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Feb. 24, 2012 at 7:27pm with 115 notes

Reblogged from thetonightshow

good post i rage when i hear the phrase ''real music'' and this is a good explanation why

Soundbite: On the European Roots of “Real Music”

Today, in the midst of “Hey Jude,” a coworker and I fell into a discussion about popular music. I’d expressed my mostly neutral feelings about The Beatles, citing that my various backgrounds and childhood that was mostly steeped in rap music and Britney Spears prevented me from having had any true experiences with the Beatles or any other forms of popular “oldies/classic rock” music until I was fourteen and voluntarily interested in it. I’m sure that my case is not an individual one—plenty of people have experienced their childhoods without classic rock, and although that doesn’t make their experiences any less legitimate, it places them at an obvious disadvantage in a society that regularly cites rock music as “real music.”

My coworker’s response, while understanding, was basically dismissive and annoying, as she expressed the idea that rock music inherently deserved credit because the act of learning or playing an instrument was a difficult one—and that since rap “only” required the use of a voice, wasn’t as demanding as rock music and thus received less credit.

I’ve spoken briefly about the delegitimization of hip-hop before, and these arguments are never new to me. It is well known that rap/hip-hop are not or cannot be considered “real music” because there is a significant lack of live instruments or notable skill “required” to accurately create or play music (such as the ability to read music.) It’s also well known that the argument of “real music” has been used time and time again to delegitimize the efforts of black musicians who regularly operate within these genres. If you’re a black person who operates in blues or rock, you can be considered a musician (and only then will your efforts ”inspire” white musicians or otherwise go largely ignored.) If you operate in a genre that requires beat-making, drum machines or other digital components, you might as well be an amateur.

Rap and hip-hop are just more than voices; contrary to popular belief, there is a lot of work that goes into things like creating beats, writing lyrics, and such. When people reduce rap and hip-hop to just “voice” or refer to it as “glorified poetry” they are ignoring the skill and creative process it takes to make a song—any song, regardless of how and with what tools it is made. Rap and hip-hop may not require artists to know how to read music, but it is just as demanding to understand signature times, beats, cues and flow.

In the defense of voice, I mentioned that it too can be an instrument, in that it largely demands the same amount of attention and practice that playing an instrument does. Am I to say that opera or just plain “voice” is less valuable than the skill to play guitar or piano because I am not making use of my hands? Or is the idea that playing instruments have been proven to have extra benefits (such as increased brain power) make the genres that require these skill more worthwhile (keep in mind that writing, the base skill of creating lyrics, has also been proven beneficial to those who partake in it.)

At the base of it, however, I always feel as if the argument for “real music” is steeped in racial undertones because rap and hip-hop do not parallel the highly European-centric views of music. Because the history of music is largely intertwined European history and because its tenets were basically built by white men, society has been taught to recognize music as long as it has certain qualities: instruments, complexity, and skill. What kind of skill is also important, as skills do vary in worthiness (playing the guitar skillfully will rank higher than a better-than-average singing voice, for example.)

It is not a hard reach, then, to say that because our ideas about what music is and what music should be are so heavily steeped in European culture (starting with classical music and—ironically—continuing with rock music that was largely based on the efforts of black blues musicians), the idea of “real music” is steeped in racial undertones that discredits artists who do not live up to these standards, because a lot of black artists do not grow up with “real music” in their households, with access to instruments or opportunities to play them, and have different ideas of skill. One can be congratulated for rapping with ease, complexity and wit, which is different than the skill needed to play the guitar, but no less valuable.

I don’t like the idea of “real music,” because it becomes very easy to credit and discredit the works of artists based on what they do or don’t have, which easily disagrees with the very nature of music and its variety. It also becomes another way to credit white musicians and largely “white” genres for doing basically the same things black/POC musicians are doing for no real reason, other than a perceived higher quality of skill.