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Andres Rivera
Web Editor
Music is an art. While anyone can learn how to play an instrument or hum to a melody, it takes a special something to create a piece of music that will cause the listener to take a minute and reflect. This type of music is a rare occurrence lately, with the artists imitating older songs.
While making a cover of a favorite song is not rare and can be very successful, it is not always the best idea. Recently, hip-hop artists have borrowed choruses from notable oldies but goodies and have thrashed them with new lyrics. Some may call it art, I call it laziness and a travesty to the music business.
Granted, I am not majoring in music. Still, I cannot stand idly by while “artists” make millions making noise. It’s not like I don’t appreciate hip-hop and rap music. I do consider myself an eclectic when it comes to music. This eclecticism does come with certain standards, however.
Take Hi-C, for example, with his butchering of the R&B favorite, “Sitting in the Park” by Billy Stewart. In a sad attempt to bring this song up to date, he makes the man sound noble for doing his good deeds while waiting for his “tramp.”
Of course no song can be complete without demeaning references to the fairer sex, as is custom in the hip-hop world. Is it really necessary to distort the storyline that Stewart had in mind when first recording that song? In Stewart’s song, the speaker is torn between staying with the girl because he loves her or leaving her because he is tired of waiting for her both in the physical sense and in the emotional sense.
Another artist that disgraces older popular songs is Paul Wall and his rendition of the Chi-Lites’ “Oh Girl.” Now, this song is not the best representation of classic R&B music, but some people think it’s a great song so it shall enter the list.
In the Chi-Lites version of the song, the speaker is vague in giving reasons why he must leave her. In Wall’s version, the storyline is no longer vague. The speaker affirms he is not cheating on her with women but with money. This version portrays the speaker as a selfish and arrogant man, a sharp contrast to the older version.
“Hard-Knock Life” performed by Jay-Z takes the premise and chorus of the musical number “It’s the Hard Knock Life” from “Annie.” In Jay-Z’s version, commonly known as the “Ghetto Anthem,” he describes the condition of the ghetto streets while using common language in relation to the atmosphere. In the musical, Annie and the orphans describe the rough conditions of an orphanage during the Great Depression.
This adaptation of the chorus could have been acceptable by my standards had it not been for the annoying children and a regurgitation of a subject matter which many other rap artists have performed.
While some regard these songs as art, a free expression of feelings, I don’t know why anyone would think so when all they do is distort the intentions of older songs to suit their own needs. In order to create thought-provoking music, one must have an imagination and use it often to create something new and not sit back and copy someone else’s work. Then again, maybe these artists are not interested in making this type of music; maybe they are, to paraphrase, Paul Wall’s version of “Oh Girl,” in it for the money.
Andres Rivera, a sophomore journalism major, is Web editor of the Campus Times. He can be reached by e-mail at arivera3@ulv.edu.
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