Shaniqua's State of the Music Address

I am a music lover to the tenth power! I love music and, being the eclectic person that I am, I listen to a wide variety. I find it rather boring and repetitious to be limited to only one genre of music. While R&B is my favorite hands down, I pay attention to new music hitting the airwaves.

One genre that I have noticed becoming increasingly popular is Southern rap, known in some parts of the world as crunk music. The music is catchy and, despite my initial resistance, I couldn’t help but find myself singing along when I heard the songs playing over the radio or at gatherings. Also, despite at first being repulsed by the “Soulja Boy,” I began to dance along at parties because it is a fun time when surrounded by friends. I even went so far as to put the song “Low” on my ringtone because I found myself bursting out singing it at random and sometimes inopportune times anyway so I figured if I put it on my ringtone I might get a little tired of it and stop singing it so much. It hasn’t happened yet, but I am sure that it is soon to come.

With all of this being said, I can’t help but feel that there is a line that should not be crossed with music and a few of these “musicians” have ventured far and beyond that border. When I turn on my television and see Soulja Boy jumping around screaming “Yahhh, trick, yahhh!” and telling his teacher to “Throw some Ds on it” when he receives a report card full of Fs, I can’t help but question if he feels bad for giving rap in general a bad name or for sending children a message that it is okay for them to be less than productive in the classroom and settle for mediocrity.

There was a time when rappers did not say anything at all if they did not have a purpose to it and something intelligent to say. I am not in any way trying to undermine the skills of today’s artists because there is still some music being made that sends a message or tells a story, which is the type of music that I most often like to hear. And I also understand the pressure to make popular, mainstream music that people will want to hear and have fun with when they go out for a night on the town, thus the catchy though sometimes purposeless music that has been making its debut on our radios recently. But I can’t help but feel that my I.Q. has dropped drastically every time I finish listening to certain songs that are along the lines of Soulja Boy’s “Yahhh!” And, correct me if I’m wrong, but I am pretty sure that is NOT the feeling you are supposed to be left with when you listen to GOOD music.