual attachment. But also, if he chooses to proceed, then he has to commit. I love shyt like this. I've been on both sides of this situation with women and hearing this song was enlightening and brought back some interesting memories. Lets look at another one:
Early one morning while you were asleep.
I received a letter but there was no addressee.
I paid it no mind, in fact, I wanted to send it back.
But something I was feeling told me to open it.
It said "dear reader once close friend of mine.
I'm hoping this letter finds you in time.
Cause your love is ending and my life's just beginning,
With a woman that you hold so dear to you"
And it made me wanna say
I don't ever wanna see you again.
Tell me why did it have to be my best friend
That you were messing round with
I didn't wanna notice it.
I was true to my love for you baby.
Here's another song I remember being struck by lyrics. A guy gets a letter from his "best friend" telling him how he and his girl have been having an affair. I guess his guilty conscious made him reveal this affair to the singer. I always liked this song because of the way the songwriter told us this story. I was listening moreso for the story than I was the actual song. Again, it wasn't overdone and it wasn't too shallow. It was the perfect mixture to me. The effort that went into these lyrics always gained my admiration. When was the last time you got hooked on a song because of the story? Nas' "Rewind" comes to mind for me. I got one more.
I left my baby girl a message
It said I won't be coming home.
I'd rather be alone.
She doesn't fully understand me,
And why I'd rather leave than to cheat.
If she gave me some time, I can be the man she needs.
But there's a lot of lust inside of me.
And we been together since our teenage years.
I really don't mean to hurt her but I need,
Some time to be alone.
But when you love someone
You just don't treat them bad.
Oh how I feel so sad now that I wanna leave.
She's crying her heart to me
How could you let this be?
I just need time to see
Where I wanna be.
nikka you talking bout poetry. This shyt was some of the coldest lyrics I've ever heard. The truth wrapped up in this song. I know exactly how this man was feeling. I've been in that predicament so many times. You're with a girl that you've been with for a long time and you realize you're missing out. You can't ignore your primal urges but you don't wanna cheat on her. So what do we do? We call it off. We break up with her so we can go be the dogs we were all created to be. It's in our nature and many of us lack the will power to resist that urge. This song makes you wonder. If you love somebody, you don't do shyt like that, right? But you don't want to stick around and end up cheating on her. That would make the situation worse. So, it's better to just leave. Either way she'll be hurt. You gotta figure out which "hurt" would be best. You gotta figure out where you wanna be.
I could do this shyt all day.
Carl Thomas' I Wish
R. Kelly's When a Woman's Fed Up.
Trey Songz Cheat on You or Coming For You
Even some newer shyt like Summer Walkers Session 32.
Me and my wife would listen to these songs form the 70's, 80's, 90's and even 00's and I would tell her its fukked up that we'll never hear shyt like this again. Listening to Usher's U Got it Bad and I told her music will probably never sound like this ever again. Not just the lyrics but the musicality. The instrumentation. As a pianist myself, I listen intently for real instrumentation. Real keyboards. Real guitars. Real strings. Real drums. Real bass. Real horns. Real instruments. It's rare. Everything is computerized. I get it though. nikkas not growing up in church anymore like we were. They not being mesmerized by real musicians anymore. nikkas not flocking to the musicians corner after church service anymore to listen to the musicians jam out. nikkas not inspired in that way anymore. Inspiration is coming from other places. Those places are foreign to me. I barely even recognize R&B anymore. It's all blended with pop and trap music to form this horrid amalgam of hollow nothingness. No substance at all.
I hate that a nikka like Bruno Mars is carrying R&B on his back. He not even black. This our shyt. Just like when nikkas was tryna crown Em as the GOAT rapper after his 00's run. fukk that. This lil nikka Bruno talented though, I'll give him that. Went to his Silk Sonic concert with Anderson Paak in Vegas and it was the best fukking show I had ever seen in my life. But I noticed something, yeah he got the voice but all his musicians was us. That magic was being created by black men. Except for his guitarist. that nikka was Brazilian or some shyt
I digress.
A lot of these new nikkas are just in it for the money and chart success. We don't have many ARTISTS anymore. There is no more art. The substance is gone. When was the last time a song made you emotional? Like sad? Joyous? Fearful? Regretful? Hopeful? Even gospel music lacks those characteristics that it once had. Gospel nikkas are too busy trying to appeal to wider audiences so they mix their shyt to sound like Hip-Hop/Trap. I have no problem with being innovative but gospel is supposed to be separate form "worldly" music. It's not supposed to sound the same. nikkas is lost. I have no issue with entertainers wanting to make money. That is the goal at the end of the day. But we used to have nikkas that put the art of music foremost because they knew the $$$ would likely follow.
Think about that shyt. We'll never get anything remotely close to Thriller, What's Going On, Innervisions, etc. Nikkas are not trying to put together classic albums anymore.
Look at Thriller. Did you know that shyt had 9 songs on it and it was so fukking good that they made 7 of the 9 songs singles. Did you know that the fukking song Thriller wasn't even the 1st single? It was the last single released for the album. The album dropped November 1982. Thriller wasn't released as a single until almost a year later in November 1983. That shyt is crazy. We will never hear lyrics, production, singing, artistry on that level ever again.
I'm almost done nikka. One more story. I'm not sure which year it was but during Stevie Wonders classic era run in the 70's, this man was sweeping the Grammys every year. Well one year, some cac won Album of the Year and when he went up to accept his Grammy, the first thing he said was "I'm sure we'd all like to thank Stevie Wonder for not releasing an album this year and actually giving the rest of us a chance". The reverence to the God Stevie. He was on another level and other big time entertainers knew it. They knew they couldn't compete with his genius. They had no chance. Do we even have somebody like that today? Do nikkas revere Drake like that? Bey? Maybe Hov? He doesn't really do music anymore though.
TL:DR cliff notes - I hate that lyricism will probably never be at the forefront of musical artistry anymore. We don't really hear substance in our music anymore. It's all very watered down. Will that trend ever change?
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