Hazel Brown
All Star
Hey.
The Decline in Musical Lyricism is Depressing - A Coli Dissertation
Hathaway
Someday, We'll All Be Free
Insensitive
Superstar
While learning additional scales and chords, I personally would suggest you start moving into learning
how to apply those chords in scales in different situations. I've had a solid grasp on how to derive Major scales, harmonize those
scales into Triads and Seventh chords and a general idea of chord progressions but you must start learning about "Function"
and what that means for the chords you have.
Is there a specific type of music you want to make ? Jazz ? Blues ? Hip-Hop ? R&B ? Once you answer those questions, it gets easier.
I would also suggest you pick up an instrument (Piano or Guitar) and begin to get acquainted with the Bass and Treble Clef.
Right now, I write my music on manuscript paper, play it on my keyboard, then transfer it to my daw.
Sometimes playing live or just writing the chord progressions in by hand (clicking them in) so I can reinforce the knowledge.
Piff Perkins
Veteran
Pop music has always been more about melody than lyrics but I'd agree the disparity seems higher now. Maybe it's regency bias who knows. I don't want to single out Beyonce but when I first heard her new album I was really taken aback by some of the lyrics on Cuff It. "I'm in the mood to fukk something up" just sounded jarring to me, especially over that beautifully old school instrumentation. From a songwriting perspective it also kinda felt like it veered off of where the melody probably should have gone.
I have no issue with explicit lyrics, nor would I demand artists stick to the innuendos and corny metaphors of the past. I just wish there was more focus on The Song than "this line is gonna go viral or become a hashtag." That's not confined to music either...you see this even more in television and film writing, where the main prose inspirations clearly come from Twitter and Tumblr instead of literature or great films that inspired the writer. Whether we call this the Drake era in terms of lyricism, or the MCU era for film...it sucks.
I have no issue with explicit lyrics, nor would I demand artists stick to the innuendos and corny metaphors of the past. I just wish there was more focus on The Song than "this line is gonna go viral or become a hashtag." That's not confined to music either...you see this even more in television and film writing, where the main prose inspirations clearly come from Twitter and Tumblr instead of literature or great films that inspired the writer. Whether we call this the Drake era in terms of lyricism, or the MCU era for film...it sucks.
Insensitive
Superstar
Music by committee is how we're getting these lines that are clearly constructed to be fit into 5 to 15 second
stories & reels for people to use.
We're at the point that musically for most mainstream artists there isn't much reason to go as deep with metaphor
as Marvin Gaye or Rick James or Prince, To me, THAT IS apart of song writing craft and elevates many song lyrics
TO poetry yah know ?
Imagine if fukking Marvin Gaye the titan instead of singing shyt like this:
" Flying high in the friendly sky
Flying high without ever leavin' the ground, no
Rest of the folks are tired and weary
Oh Lord, and have laid their bodies down
Yeah-yeah, oh yeah
I go the place where danger awaits me
Oh Lord
And it's bound to forsake me (ooh Lord)
So stupid minded
I can't help it
Oh, so stupid minded
But I go crazy when I can't find it
In the morning, I'll be alright, my friend (oh Lord)
But soon the night will bring the pains
The pain, oh the pain "
Was very direct and instead said "I'm high off heroin !!" I'm sooooo HIGH ON HEROIN !!!"
I can understand the dismay in the loss of craft.
stories & reels for people to use.
We're at the point that musically for most mainstream artists there isn't much reason to go as deep with metaphor
as Marvin Gaye or Rick James or Prince, To me, THAT IS apart of song writing craft and elevates many song lyrics
TO poetry yah know ?
Imagine if fukking Marvin Gaye the titan instead of singing shyt like this:
" Flying high in the friendly sky
Flying high without ever leavin' the ground, no
Rest of the folks are tired and weary
Oh Lord, and have laid their bodies down
Yeah-yeah, oh yeah
I go the place where danger awaits me
Oh Lord
And it's bound to forsake me (ooh Lord)
So stupid minded
I can't help it
Oh, so stupid minded
But I go crazy when I can't find it
In the morning, I'll be alright, my friend (oh Lord)
But soon the night will bring the pains
The pain, oh the pain "
Was very direct and instead said "I'm high off heroin !!" I'm sooooo HIGH ON HEROIN !!!"
I can understand the dismay in the loss of craft.
MurderToCassette
Sa Da Tay
I had this thought today listening to this here
"He loaded up his .32 and walked right in the store
He said "Dear God, forgive me please but I can't be broke no more"
Now remember I was just eight, I thought this was a joke
What I'm sayin I ain't playin, it was funny til that nikka got smoked
Can you guess who that could've been quite easily?
