Alright. This isn’t a topic about how horrible the radio is. It’s about how Tone really was about 6 years ahead with the Leena Bangz skit.
So the question is this: is Kesha, who does the song “Tick Tock,” and Leena Bangz the same person or did Kesha hear the skit and decide that trying to bridge the gap between the streets and clubs was indeed possible?
No, seriously, they sound exactly fuckin’ alike. This blew my mind in more than one way.
That song makes me want to hang myself off of a flagpole my their nostrils. It’s pretty much everything wrong with modern pop music. The cliche-deluxe suite of manufactured insta-stardom from flailing majors so desperate for a hit that they’d sell you an auto-tuned fart if you’d buy it.
Eerily enough, the majority of everything I’m hearing, from all-genres, is a general lack of depth in soul or heart or just experience in the words, melodies or intent of the music. Pop, rap, rock, etc… I hear ultra-shallow posturing, overproduced, and repetitive droning to the point of excess. Even alot of the newer emcees…ain’t REALLY saying anything with any weight to it. Style over substance. Like, when was the last time you heard a real ballad on the radio? Or an acoustic joint that really tugged at you played on tv.
There’s a general lack of humanity in modern music. Shit sounds cold and robotic and lifeless. Granted, it’s a big dumb pop anthem….but EVERYTHING is a big dumb pop anthem now and there’s no balance whatsoever. This song is pretty much the epitome of what I mean.
But hey, we’ve got to be near the bottom, right? I can’t possibly see how much further down we can go from here. A big change is coming around soon. I can feel it. Keep hope alive. lol
QN5 said:
But hey, we’ve got to be near the bottom, right? I can’t possibly see how much further down we can go from here. A big change is coming around soon. I can feel it. Keep hope alive. lol
The whole Rage Against the Machine thing is definitely an indicator that change is possible. Not only was that such an astounding feat to achieve, but it showed the public that their voices CAN be heard. I was also glad how the media presented the story to the public, because it so easily could have been shrugged off as a gimmicky story focused on Simon Cowell.
..You know what it’s like to find a new artist that you love and you feel stupid for not finding them sooner? Imagine stumbling on an entire record label with a decade of consistently dope releases to their belt. QN5 can’t stay under wraps forever.. Tiocfaidh ár lá
On the whole Kesha thing.. As I hear the song every single time I go out drinking..
How is this shit even morally acceptable today? We are directly poisoning the children with the idea that is what life is like..
“Ain’t got a care in world, but got plenty of beer
Ain’t got no money in my pocket, but I’m already here
And now the dudes are lining up cause they hear we got swagger
But we kick em to the curb unless they look like Mick Jagger
I’m talking about - everybody getting crunk, crunk
Boys trying to touch my junk, junk
Gonna smack him if he getting too drunk, drunk”
Maybe I’m just ignorant…I have no idea who she is.
I go out a lot…so I’m sure I heard whatever ‘Tick Tock’ is…but if I have I either don’t care or it doesn’t appeal to me to go out and find out about it or buy it. I’m also a bit odd in that I’m sooo apathetic when it comes to music that doesn’t appeal to me…that I’ll have no idea who it is if I were to hear something.
QN5 said:Even alot of the newer emcees…ain’t REALLY saying anything with any weight to it. Style over substance.
I agree with everything you said man…but I also think there’s a place for music that doesn’t necessarily have much weight in the words. Hell 80% of the hip-hop music we grew up to didn’t…and it was good. Sometimes all you want is something with style where people just rap their asses off to just rap their asses off or go on a 4 minute guitar solo.
QN5 said:Even alot of the newer emcees…ain’t REALLY saying anything with any weight to it. Style over substance.
I agree with everything you said man…but I also think there’s a place for music that doesn’t necessarily have much weight in the words. Hell 80% of the hip-hop music we grew up to didn’t…and it was good. Sometimes all you want is something with style where people just rap their asses off to just rap their asses off or go on a 4 minute guitar solo.
