it’s sad that people died, but i honestly hope this subgenre of music is dead and stays dead.
life sucks for everyone, all the time. but promoting music that encourages taking drugs to ease the pain only leads to overdoses. we all want out, but these kids need to work for 40 years while waiting their turn like the rest of us.
10
Thanks Jon Caramanica for this thoughtful piece. I hope the soundcloud rap era isn't over, that kids and underground musicians keep finding ways forward. Let's hope the predatory establishment music industry cashing in on these kids does get held accountable and starts using resources to protect what are essential super talented children. There's no reason they can't offer all kinds of help for depression and substance abuse.
5
Sad, all the hype, and claptrap about "SoundCloud Rap," whatever---"Lucid Dreams" is just a simple, pretty, very sad SONG, not that different from a gazillion others.
Come on, Jon Caramanica. You're part of the industry overhyping all this stuff. It's a problem.
Buyer, beware.
12
Perhaps folks might want to consider not doing drugs, not promoting gangsta life with its violence and gun culture, then perhaps -- just perhaps -- they too can lead a successful life full of career accomplishments. The end of far too many musician's lives whether it be Elvis, Michael Jackson, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Tupac, et al., is entirely too predictable.
9
RIP juice wrld
4
The rap music industry should invest heavily into mental health projects and behavior modification to reach out to the all those in the industry that seem to be ravaged by their own thoughts
8
Their is no industry to parent musicians. The unfortunate reality is that people even rappers need to be responsible for their own actions. Lil peep should not be put in category with Juice World and XXXtentacion. He was a sad drug user. These guys are criminals. I mean 70 lbs of marijuana on his airplane what is that and why should we deify this behavior.
10
Unsatisfying, rapid, and completely predictable.
5
The promotion of extremes as the norm is done for money by Greed via dope and tattoos, Hollywood and New York, and it has spread by the so-called respectable media as much as the wild journalism of each and every medium.
Yes, it's been around forever, but it was not the mainstream, almost the only stream left. Yes, Sinatra's world was mafia -run, but they were not selling mafiosoness to the public. The bad guys just collected money in the background. The same is true with dope everywhere until the Seventies then with rap the worst was promoted as the best way to live your life, insanity became normal with tattoos, dope, violence and rap .
These guys just became the victims of Me Too's destructive egomania. It's part of what's brought America down to believe the lies written on Juice WRLD's drink-this logo.
4
Saying in 2019 that SoundCloud rap is dead because three luminaries died in the last couple years is like saying in 1980 that punk is dead because of the deaths of Sid Vicious, Ian Curtis, and Darby Crash.
32
A tragedy? Hardly. What were all the drugs and guns for on his private plane? Maybe self-imposed drug toxicity? I will not be wringing my hands.
13
Sound Cloud is the place to go for originality and innovation. The variation and range on there is refreshing... Not everything is stuck in that trademark LogicPro sound.
4
Incisive and tender, Jon, but how can you be so confident in your authoritative declaration that the "SoundCloud rap era... is over"? Given what you know about the platform and the tens of thousands of young hungry hip hop artists and fans who use it, would you be surprised if a new artist emerged, say, tomorrow? Maybe it's the end of a "micro-generation" (circa 2017-2019) but SoundCloud rap is not going anywhere. Humbly consider curbing your cultural prognostications.
12
Could it be that something in the "lifestyle" of these "musicians" contributes to their early demise? It is a shame because they should be able to enjoy the money they have suckered middle class white kids out of.
14
Who's Juice WRLD? I thought that was a boba tea and juice bar in Denver.
10
This “soundcloud” rap and hip hop era is not collapsing or coming to an end, it’s just getting started, imagine potential of many up and coming artists, it’s sad to see what happens when these artists blow up and see fame and money. It’s not the artists fault that they sadly pass but it has to be blamed on something other than them.
