Janelle Monae HAS to be an Industry Plant.

trillanova

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she's a media darling getting a push because she's a black liberal queer feminist.

however...janelle is not a plant.

she's an established act that people find "interesting" so she's getting a push. she also supports leftist politics so she's gonna get shine because the people who own media find that to be the "in" "sexy" "intellectual" pseudo bullshyt they're trying to feed to millennials.

again, she's getting pushed, but not a plant.
 

Tribal Outkast

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She’s on her 4th album and the latest one is the worst out of her albums IMO. She been dope since the beginning that is all
 

FeverPitch2

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I can read through the rest of this thread later. Let cut to the nitty gritty.

Q: Is she talented?
A: Yes, definitely
Q: Is she unique?
A: For sure.
Q: Why doesn't she sell records?
A: Her music isn't that good. She cant write a song to save her life. She's so hung up on her cockamamie ass "concepts" and statements that she forgets the number one rule of music: It gotta be jammin. Period.
Q: Why is she so popular then?
A: Because she's safe. In a few ways.

She's the artist you say you like in order to look cultured, not because you actually like her music.
Erykah Badu was what Janelle Monae is supposed to be. She's supposed to be Erykah's and Lauryn's successor.
The reason why Erykah was successful is the same reason why her career is quiet now. Erykah really is a weirdo.
She's gotten much weirder as she's aged. By the time she's a senior citizen, she's gonna look like Sun Ra.
Janelle Monae is posing. She would never pull the Window Seat stunt.
Janelle talks that good shyt but it's not believable. She's too little, too pretty, too uptight, too mousy. She got no edge.
Lauryn Hill was also tiny and very pretty, but 1) her album was jammin as fukk and 2) Lauryn has a serious edge to her personality (which allows her to bully people).
So by cacs having JM around as a mascot (the same with Common, John Legend, or Chance), what they're doing is trying to pass themselves off as deep, cultured, intelligent, empathetic, well-rounded, soulful and un cac-like.
The reality is that those people I named talk good shyt, but they don't scare cacs. They, in fact, make them comfortable to the point of feeling good about themselves.
It's much easier to talk about how men aint shyt for JM, than to talk about how cacs aint shyt.
It's much easier for Common too coo about "lahhvve" than to take enemies of love to task.
It's much easier for John Legend to skin and grin than to sing the grimy and aggressive John Stephens shyt about checkin nikkas about they bytch and being a full on proponent of having side hoes.
Janelle Monae checks boxes for those who run the glamor industry, and as long as she's happy with that you'll keep on seeing her everywhere.
She's pretty, she's woke, she's stylish, but she's not really gonna offend anybody.

 

Insensitive

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She had a whole team she doesn’t down play them at all .
They write on each other stuff .

They actually compose the music and record live .

Just like the old days who the fukk is still doing that .

Man I remember watching the making of arch android I was amazed at how they came up with stuff .
A lot of the artists I listen to these days still do that.
They're mainly Jazz musicians with a smattering of Black musicians who play Blues, R&B, Neo-soul etc.

Janelle is great however when it comes to her approach to recording, I don't think she's unique in that regard.

Her musical brilliance IMO against someone like Kamasi Washington or Robert Glasper is put into perspective.
Even against female contemporaries like Esperanza Spalding, Somi or Goapele, Janelle seems less astonishing.


I mean when she's up against the Tinashe's of the world of course she'd look incredible and wide ranging but that
speaks volumes about where Black Pop vs. where it used to be.
 

ThiefyPoo

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A lot of the artists I listen to these days still do that.
They're mainly Jazz musicians with a smattering of Black musicians who play Blues, R&B, Neo-soul etc.

Janelle is great however when it comes to her approach to recording, I don't think she's unique in that regard.

Her musical brilliance IMO against someone like Kamasi Washington or Robert Glasper is put into perspective.
Even against female contemporaries like Esperanza Spalding, Somi or Goapele, Janelle seems less astonishing.


