The Blues & Modern Music

Here are some comments I made at Jay Smooth's hiphopmusic.com weblog.

http://www.hiphopmusic.com/archives/000081.html

My comments:

Are these people for real?

At its essence, the Blues was about conveying personal experience -- often troubling or intimate experiences -- without resorting to religion or traditional themes. The Blues was the beginning of modern popular music.

Placing one's personal experience and views above "proper" musical conventions is the epitome of Blues music. Before the Blues, the emphasis was on the group experience and traditional themes and stories. Blues artists asserted themselves as individuals. Blues artists quite often echoed the same "Me Against the World" attitude that people today would associate with 2Pac or Biggie Smalls.

Sure, the Blues has its music conventions -- scales and rhythms -- but those are merely manifestations of something deeper. The Blues empowered individuals to convey elusive personal experiences in ways rarely seen outside of so-called "primitive" cultures.

Quite simply, ALL modern music that places the individual above the group is a direct descendant of the Blues. This includes jazz, rock, doo wop, funk, rap, etc.

If you feel like you've walked a mile in someone else's boots... that's the Blues. As Willie Dixon said, "I am the Blues". 60 years later, KRS-One echoed this spirit when he said "I AM hip hop".

Don't just read your history... KNOW your history.

Posted by Eric on December 30, 2003 02:20 PM