Oh I know…In no way am I insinuating that EVERYTHING BE DEEP or SOULFUL or MELODIC, etc. I’m only saying that damn near everything I’m hearing hip hop-wise lately has been pretty much devoid of any real quotables or truth. In fact, I hear alot of shallow raps on attempted topics and even recycled lyricist-lounge era punchlines. Cats are re-inventing the wheel alot. It’s like…if you don’t have anything new to bring to the table…don’t waste our time, ya know?
But more to your point…I listen a huge variety of different genres…some days I dont feel like thinking, etc. But at the very least, it’ll be some shit that has some sort of artistic merit in it. Even the most dark grungy drum & bass tracks had to get some artistic TLC to make them what they are. I dunno…I can just hear the difference. The biggest giveaway is the copycat/me-too syndrome - that’s a sure fire sign that no real thought was put into a song. “Tick Tock” is a frankenstein of ripped-off parts from last years hits.
The problem also is inspiration; for the next generation of artists/ composers/ bands/ producers, they literally don’t have much to go on. The underlying message in all this terrible music is that you don’t have to be talented to make it in music - It’s an American Dream! And if people are only inspired by what’s force-fed to them by the radio & club anthems then what’s next? What can we expect in the next 5 or 10 years? Like Substantial says “Do you move me?”
QN5 said:But hey, we’ve got to be near the bottom, right? I can’t possibly see how much further down we can go from here. A big change is coming around soon. I can feel it. Keep hope alive. lol
I hope so, I’ve had this discussion with alot of people: Is it gonna get better or worse?! At the moment I have to go with the latter, people get spooked out when taken even alittle bit out of their comfort zone. People pray for better music, what they fail to believe is that it’s literally around the corner if you just go look for it! Believe it or not my biggest fear is that some egotistic, half-talented, biter emcee taking over the scene, spreading the word of the new approach to music and pretty much taking credit to what you guys have been doing for the best part of ten years! *shudders*
QN5 said:I’m only saying that damn near everything I’m hearing hip hop-wise lately has been pretty much devoid of any real quotables or truth. In fact, I hear alot of shallow raps on attempted topics and even recycled lyricist-lounge era punchlines. Cats are re-inventing the wheel alot. It’s like…if you don’t have anything new to bring to the table…don’t waste our time, ya know?
Lest we forget folks, most people are sheep. They WILL follow and mimic the new cool kid on the block, regardless of how talented or talentless he/she may be. It just so happens that, at the moment, the aforementioned cool kid(s) of Hip Hop don’t really give as much of a fuck about the progression of Rap’s technical aspects (e.g. rhyme schemes, overall lyricism) as they do about song catchiness and marketability…and they’ll make any necessary sacrifices to achieve that, which includes jumping on bandwagons and hurting the artform in the process (see: Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi, Kanye)
Or, to be more fair, one could say it’s not completely the artists’ fault, it’s just the general direction we’re heading in due to the overall positive response from Top 40 music consumers (see: the youth/new generation) to songs like “Tik Tok”. One thing’s for sure though, 90% of folks will buy into anything if it’s marketed as something that we all “must have”, shoving it in our faces everywhere we go. Yes, even if it’s someone as dope as a Tonedeff or a Wordsworth. Just so happens we’re stuck with a Fergie on top right now. We are witnessing a phase in Hip Hop where it’s applauded and therefore encouraged for rappers to not rap…somehow making one appear more “eclectic” (the most over-used and cheapened word since love).
Why? Well, nowadays (perhaps due to the rapid technological advancements and accessibility of this technology) the general interest seems to have shifted from what the emcee can offer over to what the producer can bring to the table. Hence the recent surge of electronica-infused beats and the experimentation of new sounds versus the progression of something like lyricism and content. The poetry of the verse has taken a backseat to the catchiness of the hook, and even the hook has taken a backseat to the overall sound of the beat.
Hip Hop needs a new “cool kid” leader to turn the tide!
Osiris said:Believe it or not my biggest fear is that some egotistic, half-talented, biter emcee taking over the scene, spreading the word of the new approach to music and pretty much taking credit to what you guys have been doing for the best part of ten years! *shudders*
I think that might have happened already. lol
I_Khan said:Lest we forget folks, most people are sheep. They WILL follow and mimic the new cool kid on the block, regardless of how talented or talentless he/she may be.
