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The Secrets of a Hit Summer Song

posted by martyb on Sunday July 09 2017, @06:58PM   Printer-friendly
from the bam!-bam!-I'm-a-lamb! dept.

cafebabe writes:

On a slow news day, the BBC "reports" some rules about a summer hit tune. In summary:

  1. It has to be simple.
  2. It should make you feel like you're on holiday.
  3. Novelty is everything.
  4. Radio-friendly songs make bigger hits.
  5. It should be released before the summer.
  6. But it should have the word "summer" in the title.

If simplicity and novelty are the most important then this summer's hit could be Beep! Beep! I'm A Sheep!

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by n1 on Sunday July 09 2017, @10:39PM (7 children)

    by n1 (993) on Sunday July 09 2017, @10:39PM (#536954) Journal

    That may well be how you become a 'rap star' but a 'hip-hop artist' is quite different. Hip-Hop is not defined by those who have the 'lil' prefix in their stage name.

    Examples of hip-hop artists: Aesop Rock, RTJ, Cunninlynguists, Freestyle Fellowship, Pete Philly, Blitz the Ambassador, Akala, Living Legends, Big KRIT, Mayday, Lupe Fiasco, Kendrick Lamar, Chali 2na and the list could go on.

    Hilltop Hoods have now made two albums with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the Adelaide Chamber Singers Choir. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Hy6WEv_nOM [youtube.com]

    I had no idea dancing during a performance talent was a criteria for being an artist in music. Does your musical taste start and end at Lady Gaga and Beyonce type pop acts?

    Finally, your 'talk like a pissed off moron' is quite outdated for the current 'rap star' trends, now you just have to sound completely disinterested and mumble unintelligibly.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 09 2017, @11:13PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 09 2017, @11:13PM (#536964)

    I'll just leave this here...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTLvRvbqJs8 [youtube.com]

    • (Score: 2) by n1 on Monday July 10 2017, @12:36AM (3 children)

      by n1 (993) on Monday July 10 2017, @12:36AM (#536983) Journal

      I'm assuming the point you're making is that... Throughout history artists pioneering or adapting culturally and socially significant forms of musical and artistic expression, have almost always been derided and dismissed as talentless hacks by proponents of the more established and traditional art of the day.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 10 2017, @12:45AM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 10 2017, @12:45AM (#536985)

        Street criminals grabbing their crotches while they complain about their own self-inflicted situations is art?

        • (Score: 2, Troll) by n1 on Monday July 10 2017, @02:26AM (1 child)

          by n1 (993) on Monday July 10 2017, @02:26AM (#537007) Journal

          I'm sure you're trolling but anyway...

          One of my homeboys did a ten straight in the box in yard
          Now what’s he doing? Passin’ his doctorate
          Don’t tell me that it’s too hard!

          Akala - Fire in the booth [youtube.com]

          Besides I ain't rapping about dope nor did I sell it
          I guess the story of a country boy just ain't compelling

          Big K.R.I.T - Dreamin' [youtube.com]

          This war veteran knows what a hard time is
          He needs his pension, dementia and half blind is
          The reason he rides the train with no car license
          So he boards with an expired ticket has a swipe
          Gets a fine 'cause the change he got don't add up right
          We're talking about a man who never lived a lavish life

          Hilltop Hoods - Stopping All Stations [youtube.com]

          Escaping my selfish ways
          With my brain spread on a page
          So I put my soul in a song
          So it may linger on

          Shogun - Vulcan [youtube.com]

          The most impressionable minds get molested and informed by manipulating forces
          Don't fret little man, don't cry
          They can never take the energy inside you were born with
          Knowing that, understand you could never be poor
          You already won the war, you were born rich
          You can only take the energy you had going back to the realm or the home where your lord is
          Whoever whatever that lord is couldn't give a fuck if you ever made fortunes

          [...]How you raise a whole human single parent, no marriages no sense of heritage
          Planned Parenthood helping plan miscarriages
          But I'm lucky mommy already had a narrative
          Product of a teenage love, my arrogance to rise from the pride and the job my parents did
          Named Mike I was told it was godlike
          Even danced with the devil, came out alright