But it wasn't so I'm lucky to be standing right here to see.
One more day"
Simple but thoughtful...even on a singing joint, it showed you the other side of a life people only glorify today.
Not to mention the level of musicality/harmonization was
"He loaded up his .32 and walked right in the store
He said "Dear God, forgive me please but I can't be broke no more"
Now remember I was just eight, I thought this was a joke
What I'm sayin I ain't playin, it was funny til that nikka got smoked
Can you guess who that could've been quite easily?
But it wasn't so I'm lucky to be standing right here to see.
One more day"
Simple but thoughtful...even on a singing joint, it showed you the other side of a life people only glorify today.
Not to mention the level of musicality/harmonization was
Insensitive
Superstar
@Rozay Oro
To start there are resources from traditional music learning avenues for getting your bearings with Music theory.
I'd suggest picking up a basic music theory book & a jazz music theory book for when you start moving
into more advanced harmony.
My personal picks would be this series of berklee books:
Berklee Music Theory Book 1
Berklee Music Theory Book 2
The Berklee Book of Jazz Harmony
Jai Josefs Writing Music For Hit Songs
I don't personally work from the berklee texts but they should be a good jump off point to get
the basics under your finger tips. They should cover how to construct
Note Lengths
Rest Lengths
Intervals
Triads - Major, Minor, Augmented and Diminished
Inversions for Triads (Root, 1st Inversion, 2nd Inversion)
Sevenths - Major, Minor, Minor7b5, V7, etc.
And once you get to the Jazz Harmony text you'll most likely begin covering ii, V7, I and this is where you'll
get into chord functions and how they work within a chord progression:
Like how the "Dominant" Chord wants to "Resolve" and typically that means resolving to the "Tonic" which is more stable.
However between the V7 chord and the I chord and back again you can take the listener on a journey.
Chords like the ii and the IV are "Sub-Dominant" in function, allowing you to create for "Tension" because these chords will
want to resolve much like their "Dominant" big brother and this can allow for you to add harmonic variety as you travel back
to the V7 or to the I. While chords like iii and vi behave like the tonic does but they're considered "less stable" and can even be used
as chords to resolve to, this is where topics like "Substitution by Function", come into play.
If you want an idea of how this sounds take your keyboard or guitar and play a V7 chord like
G7 - (Built like this G-B-D-F) and then play a C major chord (C-E-G-) you'll immediately hear how this sounds.
Most of my knowledge for this chord progressions and tension and resolution is very basic at the moment, so if there's
someone more learned on the topic that wants to correct me, feel free to jump in.
With that said, please pick up some texts and bust out the pencil & paper, it'll allow you to get a grasp on song writing
that is difficult to acquire using purely digital means, DAWS tend to make it easy to begin "writing" but the teaching methods
on offer on youtube are often pretty terrible.
These texts will offer many opportunities to not only READ the material but APPLY it.
APPLICATION is KING, followed closely by ANALYSIS .
By analysis, I mean listening to songs and trying to pick out what's going on within the record.
How long are the chords being held ? What note lengths are the hi-hats or Kick & Snare being played at ?
What kinds of chords am I hearing ? etc.
Do these two things and your ability to understand will improve by leaps and bounds, I know mines did and I'm still learning !
To start there are resources from traditional music learning avenues for getting your bearings with Music theory.
I'd suggest picking up a basic music theory book & a jazz music theory book for when you start moving
into more advanced harmony.
My personal picks would be this series of berklee books:
Berklee Music Theory Book 1
Berklee Music Theory Book 2
The Berklee Book of Jazz Harmony
Jai Josefs Writing Music For Hit Songs
I don't personally work from the berklee texts but they should be a good jump off point to get
the basics under your finger tips. They should cover how to construct
Note Lengths
Rest Lengths
Intervals
Triads - Major, Minor, Augmented and Diminished
Inversions for Triads (Root, 1st Inversion, 2nd Inversion)
Sevenths - Major, Minor, Minor7b5, V7, etc.
And once you get to the Jazz Harmony text you'll most likely begin covering ii, V7, I and this is where you'll
get into chord functions and how they work within a chord progression:
Like how the "Dominant" Chord wants to "Resolve" and typically that means resolving to the "Tonic" which is more stable.
However between the V7 chord and the I chord and back again you can take the listener on a journey.
Chords like the ii and the IV are "Sub-Dominant" in function, allowing you to create for "Tension" because these chords will
want to resolve much like their "Dominant" big brother and this can allow for you to add harmonic variety as you travel back
to the V7 or to the I. While chords like iii and vi behave like the tonic does but they're considered "less stable" and can even be used
as chords to resolve to, this is where topics like "Substitution by Function", come into play.