We are witnessing a phase in Hip Hop where it’s applauded and therefore encouraged for rappers to not rap…somehow making one appear more “eclectic” (the most over-used and cheapened word since love).
Hip Hop needs a new “cool kid” leader to turn the tide!
Well said.
amplifya said:what on earth are you listening to?
Pretty much everything posted by every hip hop blog everyday.
Yikes. Why? That sounds like torture - that’s one step up from going through a box full of rap demos sent to a record label. Because of your post earlier I was going through some of the hip hop blogs and checking last.fm pages of the rappers I hadn’t heard of - the majority of “artists” that get posted on 2dopeboyz, kevinnottingham, nahright, etc. - are non-existant (50-250 listeners, 4 listens last week..) They’re just dudes who were able to record vocals and present mp3s to seem pretty professional.
Did you check any of the best stuff Blu, Mos Def, Jay Electronica, Breeze Brewin, Lupe, Brother Ali, P.O.S., etc. put out this year? That would be my personal list of (non-qn5) rappers I feel had verses with “quotables and truth”, off the top of my head..
Hahah Word. Just keepin my finger on the pulse of things.
amplifya said:Did you check any of the best stuff Blu, Mos Def, Jay Electronica, Breeze Brewin, Lupe, Brother Ali, P.O.S., etc. put out this year? That would be my personal list of (non-qn5) rappers I feel had verses with “quotables and truth”, off the top of my head..
I definitely dig a few of those cats, no doubt. There’s definitely some good stuff comin out though. Just not alot of it. I highly recommend Tanya Morgan’s Brooklynatti LP. They’re dope live, too.
Hahah Word. Just keepin my finger on the pulse of things.
amplifya said:Did you check any of the best stuff Blu, Mos Def, Jay Electronica, Breeze Brewin, Lupe, Brother Ali, P.O.S., etc. put out this year? That would be my personal list of (non-qn5) rappers I feel had verses with “quotables and truth”, off the top of my head..
I definitely dig a few of those cats, no doubt. There’s definitely some good stuff comin out though. Just not alot of it. I highly recommend Tanya Morgan’s Brooklynatti LP. They’re dope live, too.
Osiris said:Believe it or not my biggest fear is that some egotistic, half-talented, biter emcee taking over the scene, spreading the word of the new approach to music and pretty much taking credit to what you guys have been doing for the best part of ten years! *shudders*
I think that might have happened already. lol
I know who your talking about and trust me, no half-robo, nartistic lovebot can even touch your level of musical talent. Hell he can’t even get the ‘gay fish’ joke! hahaha
Haha, I was just gonna start a topic on the Kesha shit. I just went on a trip with my girl, 10 hourse each way. That Tick Tock song came up and I thought it was pretty funny. When I realized it was serious, I was amazed. I instantly thought it was Leena Bangz. I then played it for her and she agreed it was pretty much the same.
But, you just have to learn to accept that there will always be a bunch of shit music that is played on mainstream music outlets with shitloads of cronyism involved in people blowing up. And it’s not specific to Hiphop.
Luckily, it’s getting to the age where television and radio are getting phased out and most people probably listen to a lot of “underground” shit.
I think a lot of what’s popular is marketed to teenage white girls who will listen to dancy shit at clubs and more “meaningful” stuff on their ipods.
“Tik Tok” is the real end of the 20th century, a glitzy bloodpink whirlwind of trash pop that’s every bit as sublime and awful and ecstatic and repulsive and perfect as the best rock ‘n’ roll. On paper, it’s an audaciously unironic embodiment of pop cliches, and it would have value as such, no matter who was performing it. But then there’s the voice. Oh, sweet mother of God, that voice. Era-defining and utterly singular, perfect and triumphal, indecent, mangled, ugly, whiney, sickly, grossly and gorgeously and heroically wrong, psychotic and skewed and brainless, Kesha Rose Sebert’s vocal performance on “Tik Tok” is an entire blurry worldview emanating from a single vomit-encrusted throat.