7
I don’t listen to rap, hip hop and most current music. I’m not a music judge but I know what appeals to my eras. So after I read the headlines about this young man I clicked on a couple of his YouTube tunes. I heard a nice sound, melodious and appealing but what I heard mostly was a real sadness and a cry for love. The music promoters/producers who find these young artists on SoundCloud or wherever share a large responsibility. They take a young guy like Juice WRLD and thrust him onto the stage, into a spotlight, into money, into new clothes and a lot of stuff, and drugs. From a life of nothing into one of too too much. I fault his handlers for not taking better care of him. Even this old lady said he had a good future. So sad. I know his mother’s heart is broken.
38
@Hortencia what an open-minded, touching and spot-on comment. Copy x1000. Hats off to you for giving his music a listen, and calling out the responsibility of those around him who were profiting off his work.
11
Depressing to find so many aging, out of touch comments here. Cloud rap, sadly, is a reiteration of the story of grunge in the 90s and hardcore punk before that. Burned fast, but captured the attention of the youth and the industry. And cloud rap is just as important today's kids as grunge or punk rock was to you.
24
Always sad for those who knew and loved someone to have him/her die, esp when that person is so young, and it doesn’t seem that the loss of this music rises to the level of “tragic” as the loss of a young Beethovan, Miles Davis or Bryan Ferry would have been....
3
"the decade’s most promising musical movement"?
Ouch
13
“The film includes footage, first seen online soon after Lil Peep’s death, of the musician sitting motionless in his tour bus for hours, head tilted back — a reminder that even in his final moments, no one appeared to be looking after him.”
C’mon, seriously? You were under the impression that there were adults involved?
And this latest death...70 lbs. of pot? I am thinking that for normal recreational use, maybe like one or two pounds would have been enough provisions for the entire tour. AP (armor piercing) ammunition? For what - better stopping power against people wearing ballistic clothing or in motor vehicles?
So these deaths are the result of a poor business model by the labels? More like the predictable outcome of a generalized disregard for human life...including their own.
Very sad (my 15-year-old son is mourning Juice WRLD right now...), but it’s impossible for people from the label to care more for an artist’s life than the artist himself.
13
"At the time of his death, XXXTentacion was facing criminal charges: aggravated battery of a pregnant victim, false imprisonment, domestic battery by strangulation and witness tampering."
This person was shot, another OD'd and, by all appearances, so did Juice WRLD, given the plane he was on carried a six-pack of prescription cough syrup, 70 pounds of weed and guns--there must've been a reason EMTs administered Narcan. I'd never heard of these folks before, but I've given Juice a listen and, while his music sounds nice, it didn't strike me as any kind epiphany. While his death is no doubt a tragedy to his family, I really can't fathom what all this fuss is about. So what if he sold a bunch of records. So did the Bay City Rollers. Honestly, would you want any of your kids seeing folks like this as role models?
12
Hey, August! Thanks for mentioning my yesterdays heroes. ;-)
2
I don't think someone with a limited voice who uses autotune is a singer.
13
@Amos M Concur. Had never heard of this young man but then watched a couple of his videos and was immediately turned off by the autotune. While his voice was not unpleasant adding a little bit of singing to rap doesn't mean it still isn't rap that sounds pretty much like every other rap ever recorded.
3
I find Mr. Caramancia's story confusing. At once, he's praising three of the prominent stars of this sub genre, and in the same sentence he's bemoaning the loss of something so valuable.
Yet, if something is good, other artists will recognize it and emulate or modify it to match what they feel.
That not only seem to not be happening, but he admits it is the death of it.
Maybe it isn't as good as he holds out, or as other comments appearing here indicate, it wasn't that good to start with. Perhaps Jon needs to reassess the value of it.
I for one, am concerned when a description of the artist contains observations that the words are mumbled rather than rapped or sung.
