Diddy Says Hip-Hop Needs a New Sound: He’s in the Studio
Last year, Kanye caused a ruckus when he revealed that he doesn’t listen to hip-hop, when at rest, and considers his new music and direction to be electro-pop. Actually, E.P. is my description, feel free to thief it Mr. West. Well, Diddy is a fan of Kanye’s music and is going in that direction too.
On Monday he told MTV that hip-hop has slipped into a recession and it’s time for a new sound. He’s making bold moves.
“Right now, I’m working on my record, and it’ll be out in the end of summer. It’s feeling good. It’s different. I’m creating a new sound. It doesn’t sound like anybody else’s stuff out there. With that comes a risk. I’m excited about the risk. I do have a beef a little bit with the game right now. I think hip-hop has lost its risk-taking quality. Everybody goes to the comfort zone. You’re not like, ‘What is that?’ when you hear that record anymore.”
Diddy also put blame on radio DJs,..
“DJs don’t break records no more. DJs don’t play album cuts. They don’t expose you to the newness. That was the DJs’ thing.”
“Hip-hop is in a recession also. It’s not dead, it’s definitely way better than where it was at, as far as with ‘Ye, T.I. and with Jeezy. It’s so much great stuff out there, the responsibility has to come with the DJs. I’m about to call the DJs out. ‘Cause they are the future, and they gotta step it up. I can’t keep turning on the radio and no matter where I’m at, can’t tell who’s who.”
Radio is a beast Diddy is not going to tame, but I feel him on the need for a new sound. Problem is → the last thing anyone is waiting for is a new Diddy album. If he really wants to inject some life into hip-hop, why not use those special powers on a new rap artist? Does Bad Boy even have a rapper on their roster?
In any case, Diddy’s definition of ‘new sound’ is sounding like more Auto-Tune blandness. Take a listen, fresh from the studio..
Diddy in the Studio circa January 2009
☼ What's Your Opinion? ☼
Well, I’m no fan of Diddy, autotune, or anything except “Love Lockdown” from Ye’s new joint, but in the mess of garbage that Diddy spewed Þas usual) in this article, his main point is a strong one: hip hop needs a new sound. Well at least half right. It needs to get more complex! Dull 4 count bars creating monotonous minimalistic beats have plagued hip hop since day one. Hip hop needs to break convention musically. There are 2 reasons this hasn’t happened: the underground and mainstream are too busy clashing over who killed hip hop and there is no one with enough talent or knowledge of actual music to make hip hop more complex. No one has studied poetry—and no, I don’t mean Gil Scott Heron and other spoken word poets, I mean Shakespeare, Blake, Donne, etc.—to make their lyrics more complex. Not to say they need to write like them, but look at great lyricists that outdated hip hop. Look at Bob Dylan. He could write an absolute masterpiece. Hip hop is full of pseudo-musicians and wannabe poets. Where are the John Coltrane’s and Miles Davis’s of hip hop; The Bob Dylan’s and John Lennon’s? At the risk of sounding ridiculous, I ask this question; why are there no hip hop composers? When we can answers these questions, hip hop will have the new sound it needs and will prosper more than ever.
Can’t say that this is something that I’m looking forward to. I don’t know what he means by comfort zone but if he’s on about the whack artists ie. 50 Cent, G Unit, Weezy, Lil something else, Souljah Boy and them then I agree, they’ve got to go for Hip-Hop to survive. It does look like Eminem & Dre are going to be contributing to the sell-out of Hip-Hop with their new albums: Relapse and Detox as well so there’s not really many that are doing it anymore. I mean really writing something meaningful, addressing some issues and such. Also that Diddy thing sounds a bit like that rather s*it album Kanye made, I didn’t like Kanye’s style before he made that album either so ugh.
Being a musician myself (myspace.com/anaturalmusic2008), my opinion is pretty biased. I’ve gone so long under the auspice that I could do music my way, tapping into my own archives of creativity, and still gaining attention and a fan base who’d love my music just because they loved it. Sadly, I was mistaken as soon as I got involved in the industry game. Diddy blames the DJs, I blame the record labels…which is interesting seeing as how he is a record label head. Passing the blame for bad choices does not warrant you being a voice for change. The day that Diddy takes responsibility for his failures is the day that I’ll respect a word he has to say about the state of the music industry today.
That being said, Hip-Hop has seen it’s hay-day. I think I’ll definitely be attacked by saying that, but just like all things, music must evolve. And it must evolve beyond titles, genres, and class. Music in general has gone through a roller-coaster of changes, urban/black music in particular. The lines between soul/hiphop/pop/rock have been soooo blurred these days that not only is it hard to tell who’s who, it’s hard to tell what you’re listening to in the first place. But to me, I think it’s a good thing. That means that no one else is waiting for someone else to tell them what they should sound like or what style they should create. The only downside is that there are no longer any pioneers being created. Kanye is considered as such, but still has a long way to go. Creativity shouldn’t rely on a tonal plugin, and when he realizes that he can still be creative without the help of a computer, then he can embark on his road to legendary status.
That’s really where the problem lies. We need to really differentiate between pioneers and pied-pipers.
And truth be told, that was Dawn singing in the background on Diddy’s album. Is this Press Play pt. 2?
“DJs don’t break records no more. DJs don’t play album cuts. They don’t expose you to the newness. That was the DJs’ thing.”
DJ’s don’t really have the opportunity to ‘break’ new album cuts because they have the chance, the single/album has been leaked online.
Nothing is exclusive anymore.
I’m not sure if Diddy can really create a sound that hasn’t been heard before. If he does, I’ll be impressed. Afterall, there really isn’t anyhing new under the sun.
DJ’s don’t really have the opportunity to ‘break’ new album cuts because BEFORE they have the chance, the single/album has been leaked online.
Wow, this guy says hip-hop needs a new sound after he has made a living stealing the old sounds. How sad is he?
Yo Erik Boyd, I hope you aint sayin Love Lockdown is hot cause that shit is garbage.