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Found this on D'n'B arena forum:
I listen to all types of music, and all sorts of artists. I listen to
hip-hip, rock music and hard house. I listen to drum and bass, reggae and
sometimes garage. I listen to DMX, The Streets and Jimi Hendrix. Wyclef
Jean, Fatboy Slim and Oasis. I feel that by listening to all musics, I can
learn to appreciate what others enjoy about that music. I try never to
generalise music too much, for instance some people say they can't stand
garage, on the other hand they're head bounces when '21 Seconds' comes on
the radio. But whenever listening to music or browsing in a shop, I never
see colour in the music. I might think of it as a genre, but only to explain
to someone what it might sound like if they haven't yet heard it. Like the
other day I heard the tune by Cam'ron on the radio, and I said to someone
later, "Has anyone heard that Cam'ron tune?" and they're like "No, what
music is it?" so I explain it's hip-hop and it's got a sample in it "Oh
Boy". I never define music as a colour, because I don't see colour in music;
I hear it and I feel it. If I'm not feeling it, I'll try not to listen
again. I wont convince someone else it's crap, but I might discuss the tune,
to see why someone else likes it. Still, it is never defined as a colour.
I cannot understand why each year an award ceremony is held, to appreciate
"Music Of Black Origin". I don't believe it's racist, because the awards are
not saying Music Of Black Origin is better than other music that's not of
black origin. I just can't understand why music is defined as being "of
black origin". I suppose it depends how far we go back. It depends how deep
we look, and what information we look for. I've been told that black
music/music of black origin, has taken the idea of the 12-Bar Blues, which
was almost exclusively played by black people back in the 70's across
America. And Jazz. Okay, so they stopped looking there, they found what they
were looking for. But the people who created Blues and Jazz, must have
listened to something to inspire them to create their own music. Did they
put a label on it? Or did they just create the music and be happy with that?
It depends what you listened to. Like nowadays some people listen to Drum N
Bass, which evolved from Jungle, which evolved from Hardcore. Drum and Bass
has previously been celebrated at the MOBO awards, as being music of black
origin. The album (out now kids!) has got LK on it. LK came from Brazil...
taking an essence of Samba. Surely this is Samba Drum and Bass? No. It is
black music. It's drum and bass, and they play it on 1Xtra (the new station
from the BBC dedicated to black music).
I've heard people say 1Xtra is racist, and/or the MOBO awards are racist.
They're not. They are backwards. They are undoing, everything that has been
done to integrate people together, to bring down the borders of skin colour
and now they are segregating music. It would be racist if 1Xtra and MOBO
said that black music was better than white music. But there is no white
music. If there were white music, that itself would be deemed racist. That
aside, the MOBO awards had some quality artists there, and no doubt their
respective record company love these artists. The Chief Executives sit back
and rub their hands every time they get on stage or release a new single.
But I thought the MOBO's were about celebrating music of black origin, to
bring out unpopular music where everyone can see it and to show people what
was going on. And no doubt it was the first time, and maybe even the second
time, but then they realised that these styles of music are popular, it's
just that the public had no access to buy the music because it wasn't being
sold. This year's MOBOs consisted of Ja Rule, Ashanti, MS Dynamite, LL Cool
J, Chaka Khan, and many more... all of them commercially successful artists.
Where were Phi Life Cypher and Roots Manuva? Where was the UK Hip Hop, and
real urban music? That's what they should be celebrating. I don't care how
many of them are black or listened to blues or took that idea and evolved
it. I don't care if they used to listen to their dad play Jazz. If they did
then fair enough, I should hear them talk about it in their songs. Not
telling me again how America is full of pimps and rich hustlers, people
wearing thick gold bracelets and necklaces. Sorry Irv, I know Ja Rule sells
records, but I've already been told about his gold and I know that by
driving a car with one "foot on the clutch" you aint going very far.
The point I'm trying to make is that music has no colour. When I listen to
1Xtra, it doesn't matter how much they tell me it's black music I still see
no colour, I just hear good music. They try to sell 1Xtra to the public as
street music as well, strange that, I've never heard them play The Streets.
Is it because the artist is white, or because the artist hasn't defined his
music as a genre? I know only certain genres fit in to the section of "black
music" and it's not whether your skin is black, its whether the music you
are making is defined as "garage", "drum and bass" or "hip hop". The MOBO
awards are the same; it's about genre. It doesn't matter that I've listened
to music that is now defined as black for years then I decide to make hard
house using concepts from "black music". This should thereby make it music
of black origin (apparently), but it's hard house, so it's not music of
black origin and it's not black music. It only really matters whether the
music sells and fits into the above three categories. Correct me if I'm
wrong, because this is just my view and opinion. Its what I understand about
the state of the music industry, from the facts I've been given. If I'm
wrong, I will put my hands up and admit I'm wrong.
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