Just Pondering...

[dacalion]

Once again, while listening to some really good old school R&B...(The Mary Jane Girls to be exact...) I started thinking about their overall talent as a group and their careers and success. If you know your R&B history, you'd probably agree that they had "OK" talent...nothing really outstanding about them, they had a decent career being down with Rick James and their success was minimal at best (by most standards). Immediately, I noticed that my description of them sounded a lot like today's artist, BUT there was a lot more BIG NAME groups and more "SUPERSTARS" back in their era than there is now.

That in mind, I started wondering if we as a human race are loosing the "special ones" that stood out so much more back in the day, or could it be that our expectations are so much higher nowadays, that "good" talent is just "mediocre" to us because of our standards being so much higher?

When you think about "greats" in the NBA, Michael Jordan's name has to come up as one of the greatest ever. What made him so great? Was it his ability, our perception, or maybe the lack of overall talent in the league? Same thing applies to music...Where are the ACTIVE greats? Are they here but we're just missing their talent? and I mean REAL talent not "whats hot". Are they disappearing? Whats going on?

 

[Sucio]

Being great isn't always about talent, especially in sports...
Talent-wise.... Kobe and Lebron are way more talented that Jordan...........BUT..

It's about having that THING that separates you from the rest..... Jordan had that killer instinct when the 4th quarter started. Jordan loved the game and knew he was the best and he went out every game to show everyone why. He didn't care about anything else but winning. He didn't do better because he was in a contract year....he did better because he wanted to win.... .Jordan also had that uncanny way to will his players to victory, and never gave up when his team was down...

Jay-Z is one of the greats as well is Eminem as active greats...and even Kanye (I'll probably be crucified by most of ya for this, except from DP).

As our society becomes more advanced (food/technology) the bar is set higher. You didn't have players in the 1960s running 4.2 40yrd dashes.....You didn't have Usain Bolt 100m times.....Which is why performance records are constantly broken....workout regiments change to get your body more optimized for competition, equipment changes to assist in getting that extra second, whether it be lighter shoes, better insoles....overall design...

Now for singing, we've just accepted the fact that not everyone could sing. And that's been going on for years, with types of pitch correction and other things to manipulate the sound. Mary J Blige couldn't sing a lick live for shit when she first came out.....she can sing now, though......Technology these days has made up for the lack in talent..and that's fine....But talent was the main thing back then, which is why there were a lot of big names...now with sex being the primary selling point for artists as well as the increased media exposure......the look is more important......We all think Roberta Flack is awesome....if she was on the come up today....she'd just write for someone else or become one of those relatively unknowns who has a nice voice but doesn't have the face....she's actually not attractive at all....lmao.

 

[UNORTHODOX]

Greatness is contextual, theres so many quality MCs or vocal talent, we wont appreciate it. Of coarse there is complete crap. But theres also the complication of great artists, by todays harsher standards are in an era where music itself is not as appreciated. Alot of SERIOUS talent has to take career paths that keep them away from music fulltime (no time left, no energy left, or even no desire left).

Not to mention you gotta be your own manager/publicist/tackle the monster known as social media/engineer your own or pay for it/ produce yourself/ etc etc the list goes on

 

[DJ Excellence]

Longevity (and aging) is an important component of "greatness". Sure Lebron are Kevin Durant are super-talented but in 2020 I'm sure they'll be considered among the best in NBA history.

Ditto for "current" Hip Hop acts like Jay-Z and Eminem.

 

[UNORTHODOX]

Longevity (and aging) is an important component of "greatness". Sure Lebron are Kevin Durant are super-talented but in 2020 I'm sure they'll be considered among the best in NBA history.

Ditto for "current" Hip Hop acts like Jay-Z and Eminem.

That and how we remember people. We exaggerate and romanticize the past, the now goes unappreciated. Its alot of factors

 

[skidflow]

The problem I think is that the lack of originality contributed to stagnating the artist who could possibly be "great". Groups back in the day had there own sound and you could tell that they took pride in their craft...they just didn't set out to "get paid". To be "great" back then you earned it. It seems today the few "great " ones are chosen by someone other than the music listener. Motown had many greats, Def Jam had their share...nowadays it's different. I don't know where Im going wit it now so...

 

[UNORTHODOX]

The problem I think is that the lack of originality contributed to stagnating the artist who could possibly be "great". Groups back in the day had there own sound and you could tell that they took pride in their craft...they just didn't set out to "get paid". To be "great" back then you earned it. It seems today the few "great " ones are chosen by someone other than the music listener. Motown had many greats, Def Jam had their share...nowadays it's different. I don't know where Im going wit it now so...

The gate keepers were focused on talent (Which sold then), now they are focused on optimum bottom lines, meaning pop (Which has proven to sell the most (For many reasons already discussed))

Being great comes second to the money

Hows that? lol

 

[skidflow]

The problem I think is that the lack of originality contributed to stagnating the artist who could possibly be "great". Groups back in the day had there own sound and you could tell that they took pride in their craft...they just didn't set out to "get paid". To be "great" back then you earned it. It seems today the few "great " ones are chosen by someone other than the music listener. Motown had many greats, Def Jam had their share...nowadays it's different. I don't know where Im going wit it now so...