Songwriting is such a lost facet of music as of late. Remember how BoyzIIMen would tear up the charts? It’s the same love songs, with the same themes of love lost and love found but the manner of how they wrote it (or how Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam and or Babyface wrote it) gave us all the extra goosebumps just by listening to it. With the now evolving digital age where people could have makeshift studios and proclaim they’re up and coming artist; music is dwindling in value. Music is in such a forgettable state. Everybody knows The Neptunes and they’ve ruled the charts ever since, and one thing they’ve been really good at is making consistent hits. But which song or hit of them do you really remember? Like, gimme at least 3 songs from last year produced by them? Hard to get one song pinned down, right? Now, if you grew up in the late 90’s, you’d know at least 3 BoyzIIMen songs. This is not a Neptunes versus the Philadelphia quartet, it’s an observation from someone from that era when songwriting actually determined hits that became classics.
Recently I got to hear Rico Blanco’s new song “Yugto” which is songwriting in its most brilliant form. Unadulterated lyricism and wordplay, it would pass for a hiphop song. And truth be told, I heard it more like a hiphop song that an actual song. He has mastered the art of songwriting and this is why Rivermaya became successful without Bamboo. Bamboo is such a great singer, but a portion of Noypi’s success is driven by the anxiousness of people for Bamboo and not his songwriting capacity. Rico Blanco is a songwriter through and through. He knows it’s the ticket for longetivity.
Not ‘cause you can look like a rapper and act one means you can actually promote hiphop’s acquired gift for lyricism. The swagger is the aura but what is aura without the foundation of “being”. Your being-ness is a foundation of who you are and what you know, and your lyrics will prove your worth to make a dent in people’s lives.
Songwriting is a lost art, I only know a couple of people who still value the time they put in, in they rhymes. Just to keep the bias out of my label here’s a list you guys who are into lyrics should get into: Aero, Verse One, Peoples Future, ILL-J, AMPON, RonThug, Stick Figgas, LA and Raymond – just to name a few. Don’t trip on the list, this list is about entertainment and lyricism value. Both are all part of song writing.
What was the last song you heard that tripped you out on the lyrics?
2 comments:
atmosphere music :)
i tripped out on ampon music. theyre more my style. i like the lazy boy blues album :D who is verse one?
and didnt the neptunes produce the despicable me soundtrack? i looove nerd though haha :D its the only album of pharrell's i listen to repeatedly.
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