Let The Music Play

How often have you heard people use the phrase "I love music" or "Music is my life?" What about the ones who try and prove that their enthusiasm for music is stronger than yours?



The sad thing is that most of the time those people limit themselves to one genre, aren't able to distinguish remakes from original tracks, or only know of an artist's popular song from the radio without taking the time to listen to an album in its entirety. Artists don't spend time and money on an album for people to listen to one hit song. Get with the program.

In reality, I believe I know three people that love and appreciate music as much as I do. While being a "music lover" is hard to define because everyone has their own opinion of what that is, I used both my thoughts and observations of the three people to create a criteria of what a true "music lover" is:

1. Appreciation for a number of genres- I love hip-hop, 80s music, and oldies (I would kill in Motown trivia.) But the fact of the matter is that I have such eclectic taste in music, I used to be embarrassed to let people see what was on my mp3 player. For instance, when I turned on my iTunes and just let it shuffle through the artists, it goes from the Average White Band, to Jennifer Burton, Def Leppard, Roxette, to The Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack. (#yeaIsaidit) And even with my mix, the other music lovers playlists still sharts on mine. However, I will make the argument that the number of songs a person has on their iTunes/mp3 doesn't actually mean anything. I know too many people with 10,000+ songs on their mp3 but either couldn't name the artist/tune of randomly selected songs or only listened to under 30% of the songs on their ipod. So you're just gonna have a 1,000 songs but only listen to 10 of them. Really, my man? Really?



2. Complete this phrase: "A day without music feels like..."- Emptiness. Pointless. Like your life is spiraling into a hole of bleakness and oblivion....well that may be extreme, but you get the point. I cannot, I repeat, CANNOT, go a day without music. It's like a drug that I need to have on a constant basis. At times, it’s a medium that can articulate my thoughts and feelings better than I can. Think about the times when you're sad and you played a song to either pick you up, or drown you in melancholic lyrics and melodies. The songs that make you smile and think of that significant other, or songs that just help you wake up in the morning. I remember when I first bought the ipod mini. Faithfully, I would get up, get dressed, and put my headphones on before I even stepped over threshold of the box that I called a dorm room (shoutout to Amede.) When my ipod broke, it was honestly THEE most depressing event. I couldn't walk around campus seeing music notes and lyrics dazzle my world, but was more conscious of my surroundings and the fact that I had to, dare I say, interact with people. *gasps* Music is an essential part of my diet. I can have it everyday, and what do you know? No calories!





3. Respect for musicians/artists of the past- Don’t talk to me if you don’t know what songs were sampled in “Mo’Money, Mo’ Problems,” Juelz “Oh Yes,” or which artists sampled Club Nouveau’s “Why You Treat Me So Bad?” Don’t look even look my way if you know the lyrics to “Bootylicious” but stared at the guitar-playing white woman in the video like “Who the hell is that?’ AND PLEASE DE-FRIEND ME if you like T-Pain or vibed to "808's and Heartbreaks," but you don't know who Zapp & Roger is. O__o Old music is so refreshing to listen to, and it’s like a detox for the ears. It amazes me how many people are ignorant of artists like Johnny Cash, The Gap Band, Jeffrey Osbourne David Bowie, etc. I’m not saying that you need to know EVERY throwback artist or song sample because that’s impossible. But to be a self-proclaimed music lover, it’s a must to pay homage to those that came before us. And as much as I love them, Tupac and Biggie do not count. -_______-






The moral of this blog is that people need to think twice before they go on the warpath trying to prove their allegiance to music. I’m definitely no expert, but I know frauds when I see them. *looks both ways* It’s all just an opinion in the end. Until then……”Let The Music Play.”