5
This is such an incredibly naive discourse surrounding the violence and addiction surrounding these artists. They are only a drop in the ocean, a handful of millions of young people trapped in poverty, some of whom eventually succumb to violence, prescription drug use, and the proliferation of high grade weaponry which fuel despair and violence in the slums. Articles like these which sensationalize the dramatic only serve to perpetuate the myth that the poor or are irrational criminals rather than people trying to get by amid horrifying circumstances. It is a national disgrace that the US government has not made any kind of formal steps in abolishing the epidemics of drug use, poverty and violence that are plaguing young people.
8
I really couldn't care less. Thousands of children in the world die every day from hunger and disease, children who never had half the chances that this guy did. That he threw his life away for drugs is no one's fault but his own. I'll save my mourning for people who deserve it..
11
Self destructive addictive behaviour must be a psychological trait ingrained in the dna of individuals. Success can't be blamed as cause and effect. Tattooing your face at an early age isn't a result of success, it's an attention grabbing weakness. Artists come and go. Amy Winehouse exemplified the same. While they may all leave behind music and fans they also sadly leave behind an image that drugs, coupled with fast and dangerous lifestyles are to be admired, even emulated.
7
There is not a Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison or Jimi Hendrix among these rappers. Five years from now no one will remember these guys outside of family.
10
You mean Soundcloud "Trap" era. And I disagree, it is not the end of any era, many more talented artists could potentially come from Soundcloud if copyright infringement doesn't render the samples the songs are built on illegal. If anything this is proof that both audiences and artists cannot handle celebrity status.
Maybe this is an example that many kids aren't cut out to be celebrities, or maybe we should not be shocked when the artists that sing about teen angst end up like the examples provided...
3
If music was taught as an integral part of education at all grades, we’d be admiring a different kind of musician.
10
"How did something so radical and powerful implode so swiftly?"
I feel like the answer to this is so obvious that the question must be rhetorical. Living a life centered around gun violence and illegal drugs tends to shorten a person's life expectancy considerably.
The music industry and Hollywood tend to tolerate an alarming amount of bad behavior from stars for some reason. Only recently has committing sex crimes gone out of style, but how long did everybody look the other way when confronted with Roman Polanski, R. Kelly, and Michael Jackson?
Gun violence, domestic violence and drug use are still just fine in the music business. Chris Brown still has all his Twitter followers. Meek Mill is portrayed as some kind of victim because he got caught with a gun. Cardi B, a known gang affiliate currently facing felony charges, has yet to be "cancelled".
Being rich and famous means you can usually escape the legal consequences for violence and drugs others would face... but it tends to catch up with you in other ways.
40
The term "musician" has a really low bar these days when criminals are admired.
27
@Clover Crimson I think I heard this argument before. Ah, yes, the entire jazz era.
18
To compare these clowns to jazz musicians is like comparing a child's scribbling to Michelangelo. Jazz is a fantastically complex art form that takes years of dedicated practice to master. This form of rap, based literally on stealing real music, is largely created by computers and requires nothing more than speaking some puerile doggeral in time. Please.
4
Don't a lot of actors and musicians die in their 20s through a mix of addictions, messed up backgrounds, mental health issues and industry pressure? From Amy Winehouse to Jimi Hendrix to Tupac...Speaking of Tupac...the history of the rap industry is littered with the remains of its youth. The hard driven life is what fuels creativity and success but also leads to a lot of life challenges.
I do have to disagree with the comments here. Jon Caramanica is the NYTimes pop music critic. It's literally his job to talk about popular music and these rappers were some of the most popular and talked about in the world in the last few years. And what 14 year old's like is the future direction of music. Whether you or I like it or not.
14
@Nichep. You don’t really know what music people will like in the future. Young folks’ taste in music is always changing.
3
@Grace McNett —while true, the original point stands. It’s unlikely the future of music will come from people on their thirties or forties. To use a term from cultural studies, from all the emergent styles of music one may rise to supplant or at least challenge the dominant.