If you want an idea of how this sounds take your keyboard or guitar and play a V7 chord like
G7 - (Built like this G-B-D-F) and then play a C major chord (C-E-G-) you'll immediately hear how this sounds.
Most of my knowledge for this chord progressions and tension and resolution is very basic at the moment, so if there's
someone more learned on the topic that wants to correct me, feel free to jump in.
With that said, please pick up some texts and bust out the pencil & paper, it'll allow you to get a grasp on song writing
that is difficult to acquire using purely digital means, DAWS tend to make it easy to begin "writing" but the teaching methods
on offer on youtube are often pretty terrible.
These texts will offer many opportunities to not only READ the material but APPLY it.
APPLICATION is KING, followed closely by ANALYSIS .
By analysis, I mean listening to songs and trying to pick out what's going on within the record.
How long are the chords being held ? What note lengths are the hi-hats or Kick & Snare being played at ?
What kinds of chords am I hearing ? etc.
Do these two things and your ability to understand will improve by leaps and bounds, I know mines did and I'm still learning !
Most of the most iconic songs have insane lyricism. When it sounds casual and the dumb can catch it; but the heads can catch the intricacies of these on the surface simple seeming bars. The most classic tracks usually have a cohesive theme as well. The content may be the same from then to now; but the creativity was different. Thats why I can't get down with a lot of Chris Brown and Tory Lanez. Its so vulgar. R Kelly's you remind me of my jeep was the same message but just done so much iller. feel me?
Insensitive
Superstar
Bumping this thread to talk about the GAWD STEVIE fukkING WONDER:
Stevie Wonder is BLACK EXCELLENCE.
Please listen to these musical examples and see why Stevie Wonder has such a massive
influence on popular music. More specifically contemporary popular music and Hip-Hop.
His use of modal interchange, chromaticism and how he harmonizes is mimicked TO THIS DAY.
One lauded Hip-Hop album on this very website "2001" uses ideas from Modal Jazz and 70s R&B in a "Gangsta"
context.
And above all:
Jazz and of course THE BLUES is still there.
Our music is amazing.
Stevie Wonder is BLACK EXCELLENCE.
Please listen to these musical examples and see why Stevie Wonder has such a massive
influence on popular music. More specifically contemporary popular music and Hip-Hop.
His use of modal interchange, chromaticism and how he harmonizes is mimicked TO THIS DAY.
One lauded Hip-Hop album on this very website "2001" uses ideas from Modal Jazz and 70s R&B in a "Gangsta"
context.
And above all:
Jazz and of course THE BLUES is still there.
Our music is amazing.
Last edited:
Bumping this thread to talk about the GAWD STEVIE fukkING WONDER:
Stevie Wonder is BLACK EXCELLENCE.
Please listen to these musical examples and see why Stevie Wonder has such a massive
influence on popular music. More specifically contemporary popular music and Hip-Hop.
His use of modal interchange, chromaticism and how he harmonizes is mimicked TO THIS DAY.
One lauded Hip-Hop album on this very website "2001" uses ideas from Modal Jazz and 70s R&B in a "Gangsta"
context.
And above all:
Jazz and of course THE BLUES is still there.
Our music is amazing.
every Sunday I bump prince and Stevie wonder every morning. The family knows this as ritual. The songs in the key of life is one of the best pieces of music every created.
FluffyEyes
Mrs. Boss Lady
Yup. And Virgo's Groove. Very simple lyricism but the sentiment is beautiful as hell.
Hathaway
Someday, We'll All Be Free
They just make you feel good and that's something that's largely absent in music today: feeling.
