| Psychotic said: I agree that this Lenny has something more than a regular pop star and more power to him. But is it important? Does it make his music better? Have can be proud of himself for making it where he is now, but I'm not in it for the story, I'm in in for the music. Of couse you can choose to value it, but you can't say the music - or even your opinions about music - is better than someone else's because they don't. Besides, maybe some popular rap artists went through similar stuff... or even worse? Some people maybe think hierarchy etc, is elitism, I don't. I only consider a subjective opinion treated as better than another equally subjective opinion. And in art, there is no objectivity. The best and most expensive wine is considered the best and most valuable because people like it. Or at least people agree that it has value. There is a clear hierarchy of wine from worst to best, so one can objectively say one kind of wine is better than another - even though this quality is based on arbitrary traits. Just like I can generally say a $100 banknote is more vaulable than a $5 dollar banknote, even though it's just pieces of paper. We agree that is has value and so it does. We don't have this kind of agreement in music. |
About rap, I agree. I kind of liked Public Enemy, would they have a guitar it would have fit my tastes. In fact they did a few experiments with guitars that are quite enjoyable for someone like me. That's subjective, I'm not trashing genre i don't like, I don't really like jazz either, or classic, and I'm OK someone don't like Rock.
But if I think there is a lot of subjectivity, I don't think there is no objectivity in music, I mean not at all. I still believe you can't sound as good as someone that live for music, have been listening music for several thousand of hours, play for 40 years. And that you would feel it if he tried to play something he doesn't like to expand his audience. Also, about agreement it depend who we are talking about. If that's the average guy, I can't tell, but for someone that likes music, I mean : Chuck Berry. He had so much influence, so many people grew up listening to him and take him for a reference... I mean I disagree with some friend about punk and metal, but we agree on Chuck Berry. It's not about liking it or not, myself I'm not so much of a fan. But I agree he's on a different level. I could talk about Robert Johnson, Elvis Presley, etc. Their value is not the price you will pay their CD, it's about influencing for 50 years music, and being the influence of about any group I like... and even groups I don't like.