2
What ever happened to Ludacris and De Angelo
1
These cases look like Faustian pacts--fame in exchange of soul and early death.
7
We need is a "me too" moment about drugs in the entertainment industry.
The fatcats in the entertainment industry, especially music and film, turn a blind eye to drug use among the artists they hire. But it's no different than someone dying in a factory because the factory owners allowed unsafe practices or drug use on the factory floor.
This is negligence and the family deserves to recover damages from the studios and promoter and concert organizers who fail to do any drug screening or testing to help ensure the safety of the talent.
6
I don’t think detractors of Juice WRLD are being fair to him regarding his artistry or musicianship. And I say this as an old Bob Dylan/Joni Mitchell/Gov’t Mule fan.
My ‘is it music?’ test consists of ‘are the lyrics (no matter how abbreviated) personally compelling’ and ‘does the music cause my upper body (at the least) to move, even ever so slightly.’ (I include head banging in this.)
Juice WRLD’s music passes the test.
I don’t know anything about his personal life. I probably wouldn’t have been exposed to him were it not for my teenage grandson. However, I received a broken heart emoji from my son (age 28) who was raised on emo and punk. Apparently, Juice WRLD transcended a mainstream rap audience.
It’s looking bad regarding this young man’s cause of death. It’s a tough seductive business; sudden wealth can be difficult to navigate; twenty-one may be the new twenty-seven.
Regardless, Juice WRLD presented himself as an artist and I accept that. One doesn’t have to appreciate everyone’s artistic output. But to deny artistry itself seems to me unchivalrous.
Rest in peace; you were younger than you realized. Condolences to your loved ones.
55
Wow I must be getting old. I’ve heard of Juicy Juice but never Juice WRLD (they misspelled WORLD). Is it a comparable flavor?
6
@Beth Ditto
Not misspelled, he made that his name.
2
Not sure which is sadder: 1) the death of a promising talented soul; 2) the apparent demise of an apparent music movement due to apparently ill-advised living (I'll let other just each of those, but I'll trust this trustworthy music writer), or 3) the disdain and ignorance of commenters who somehow see this as proof that today's artists ain't the geniuses they used to be (like in the day when Bob Dylan regaled us with his 'golden voice' and 'pristine musicianship'? srsly?). Moving beyond the 'OK Boomer' generational critique: My 12 year old son introduced me to Juice WRLD, and he cried when he heard of his passing. Pretty sure he won't do that when Bob Dylan passes. Though truly comparing musicianship and creativity between generations is a fool's errand--respecting the travails and the passions of a generation is not. At least let the body grow cold before you disparage the musician and his fans on behalf of your own fetishes.
100
@Jeremy - I'm going with #3, as for which is sadder, 'cause we're still alive to express that "disdain and ignorance" rather than .....? Well, if nothing else .... start with empathy.
@Jeremy Astounded that you're drawing any comparison between Dylan and Juice WRLD. Please help your son listen to better music!
1
The untimely deaths of these so-called artists suggest that it is better for the youth of this world to have been spared the spread of the same kind of poison in this music that led its creators to their young deaths.
21
@ehillesum Wow, so I guess kids these days shouldn't listen to Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin, John Coltrane, or Kurt Cobain because of their young untimely deaths? And that's just naming a few recent American pop musicians. Imagine all the painters and writers -- not to mention scientists and businessmen -- who we'd never appreciate if we followed this moral guidance!
10
Can’t the industry’s executives, who profit from this talent, assign proper oversight and guidance to these fragile artists? I can’t believe those in charge look the other way, or shrug their shoulders so glibly with, “whatever, they’re going to do what they’re going to do.”
Everyone knows drugs kill.
All the warning signs are there.
Is that the industry’s business plan — let them kill themselves, it’s good for sales, it creates another “Legend,” there’s more where that came from, drug-laced singers—the commodity.
Sweet voice — could have become a Sinatra.
Too bad.