FluffyEyes
Mrs. Boss Lady
You can taste the dishonesty
It's all over your breath
As you pass it off so cavalier
But even that's a test
Constantly aware of it all
My lonely ear
Pressed against the walls of your world
Pray to catch you whispering
I pray you catch me listening
I'm praying to catch you whispering
I pray you catch me -2016
------------------------------------------------------------------
I try to keep from losin' the rest of me
I worry that I wasted the best of me on you, baby
You don't care
Said, not tryna be a nuisance, it's just urgent
Tryna make sense of loose change
Got me a war in my mind
Gotta let go of weight, can't keep what's holding me
Choose to watch
While the world break up and fall on me
All the while, I'll await my armored fate with a smile
Still wanna try, still believe in (good days)
Good days, always (good days)
Always inside (always in my mind, always in my mind, mind)
Good day living in my mind -2021
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you feel insignificant, you better think again
Better wake up because you're part of something way bigger
You're part of something way bigger
Not just a speck in the universe
Not just some words in a bible verse
You are the living word
Ahh, you're part of something way bigger
Bigger than you, bigger than we
Bigger than the picture they framed us to see
But now we see it
And it ain't no secret, no
Understand the truth 'bout that question in your soul
Look up, don't look down, then watch the answers unfold
Life is your birthright, they hid that in the fine print
Uh, take the pen and rewrite it
Step out your estimate
Step in your essence and know that you're excellent
Rise (rise), the spirit is teachin'
Oh, I'm not just preachin', I'm takin' my own advice -2019
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
If I could write a letter to Heaven
I would tell my mama that I shoulda been listenin'
And I would tell her sorry that I really been wildin'
And ask her to forgive me, 'cause I really been tryin'
And I would ask please, show me who been real
And get 'em from around me if they all been fake
It's crazy how I say the same prayers to the Lord
And always get surprised about who he take, man
I'm really thinkin' 'bout dialin' 911 'til I freak
'Cause they probably won't think it's that deep
And I don't do drugs, so I never get a time when I'm at ease
I can't even handle smokin' weed
Marilyn Monroe, my favorite ho
My favorite bad bytch, I think she the GOAT
Jammin' to Britney, singin' to Whitney
I just wan' talk to somebody that get me, yeah-2022
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I can agree that lyricism as a whole has receded but even some of mainstream artists who get blamed for this have super meaningful work. All lyrics don't need to complex to be great.
It's all over your breath
As you pass it off so cavalier
But even that's a test
Constantly aware of it all
My lonely ear
Pressed against the walls of your world
Pray to catch you whispering
I pray you catch me listening
I'm praying to catch you whispering
I pray you catch me -2016
------------------------------------------------------------------
I try to keep from losin' the rest of me
I worry that I wasted the best of me on you, baby
You don't care
Said, not tryna be a nuisance, it's just urgent
Tryna make sense of loose change
Got me a war in my mind
Gotta let go of weight, can't keep what's holding me
Choose to watch
While the world break up and fall on me
All the while, I'll await my armored fate with a smile
Still wanna try, still believe in (good days)
Good days, always (good days)
Always inside (always in my mind, always in my mind, mind)
Good day living in my mind -2021
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you feel insignificant, you better think again
Better wake up because you're part of something way bigger
You're part of something way bigger
Not just a speck in the universe
Not just some words in a bible verse
You are the living word
Ahh, you're part of something way bigger
Bigger than you, bigger than we
Bigger than the picture they framed us to see
But now we see it
And it ain't no secret, no
Understand the truth 'bout that question in your soul
Look up, don't look down, then watch the answers unfold
Life is your birthright, they hid that in the fine print
Uh, take the pen and rewrite it
Step out your estimate
Step in your essence and know that you're excellent
Rise (rise), the spirit is teachin'
Oh, I'm not just preachin', I'm takin' my own advice -2019
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
If I could write a letter to Heaven
I would tell my mama that I shoulda been listenin'
And I would tell her sorry that I really been wildin'
And ask her to forgive me, 'cause I really been tryin'
And I would ask please, show me who been real
And get 'em from around me if they all been fake
It's crazy how I say the same prayers to the Lord
And always get surprised about who he take, man
I'm really thinkin' 'bout dialin' 911 'til I freak
'Cause they probably won't think it's that deep
And I don't do drugs, so I never get a time when I'm at ease
I can't even handle smokin' weed
Marilyn Monroe, my favorite ho
My favorite bad bytch, I think she the GOAT
Jammin' to Britney, singin' to Whitney
I just wan' talk to somebody that get me, yeah-2022
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I can agree that lyricism as a whole has receded but even some of mainstream artists who get blamed for this have super meaningful work. All lyrics don't need to complex to be great.
Roland Coltrane
Superstar
I heard Rain was about getting cum shots to the faceExactly my nikka. I was schooling a youngin a while back about SWVs song 'Downtown".
Me anf my wife was listening to it and I asked him if he knew what this song was about. He was like 15. He said, "going shopping downtown"?
The song is clearly about a woman getting head but the lyrics were written in such a creative, metaphoric way that the listener has to understand the double meaning. And even that song is a light example when we talking about lyrics. Any person with sexual experience could see passed those lyrics after the 1st verse.
But take a song like "Rain" also from SWV. A song about a womans climax. But it's so poetically hidden that the meaning of the song could be mistaken for just another love song.
That nuance has disappeared these days. Blatant vulgarity leaves nothing hidden for the imagination to discover.
Hathaway
Someday, We'll All Be Free
Nah. I follow the writer Brian Morgan on IG He also wrote Weak, and he explained it was about a womans climax. But thats the beauty of his song writing. One could easily mistake some of the lyrics for a cum shot to the face.I heard Rain was about getting cum shots to the face
