Lately A LOT of people are saying they’re looking for something with substance. Whether it’s in music, life, love and entertainment. Substance is lacking in A LOT of areas.
When it comes to music, I hear the cry for substance so much more often than the rest. I’m not a full hip/hop music head like most but I do know good music when I hear it. I remember when music whether it was hip/hop or RnB, told a story. It had meaning to it. Now it’s “teach me how to dougie” and “pretty boy swaggin”. Don’t get me wrong the music is catchy and it will have you in the club tearing the dance floor up. But that’s all it is… CLUB MUSIC. Now for some reason rapper EVE has been on my mental for a while. So I will use her as an example. EVE in my eyes is the best female rapper… Hands down no questions asked! Why? EVE has substance. Take any one of her songs and really listen to it. (Dissect it like ya’ll do Jay-Z’s songs in search of illumanti and devil worshiping bits) After you do that listen to Nicki Minaj. Need I say anymore?! Again, don’t get me wrong Nicki will have you hyped in a New York minute but she lacks substance. (My blog my opinion you don’t like it… Oh well! Closes your eyes!) What is she really talking about in her songs like Massive Attack and Itty Bitty Piggy? NOTHING! Young Money buy Nicki some substance please!
Now some of you are probably saying “How does life and love lack substance?” Pull up a chair and let me tell you how. How life and love is now compared to how it use to be… Obvious case of lack-a-substance. Back in the day before my time and some of you all time, people lived and died for something. Living and loving meant something and all the material things meant nothing. Living now is all about getting rich or die trying. It’s about how much money you make and how much you spend. As long as we’re cashing big checks and dropping “stacks” on this and that, then life is good. Loving now is all about the physical and the now. (As stated in Old School vs New School) What is the substance that life and love lacks? Meaning, value and the drive to progress.
I don’t have to touch on entertainment too much. We all know movies are put together as follows: stupid story line, slap a well-known actor in the mix and outcomes bummy entertainment. Movies these days aren’t worth the $10-$13 dollars you pay to go see them. There’s always that 50/50 chance that you might not like it. Need I say why there’s a 50/50 chance why you might not like it?? For you slow joes I will. Movies/entertainment these days lack originality aka SUBSTANCE!
So how do we feed our appetite for substance? Simple: STOP PROMOTING AND ENCOURAGING THE FOOLERY THAT LACKS IT! Demand what you want! #fistpump
Signed, Tink- The Word Vixen
Thank you for saying that. I have been looking for substance in hip-hop for a while. You have a few artists providing it (i.e. Lupe Fiasco, Wale) and I’m thankful for it. But in a genre where Roscoe Dash and others are dominating the air with garbage true lovers of the culture long for more. I always hope that my music catches because I want to contribute to the rebirth, not the destruction.
On Sunday I had the pain and pleasure of experiecing “Rock The Bells” its was a tribute to hip hop. I over heard someone say to their child “What you are about to experience is TRUE hip hop… this is not Souljah boy and there will be no pretty boy swagging” I looked back and the child looked lost… I was amazed that these children knew nothing about the originators of Hip Hop… Slick Rick… Doug E Fresh… Rakim… They actually rapped about something… The music had a message… Where on earth is the message in “Hit em With The Flex”
Love- Now that Love lacks substance the relationships do too… and that is why so many of them fail. We are all so worried about keeping up appearances that we forget to keep up our relationships and give them the time and attention they need to blossom.
Sorry my comment is so long I had a lot to say.
TWO THUMS UP TINKER
This brother is SO right. Kudos for your honesty.
My bad. I mean, sister. LOL.
This is so true but it’s all a plan to make art to lower our mindstates rather than enlighten us as a whole generation. You can easily find substance but most will turn on the TV or Radio to find music.The elite know this & while we’re flexin’ & doing the dougie we lose ourselves and the purpose of OUR music just to make some money.
For love it’s the same thing. If every song isn’t about love but about someone’s possesions it feeds into people’s brains to make them think an ideal partner is someone with a lot of money instead of a good soul/personality.It all leads back to the same thing. MUSIC. This is the most powerful tool in society but no one sees it as that. It will only get worse with time so I’ll stick to my 90′s music & Underground stuff. Great article btw. I can’t wait to read the next one you post..
This was ON POINT. I agree wholeheartedly that substance is definitely lacking, especially in modern media. I guess I attribute it to the fact that really, people these days have nothing to live for outside of the material or superficial. Back in the day, music and media/movies had messages because some people (Black people especially) did not really have a voice. We communicated through the music, through Blaxploitation films to a degree and also through music-based films, such as The Wiz. Nowadays, Black people’s voice is not as constrained; it’s kind of like we got free and, consequently, lost ourselves in this co-called freedom.
Music definitely suffered the most from this. You’re right about Eve. I always appreciated her delivery and, especially the fact that she collaborated outside of the mainstream (she almost scene-steals on her appearance on the Roots’ “You Got Me”). I also like Jean Grae, who is an underground rapper with a story to tell. On Minaj, I think before Young Money, she did have a story to tell, too. I wish more people knew about her “Still I Rise” freestyle and “Warning,” as they do about “Massive Attack.”
On love, I MUST cosign with “Nyty” above me: “If every song isn’t about love but about someone’s possessions it feeds into people’s brains to make them think an ideal partner is someone with a lot of money instead of a good soul/personality.” It’s with music and with media. Look no further than the amount of reality shows we have these days (especially with Black “stars” helming them) with people looking for love. No way you’ll find TRUE love or something close to it spending six weeks with someone you share with x amount of other people.
Sorry for the length, but you said quite a bit, Tink. Great work!
@Write2BareSoul