10
@Toms Quill They were all over the age of 18, so legally adults, and free to make their own unfortunate choices. Trying to babysit them or chaperone them would not have prevented these deaths. They would not have
listened to warnings any more than Janis Joplin or any of the too-soon dead of my generation did. Their flaunting of authority was part of their “art,” wasn’t it?
6
@Toms Quill Aren't these executives former rappers and producers who moved up in the world? The entire structure is evil. Producers brought evil into recording and have been killing it ever since, just as dj's have been killing live music.
Another case of a rapper I’ve never heard of dying from a drug overdose or shooting before I’ve even heard their stuff (and I like rap). I guess I’m an old man now since I can’t keep up with the rapid rise/demise cycle of the rap world. I think the risk of a rapper dying in his 20s must surpass the rate of a rock musician doing the same during the rock era.
17
It's very tragic that these three aspiring stars died so young. But if the 'SoundCloud Rap Era' was entirely dependent on these three, then it wasn't an era or a movement.
If there was a movement here at all, it will survive these tragic young deaths. Other musicians will take up this type of music, hopefully avoid the pitfalls, and become its next big stars. Or it wasn't an important, lasting genre.
23
@Dan Stackhouse if the 'British Invasion' was entirely dependent on the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, then it wasn't an era or a movement.
4
Dear SE,
You're right, the British Invasion that included the Beatles and the Rolling Stones also included The Kinks, The Moody Blues, The Who, The Yardbirds, Tom Jones, and a few dozen lesser known bands. Thanks for helping to make my point.
12
@SE It wasn’t just the Beatles.
1
These kids didn't deserve to die so young, but let's be totally honest here: their music was never very good. It played well with the younger crowd, and some of the songs that were produced will live on and see play in the future, but by and large most of these catalogs will fall by the wayside as more new artists emerge.
It should also be noted that XXXtentacion and his peers (Tekashi69, for example) had their share of run-ins with the law, and not just for run-of-the-mill drug charges that are common in the music industry; these guys often ran with violent gangs, and committed various violent acts personally. They also perpetuated the toxic strain of misogyny in popular music in their lyrics and in the way they treated the women in their lives. They were terrible role models and the industry will be better off without them. I certainly won't miss being subjected to their comically bad tattoos and slurred language.
164
@Greg "This kid didn't deserve to die so young, but let's be totally honest here: their music was never very good. It played well with the younger crowd, and some of the songs that were produced will live on and see play in the future, but by and large most of these catalogs will fall by the wayside as more new artists emerge."
Sounds like something your grandfather could have said about Buddy Holly.
47
@Greg Tekashi69 and X shared two completely different. After X's first album (with containing extreme gore)and his trialing of the battery, all the way to his posthumous album was much focussed on either heartbreak, peace/happiness, or a lense of depression. However, Tekashi69's music has blatantly been either sexual or violent in "gang pride". XXXtentacion had a huge maturation period from when he was 17 to his death. Tekashi69, not so much/
9
@Iv I see where you're coming from and you may not be totally wrong, but my dislike of soundcloud rap isnt purely the result of generational disconnect. I listen to a lot of diverse artists ranging from the Beach Boys to Death Grips. The problem with soundcloud rap isnt that it is youth music, the problem is that the genre is full of underdeveloped musical neophytes who all think that they're breaking new ground by... singing about their feelings.
I wouldnt go as far as to say that musicians on soundcloud have no merit, but my experience is that the rap genre on the platform is big on spectacle and short on talent. If you have to cover yourself in $50 tattoos to get noticed, you would have done better to spend that money on piano lessons.
49
And just why are we supposed to regard these characters, I hardly want to say musicians, with admiration? Oh. Wait. I think I know.
24
I disagree with the writer: professional success is not the reason these three artists are dead. All three were drug abusers long before they reached any commercial acclaim. And at least one of them, Xxxtentacion, was suspected of violent crime before his career had any traction. All three were on a freight train to oblivion before they had fame and money.