It’s a slow, lazy rap, dynamic by virtue of its performer’s lack of rhythm, impressionistic by virtue of her lack of perspective, and endearingly arrogant due to her complete lack of awareness of anyone or anything else in the world. In the aesthetic universe of “Tik Tok,” Ke$ha is what every chart-pop singer has aspired to be since 1985, is mall rat and rap slave and glitter punk and sex goddess and postmodern feminist and gutter rat and a splash of neon, and her vocal encompasses everything from clublife to nerd chic to death glam, and it all sounds like it’s completely by accident and probably is, because “Tik Tok” is a song of such contrived, shallow, brazen stupidity, a song so aggressively idiotic that it all but transcends its niche.
It fits snugly into the pop milieu that allowed it to come into being, but at the same time stands above and outside it. “Tik Tok” is so fully and completely itself that one can’t help but root for it. I like the song- it’s catchy, it’s silly, and it’s fun- but I’d root for it, and feel something about it, regardless of quality. Hearing the song for the first time, on the radio in my car, I experienced the exact same sensation that I felt upon first listening to Bob Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone.” Both songs sound like the culmination of their respective eras and aesthetics, but both songs also deny those aesthetics, ignore them and reduce them to ashes even as they define them. Like very few other songs in this world, “Tik Tok” makes me feel like I have to deal with the fact that it exists.
I’m actually going to stick my neck out and say, I find the song enjoyable. HA! You can like terrible pop songs(and I know it’s bad) and like Qn5 music.
Joey Bootlegg said:I’m actually going to stick my neck out and say, I find the song enjoyable. HA! You can like terrible pop songs(and I know it’s bad) and like Qn5 music.
I will have to go ahead and chop off that neck (pause). Enjoyable? This is not terrible pop like Ace of Base or Madonna or Tiffany. This is some lame asshole with a $ in her name and a line that says:
“Now, the dudes are lining up cause they hear we got swagger
But we kick ‘em to the curb unless they look like Mick Jagger”
We’re pretty much all in agreement that this kind of shit should not fly so no use going more into it. I just can’t get over the Leena similarities. That is the only enjoyment in this at all.
After posting in this thread and feeling ignorant about not hearing the song I youtubed it…I wholeheartedly agree with Jimson and nearly everyone else. It’s awful.
I_Khan said:“Tik Tok” is the real end of the 20th century,
10 years ago didn’t count?
when you look at history as a whole 10 years is nothing. looking back from 100 years from now it might in fact be the case. not that i know anything about the song. actually, i only know of its existence because i sometimes look for rare music on itunes and it was recently on the charts… i assume i’ve heard at some point it but it’s entirely possible i haven’t.
on a slightly unrelated note, i heard of Tanya Morgan through Deacon’s twitter and checked out a mixtape (TM is a Rap Group i think) loved it and instantly bought everything i could find and downloaded the rest so now i have 100 songs by them. thanks Deac. needless to say i think they’re fucking excellent
I_Khan said:“Tik Tok” is the real end of the 20th century, a glitzy bloodpink whirlwind of trash pop that’s every bit as sublime and awful and ecstatic and repulsive and perfect as the best rock ‘n’ roll. On paper, it’s an audaciously unironic embodiment of pop cliches, and it would have value as such, no matter who was performing it. But then there’s the voice. Oh, sweet mother of God, that voice. Era-defining and utterly singular, perfect and triumphal, indecent, mangled, ugly, whiney, sickly, grossly and gorgeously and heroically wrong, psychotic and skewed and brainless, Kesha Rose Sebert’s vocal performance on “Tik Tok” is an entire blurry worldview emanating from a single vomit-encrusted throat.
It’s a slow, lazy rap, dynamic by virtue of its performer’s lack of rhythm, impressionistic by virtue of her lack of perspective, and endearingly arrogant due to her complete lack of awareness of anyone or anything else in the world. In the aesthetic universe of “Tik Tok,” Ke$ha is what every chart-pop singer has aspired to be since 1985, is mall rat and rap slave and glitter punk and sex goddess and postmodern feminist and gutter rat and a splash of neon, and her vocal encompasses everything from clublife to nerd chic to death glam, and it all sounds like it’s completely by accident and probably is, because “Tik Tok” is a song of such contrived, shallow, brazen stupidity, a song so aggressively idiotic that it all but transcends its niche.