I mean when she's up against the Tinashe's of the world of course she'd look incredible and wide ranging but that
speaks volumes about where Black Pop vs. where it used to be.
Yea against those contemporaries she does seem less astonishing .

She is still great and her music is amazing to me .

The song her and Esperanza had on her second album was dope .

 

SouljaVoy

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Think about it... Janelle Monae always has this hype around her, but I never met nobody that listens to her.
Also her music don't really be jammin at all. :ld:
And I actually be around smart/nerdy/natural type Black females who you'd think would probably listen to her....and they dont. :usure:




But......Because Janelle ALWAYS keeps it classy, and does not bedwench I will continue to support her. :ufdup:



Can't name one song by the chick tho. :troll:
 

SouljaVoy

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I always wondered this. She’s on every award show performing some song I don’t like :russ:

100% accurate. :mjlol:




When Janelle performs that's your time to go make sandwich or take a shyt real quick.



But I love Janelle Monae....and for absolutely no reason at all.... I don't like her music, and I cant I tell you a single thing about her.
:francis:

I think it's like that for a lot of Black people.
 

JustCKing

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I can read through the rest of this thread later. Let cut to the nitty gritty.

Q: Is she talented?
A: Yes, definitely
Q: Is she unique?
A: For sure.
Q: Why doesn't she sell records?
A: Her music isn't that good. She cant write a song to save her life. She's so hung up on her cockamamie ass "concepts" and statements that she forgets the number one rule of music: It gotta be jammin. Period.
Q: Why is she so popular then?
A: Because she's safe. In a few ways.

She's the artist you say you like in order to look cultured, not because you actually like her music.
Erykah Badu was what Janelle Monae is supposed to be. She's supposed to be Erykah's and Lauryn's successor.
The reason why Erykah was successful is the same reason why her career is quiet now. Erykah really is a weirdo.
She's gotten much weirder as she's aged. By the time she's a senior citizen, she's gonna look like Sun Ra.
Janelle Monae is posing. She would never pull the Window Seat stunt.
Janelle talks that good shyt but it's not believable. She's too little, too pretty, too uptight, too mousy. She got no edge.
Lauryn Hill was also tiny and very pretty, but 1) her album was jammin as fukk and 2) Lauryn has a serious edge to her personality (which allows her to bully people).
So by cacs having JM around as a mascot (the same with Common, John Legend, or Chance), what they're doing is trying to pass themselves off as deep, cultured, intelligent, empathetic, well-rounded, soulful and un cac-like.
The reality is that those people I named talk good shyt, but they don't scare cacs. They, in fact, make them comfortable to the point of feeling good about themselves.
It's much easier to talk about how men aint shyt for JM, than to talk about how cacs aint shyt.
It's much easier for Common too coo about "lahhvve" than to take enemies of love to task.
It's much easier for John Legend to skin and grin than to sing the grimy and aggressive John Stephens shyt about checkin nikkas about they bytch and being a full on proponent of having side hoes.
Janelle Monae checks boxes for those who run the glamor industry, and as long as she's happy with that you'll keep on seeing her everywhere.
She's pretty, she's woke, she's stylish, but she's not really gonna offend anybody.



I agree with most of this except the bit about her being "safe". The Lauryn and Erykah comparisons are spot on, but her being "safe" and not having an edge, isn't what separates her from them. Lauryn and Erykah don't dance. They don't need to. While Janelle doesn't have hits and her music not having much commercial appeal (or much appeal at all depending on who you ask), she's a great performer. Yes, she has repetitive steps, but she pulls it off. People look at Janelle and her whole aesthetic reminds people of artists who are held in high regard. Dance and performance can take a mediocre song to whole other level on some "I didn't like the song before, but I might check her out based on that performance" type tip.

And on top of it all, she makes it all interesting. That whole "android" and "dirty computer" theme works. On the surface level, it's interesting and you could apply it to any socially relevant movement right now.

Lauryn nor Erykah never really needed abstract concepts to be interesting. They just had that allure and aura about them. Not taking anything away from Janelle.
 
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