Stanley Crouch article on R 'n' B

[Chris Brooks]

Good article out of N Y Daily News today (June 18 2003) by music critic Stanley Crouch.

If you detest the way "soul" or "R 'n' B" has degenerated into today's hip-hop/rap, you'll be nodding your head as you read.

Main idea? Musicians on the "chitlin' circuit" had to be talented and persistent and use real players; today, they have to have one-syllable ideas, nasty language, and a producer who can work machines.

Chris


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now living in the Ocean State ....

[Jon Light (deceased)]

This, however is not a case where the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I detest rap, hip-hop, the rap & hip-hop culture etc. So does Crouch. However I also detest Crouch. He is an offensive creep who arrived late as a 'conservative thinker' after spending years vilifying black jazz musicians who had the nerve to work with white musicians. He physically threatened co-workers who didn't wave his particular banner (and got fired for it), and he continues to print racially divisive blather about jazz that implies that either you agree with him or you haven't got a clue (and that basically if you are white you haven't got a clue so you'd best agree with him if you want to be right.) Oh yeah, and that if you don't think Wynton Marsalis is the second coming (and if you happen to be an experimental musician following a diferent muse) then you also haven't got a clue.
The guy is a buffoon. But yes, he does a decent job of busting rap for the brain-deadening culturally degrading mess that it is.

golly----did anyone get the idea that I don't much care for this guy?

[Chris Brooks]

Thanks for your comments, Jon. Didn't know about Crouch's history of divisiveness and snobbery.

Chris

[Jon Light (deceased)]

I was just unloading 'cause this guy is a sore spot for me. Sure didn't mean to brow-beat you or anything. I know someone who really like's Crouch's regular Daily News column and could care less about his history, and I've got no right to say anything but 'fair enough'.