It fits snugly into the pop milieu that allowed it to come into being, but at the same time stands above and outside it. “Tik Tok” is so fully and completely itself that one can’t help but root for it. I like the song- it’s catchy, it’s silly, and it’s fun- but I’d root for it, and feel something about it, regardless of quality. Hearing the song for the first time, on the radio in my car, I experienced the exact same sensation that I felt upon first listening to Bob Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone.” Both songs sound like the culmination of their respective eras and aesthetics, but both songs also deny those aesthetics, ignore them and reduce them to ashes even as they define them. Like very few other songs in this world, “Tik Tok” makes me feel like I have to deal with the fact that it exists.
Yeah, I’m sure Kesha was aiming for EXACTLY THAT when she recorded the song.
GTFOH.
Ya know, these ludicrously flowery diatribes that bathe egregiously horrible pop songs in all manner of post-ironic adulation are an equal part of the problem.
Take a gander at how the self-indulgent reviewers of Pitchfork review a trap-rap album, or how a magazine like The Fader jumps on the Guuci Mane (or equivalent) bandwagon after the fact, simply because they don’t know/understand/recognize the cultural intricacies surrounding the genre and are desperate to feel like they have some sort of unique perspective/connection to the music. Pop is no different. Professional music critics are typically ‘out of touch’ people working their well-educated minds diligently to describe the ever devolving trends in idiocy.
So what do you do when you don’t understand something? Well, for starters, you flex your bachelor’s in english lit and conjure as many fancy words as you can to extol how ‘PUNK ROCK’ something is while drawing comparisons to legendary pillars of the art world in order to give your argument some weight.
Force yourself to love it! It’s not going anywhere! Come on guys! Dig it!.
GTFOH.
It’s complete and utter bullshit. And I’m tired of people defending bullshit with even more bullshit. Muffuckas work way too hard to qualify idiocy. And spend their money on it to join in ‘the fun’ of vapidity.
This person apparently “HATED” the song enough to put it on a pedestal - as if it’s “so bad it’s good” in a round about way. Well, folks…all that does is further the problem. Human curiosity gives way to guilty pleasures…which in turn gives every fucktard with an industry connection an excuse to “give the people what they want”.
Example: Freak shows ala William Hung generate money. Someone actually let Heidi Montag put an album out….cause someone’s gonna buy it. And even worse…someone’s gonna defend it in a review. And that will in turn convince mental midgets to hop on board.
Why? Because it’s so bad it’s good/funny. That’s ok, though, right? Cause it’s all one big joke… right? So, when you walk in on your little sister, daughter, wife, mother humming along or dancing to this derivative/repetitive/meaningless abomination of a song…don’t wonder how it came to this.
It was all a joke, folks…
...and this talentless hack is laughing all the way to the bank with your money.
Jimson11 said on Nov 23, 2009:
houstonz said on Nov 23, 2009:
amplifya said on Nov 23, 2009:
Osiris said on Nov 23, 2009:
Epic Aesthetic said on Nov 27, 2009:
anonamos said on Dec 22, 2009:
artistQN5 said on Dec 22, 2009:
2 by four said on Dec 22, 2009:
Epic Aesthetic said on Dec 22, 2009:
Prophessah Nino said on Dec 23, 2009:
artistQN5 said on Dec 23, 2009:
Osiris said on Dec 23, 2009:
amplifya said on Dec 23, 2009:
I_Khan said on Dec 23, 2009:
onilink said on Dec 23, 2009:
artistQN5 said on Dec 23, 2009:
amplifya said on Dec 23, 2009:
artistQN5 said on Dec 23, 2009:
Phil206 said on Dec 24, 2009:
Osiris said on Dec 24, 2009:
Crob said on Dec 24, 2009:
I_Khan said on Jan 07, 2010:
Prophessah Nino said on Jan 07, 2010:
Joey Bootlegg said on Jan 12, 2010:
Jimson11 said on Jan 12, 2010:
Prophessah Nino said on Jan 12, 2010:
ianism said on Jan 12, 2010:
artistQN5 said on Jan 12, 2010:
Prophessah Nino said on Jan 12, 2010:
PretendGirl said on Jan 13, 2010:
artistQN5 said on Jan 13, 2010: