Erykah Badu, powerful voodoo queen of the soul and funk community, has spit some particularly potent venom at the state of R&B and Hip-Hop, particularly its increasing convergence with techno and dance music.
Badu vented on her Twitter account over the weekend, taking aim at the tidal wave of creatively bankrupt rappers tapping dance producers for what she termed ‘techno pop’. Several artists who used to bring at least some measure of soul, such as Usher, Chris Brown & Ne-Yo, or even Kelly Rowland, Beyoncé and Kelis, have all started using pop-techno beats in their songs - a disturbing trend for anyone who appreciates the soul of music.
Below is the rant, collected and unedited. It's a damn shame that some of the most vibrant, potentially influential megaphones in the industry have the apparent literacy level of a ten year old, but hell, it's Twitter:
How y’all gone stand by and let our music turn into pop techno cornball ass music. We don’t own our music no more. Come to think of it, did we EVER own it? when I say own our music , I’m not talkin bout the artist I’m talkin bout the people … let me be quiet. I wanna hear from the young people? easy for me to complain about this techno-pop cause i have a taste for something else. but how do u feel? These rappers ought to be shame of they damn selves, I’m talkin bout the mc’ s rappin over this pop techno music. I believe in pimpin the system buy got DAMN! not like this. #pop-technosongs. I like the idea of no distinction in race when it comes 2 music, but SOULkeepers, U dont give up the boom bip and the hump 4 the payday. I love house and techno as a side dish .But now it’s served as the main course AND that’s ALL u gone get. like chittlins in the back house. I love music PERIOD. just not ready to say goodbye to the boom bip and the hump .. kinda painful for my generation to see. just strange 2me. Yes, no1 wants 2B poor again. artist have2 sacrifice integrity of the music sometimes 2 make ends meet. this is understood.but gotDAMN now. if you’ve never tasted good p*ssy your satisfied with ass hole. (that’s terrible ain’t it .) lol
- Erykah Badu
Incendiary words, for damn sure, but that doesn't make them anything less than dead-center bullseye accurate. As TheUrbanDaily points out, and we agree, "we’ll definitely take an old Armand Van Helden joint over the newest Ciara single any day."