54
I had never heard of Juice WRLD until I clicked on a link to his music today.
I cannot think of another musician his age who had such extraordinary talent.
Who among those that surrounded him protected him?
21, just 21.
13
@AnnamarieF. Extraordinary talent? Really? Musicianship? No. Lyrical content? No. This genre will be forgotten.
24
None of the people around these famous musicians protect them. Sadly, they’re all “Yes” people. They don’t want to jeopardize their access or the “gravy train.”
Whitney Houston, same thing. On and on...
@AnnamarieF. - Extraordinary talent? I must have listened to some one else's songs. He used the exact same beat as everyone else, probably bought off of the same site.
Extraordinary talent at his age?
Michael Jackson
Prince
Barbra Streisand
Ariana Grande
The Beatles
The Rolling Stones
Judy Garland
Christina Aguilera
Tanya Tucker
Leann Rimes
Stevie Wonder
Miley Cyrus
Brenda Lee
Lesley Gore
David Bowie
Peter Gabriel
Phil Collins
Beyonce
Stop me any time.
9
What determines an accidental overdose, a phrase I see often? The Chi Trib reports today Juice swallowed many pills when the police were boarding. The pilot had reported there were guns on the aircraft.
11
@Geraldine Conrad Juice had actively been taking pills for his mental sorrow so that finding wasn't surprising. Firearms, however, has been reported to be in possession of the guards, who have now been arrested. He had given up a variety of drugs in the past (i.e. Percocet and Codeine) the lasting effects eventually got to him.
1
"There is no scene, no sound, no movement without musicians, but they have no union, no centralized self-care resources. Just the requirement that they work harder and do more." SPOT.ON.
12
@Amber
They do though, it's called the American Federation of Musicians.
1
@Amber A union does not protect a person from making horrible decisions. Flying with 70 lbs. of weed and guns?
1
Lots of comments about the this kid's music not being very good. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and, as I'm not a music expert, maybe there is a way to rate Bach vs. Elvis vs. Nirvana vs. Drake et al. Personally, I would rather listen to WRLD's Legends than anything Kanye has written in five years -- maybe I have simple tastes. I hated Punk but it taught me that music has nothing to do with talent or even music. I actually streamed some of WRLD's music and its better than most of the garbage on the radio. Finally, I watched the video of him freestyling for an hour and, while I have no clue whether or not that is hard -- I can't do it -- he looked joyful and that made this article particularly sad. At the end of the day, kids need help in life: someone to love them, guide them and protect them. Sometimes, that is not possible. The world is a dangerous and scary place, find joy where you can.
57
@Billy Bobby
Music has everything to do with MUSICAL talent. Joni AND Dylan have it. Rappers by and large have the gift of improvising with words and a low level ability with rhythm. That is not musical sophistication exemplified by harmonic titans like Ellington and Bird and
I suggest you study music theory, music history and amass a record collection of 5,000 recordings. THEN you’ll be up to speed with us serious, studied professional musicians. If you have musical talent.
14
@Draw Man
I do not have any musical talent, I have not studied music theory, or music history. For over 50 years I have amassed a collection of widely varied music that I love.
I can hear a guitar chord that reaches down and touches my soul, and I think that the opinions of ordinary music lovers like me are just as valid as yours. Music is art, and what is beautiful to each of us is what matters.
I had never heard the music of Juice WRLD before watching the clip in this article. I liked it, and I'm sorry he is no longer in the world to make more music.
34
Does one also need to become versed in literary theory and amass 5000 books to recognize a good novel? Dedicate themselves to film theory and watch hundreds and hundreds of classic canon to recognize a good film? How about poetry? Painting? Etc etc.
Or maybe there’s enough room for different tastes in art?
29
Up and coming musicians dying young is not new.
It also dovetails with current drug overdoses seen in communities across America.