          Run The Jewels - A Christmas Fucking Miracle [youtube.com]

          They had a rally for police brutality up at the park
          But when we killing ourselves don’t nobody want to march
          We got to start to take a look in the mirror
          If we don’t respect ourselves then they always gone fear us
          If black lives matter then black lives matter
          And the color of the killer shouldn’t even be a factor

          Murs - No More Control [youtube.com]

          We brag on having bread, but none of us are bakers
          We all talk having greens, but none of us own acres
          If none of us own acres, and none of us grow wheat
          Then who will feed our people when our people need to eat
          So it seems our people starve from lack of understanding
          Cause all we seem to give them is some balling and some dancing
          And some talking about our car and imaginary mansions
          We should be indicted for bullshit we inciting
          Hand the children death and pretend that it's exciting

          Killer Mike - Reagan [youtube.com]

          I am curious though, in this troll persona, do you have the same disdain for folk songs that talk about the self-inflicted struggles of their chosen occupations in mining and farming? After all they could have taken personal responsibility for their situation and sought to improve it rather than writing songs bitching about it.

          • (Score: 3, Funny) by Magic Oddball on Monday July 10 2017, @06:42AM

            by Magic Oddball (3847) on Monday July 10 2017, @06:42AM (#537050) Journal

            Don't forget, though, that hip-hop wasn't always insightful social criticism — if you go back to the early days, the performers more often just aimed to be entertaining:

            Ever went over a friend's house to eat and the food just ain't no good?
            I mean the macaroni's soggy, the peas are mushed,
            And the chicken tastes like wood!
            So you try to play it off like you think you can
            By saying that you're full
            And then your friend says, "Mama, he's just being polite
            He ain't finished, uh-uh, that's bull!"
            So your heart starts pumping and you think of a lie
            And you say that you already ate
            And your friend says "Man, there's plenty of food!"
            So you pile some more on your plate
            While the stinky food's steaming, your mind starts to dreaming
            Of the moment that it's time to leave
            And then you look at your plate and your chicken's slowly rotting
            Into something that looks like cheese.
            So you say "That's it, I gotta leave this place
            I don't care what these people think,
            I'm just sitting here making myself nauseous
            With this ugly food that stinks!"
            So you bust out the door while it's still closed
            Still sick from the food you ate
            And then you run to the store for quick relief
            From a bottle of Kaopectate.

            (From 1979's Rapper's Delight [wikipedia.org])

  • (Score: 2) by t-3 on Monday July 10 2017, @10:49PM (1 child)

    by t-3 (4907) on Monday July 10 2017, @10:49PM (#537364)

    The part you're missing is that "hip-hop" is culturally irrelevant outside New York, and rap is where it's at. Even the "lil's" have deep social commentary and the sound is just killing that played out wack east coast BS. From the beginning, gangsta rap has been shining a light into society's dark corners; see Spice 1 - Welcome to the Ghetto and many others, Scarface and to a lesser extent the Geto Boys, 8-Ball & MJG, especially check out 8-Ball's solo CD Lost, Dayton Family - What's on Your Mind? is a great example, UGK ("it aint like they make high levels gainable, and that quote piece of american pie just aint attainable, so how can I sustain a full life before death? I'm left out here to make it by my goddamn self"), Tupac's whole career, Lil Boosie, if you dig deep into Future and Gucci's stuff you'll find diamonds in there along with the bangers, Kanye's early output, IMO his recent stuff is lazier lyrically, Jeezy, Lil Durk, even Kodak Black if you can understand his accent, etc etc I could go on all day.

    • (Score: 2) by n1 on Tuesday July 11 2017, @09:56PM

      by n1 (993) on Tuesday July 11 2017, @09:56PM (#537813) Journal

      I don't disagree with anything you said. I used the distinction between 'hip-hop' and 'rap stars' to illustrate a point, for people with no exposure to anything outside the typical 'club banger' rap hits from Rick Ross and the like, it wasn't a dismissal of rap in general. I'm a big fan of Freddie Gibbs, as an example.