The point that the music industry extracts maximum value while no one is willing to care for the stars is only half true.
There is another industry - mental health - that would be more than willing to engage with these young musicians. America has thousands of psychotherapists, many of them not very highly paid. A few adventurous ones might be willing to sign on to practice therapy and coordinate care during a tour.
10
These were talented young people, but anyone who thinks SoundCloud rap is the most promising movement of the decade needs to listen to more music.
For example, the work people like Kamari Washington, Thundercat, and Flying Lotus are doing in jazz is unexplored territory. These guys have chops honed over their lifetimes and they’re creating sounds that were unimaginable a few years ago. Isn’t that more exciting than someone rapping over a Sting sample? Because Puffy did that about 30 years ago.
I would also refer readers to the world of heavy metal, which, unlike the rest of the current rock music landscape, is vital and brimming with new ideas. Deafheaven and Blood Incantation are just two examples of groups rethinking their genre and coming up with something totally new.
21
@PSE Thank you for mentioning Kamari Washington and thank you NYTimes for the review of his extraordinary musical investments and accomplishments. Inestimable gifts to the world!
2
@PSE The funny thing is that the artists you mentioned would not agree with your point.
2
@PSE
Kamasi is not terribly original. His late Trane music is derivative at best.
SoundCloud Rap Era Ends. It’s finally happened. Genres and sub-genres emerge, blossom, and die before I have One. Single. Clue. It’s definitely their time now. My ignorance of today’s popular music notwithstanding, condolences to this young man’s family, friends and fans. Undoubtedly many will carry the burden of this loss for years, if not decades.
13
How is it dead? There are still many others who produce similar music of the same age. I don't mean to be blunt, but there are others out there.
33
It's sad when someone young passes, but as someone who's posted my music on SoundCloud, and as someone who's been using electronic music tools since the early 80's (right when MIDI became mainstream), I agree with other commenters that the current trend of "Hip Pop" is a bit depressing. It's VERY easy to make music with the tools available today. What used to be extremely expensive for gear and studio time is now incredibly cheap and almost fool-proof. Logic Pro X, which is the software that I use for production, once retailed for over 1K. It's now available for a couple hundred. Making the music today is also about as difficult as clipping Legos together. With a modicum of talent, or at the very least an ability to be a mimic, you can buy pre-made samples of everything from drum beats to vocals, and using software, it's literally as easy as dragging and dropping them into place in the timeline for as long as you want the "song" to be, and hit export to upload. This has led to a large portion of the public to believe that sub-par music is "brilliant" (Kanye, I'm looking at you). There's a TON of great, innovative hip hop out there (New Kingdom, New Flesh, Roots Manuva, Loot Pack, to name a few), with truly intelligent poetry and music that obviously took the artists time and effort to create... but what I hear from passing cars has the same melodies, the same Trap beat, the same vocal stylings, and the same emptiness.
81
@KiruDub Thanks to NYT and your comment I will expand my listening choices. It takes an effort and time to explore. As far as accessibility, you said "It's VERY easy to make music with the tools available today".
7
@KiruDub
It’s easy to make mediocre music with todays tools. But making great music is still an art that the tools make possible but a true musician has a sense of so many musical horizons that they don’t need that stuff to create great music.
That being said I love my portable studio and have recorded three Cd’s worth of original music in the last year and a half.
@KiruDub Kanye West is absolutely the wrong comparison to make - the scope of his work is far greater than any of the artists you've mentioned. I'm not a Kanye West fan in particular, but the sheer range of his output is astounding - from rapping and producing, to composing and recording with live musicians, orchestras and gospel choirs. That's to say nothing of his art direction, cinematography, costume design etc. To top that all off he also had the chutzpah to say something about Hurricane Katrina. I have no doubt that Loot Pack, Roots Manuva etc would disavow just about everything you've said. Just remember that Loot Pack's Madlib produced "No more parties in LA"...
2
Their lyrics were a cry for help. What these SoundCloud artists, who are quite often depressed, need is not so much more fame, which they already had in troves, but mental health support. So often these careers end in suicide because the artists never sought formal help for their emotional and substance abuse struggles.
35
@CP, I suggest let's start analysis of the imagery they see and seek to copy and fix that. All these now dead kids have ever done is copy what they see (and hear). Drug abuse, violence, anger, look at me in a star, I'm tough, I'm the man, and all this other imagery is what's wrong. By the time they get to being successful they're already hooked on the trappings. Fix the cause, not the effect. Clean up these freaks of nature. Man was not born like this, society made them that way.
The end of these young men's lives is a heartbreaking tragedy. The end of this annoying sub-genre is not. I’m disappointed with the enthusiasm behind SoundCloud rap. These hollow songs are my least favorite iteration of rap swaggerers, who thumb their noses at their peers (purist writers who provide the backbone for the genre’s substance) as they rake in the proceeds of a booming voice and personality, hiding behind eccentricity or top-notch production that distracts from weak lyrics. Yes, the swaggerers are necessary. No, they do not deserve this reverence. Fun music isn’t necessarily critical gold and that’s okay- why can’t we just enjoy that phase for the flash-in-a-pan marvel that it is? I much prefer the hollow songs of the 2000s, which at least had the courtesy to provide great dance beats as they insulted women. Go figure: for all the forward thinking SoudCloud rap is credited for, they still can’t seem to evolve to 2019 standards’ treatment of women.
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Juice Wrld's death made the front page of two Spanish newspapers yesterday. I can't think of the inverse where an up-and-coming minor Spanish music celebrity's death would make U.S. news. May his soul rest in peace but does Juice Wrld’s death constitute news to the average Spaniard? I don't think I'm alone in having never heard of Juice Wrld before Drake posted a tribute on Instagram.
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We also live in Spain. My 13 years-old is deeply sad since he read the news. Apparently his whole group of friends, Europeans & Americans alike, was a big fan of WRLD and is really upset about his death.
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I agree with Greg. We can mourn the death of these 3 musicians, and we should be concerned about the context of their demise. But we can at the same time say that their music is simply NOT VERY GOOD. It's juvenile and superficial in almost every respect (lyrically, melodically, harmonically), which of course is why 14 year olds love it and why it blows up on social media. And that's totally fine -- the music I listened to when I was 14 was sophomoric and terrible and it was exactly what I need at that stage in my life. But why is a NYTimes music critic taking this music seriously? Maybe it's interesting from a sociological perspective (bedroom studio music taking over the charts, etc.), but not from a musical one.
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@backpropagation I view it as completely valid if you - as an individual - hold the view that the "SoundCloud rap" genre isn't good. That's your opinion to which you are entitled.
However, it's a fool's errand to thumb one's nose at the music of the young. Sure, there's both wheat and chaff in any teen's listening library. But, you can draw an unbroken line of influence from the SoundCloud rap movement back through to the artists that are remembered as advancing the state of the art in the past: so many of this era's rappers idolize Kurt Cobain & his contemporaries who idolized Led Zeppelin, Queen and The Beatles who idolized Elvis & Chuck Berry, etc.
Throughout each of these eras, adults have contended that the kids' music is "not very good" and that they should probably be listening to Sousa marches instead (No offense intended to Mr. Sousa or his marches). However, how much have those parents been heard versus they music they sought to turn down?
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@backpropagation I don't know man, at 14 I was listening to Rush, Weather Report, Yes, Miles Davis and Black Sabbath, among many other artists. Young teenagers deserve better music!
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@Eaglearts
Yup. Me too. And Bach and Stravinsky and Oregon and Bowie and Floyd and The Band and......
Why would anyone waste their time with the current (c)rap when for less than the price of a tuna sandwich you can collect CD’s that are timeless?
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