It’s kind of hard to put it in question form so bear with me if the title throws you off. And there is an elephant in the room so if you are up for it, let's have a go but let's keep it clean please. No low blows or attacking each other.
We can agree that people all over the world enjoy music. You have hard core dancehall reggae acts that can get really gutter but then mellow it out with some roots style singing about god and women. Same with rap- you can have some straight up street cats do a track with an R&B gal like Mary j Blige. But when it comes to dance music, underground in particular, to include the techno movement, I find that it’s not the same. Many, not all, but many that like an old school raw jazzy hip hop track by guru won’t touch a house or tech house track with the same sexy or soulful elements. Again, I am not speaking in absolute but a good majority. For me, the same way I like my rap either gutter hard or smooth or even some club style commercial is the same way I appreciate dance music.
I know I have touched on this before but now I am thinking more that it is a culture thing. Why do so many underground djs (mostly white and euro white Latino- from my experience in the US) promote underground events with “no soft beats” but at the same time, those same djs have no problem rocking to a smooth old school mob deep and 112 track. Mob deep is straight gutter. Is it hypocrisy? Although not speaking in absolute, but can race be a contributing factor as many black djs, those that are into dance, are mostly into the soulful or latin tech house side of things and appreciate the vocals? Not to say whites don't do soulful cause most of my favorite producers are white from germany, italy, and netherlands and produce soul type of club house.
Like I said, its not an absolute and there are exceptions.
If you can see from the video below, one can say that the kid doing a cover of a dancehall artist sings well and many Jamaicans love his sound. You can also agree that an average music lover would find it appealing. But if that is incorporated into house, its not as appreciated by the underground acts because I think underground has gotten so extreme today. I don't So where is the disconnect? And for me, it’s a movement because I feel right now the dance music is too extreme and our youth are not getting exposed to dance in the US as a whole but mostly extreme techno/deep house and EDM. It should be a well-rounded exposure, not extremism. And also, much of the dance festivals are mostly techno/EDM in the US with not too many black or Caribbean latino- as they were the ones to initially bring on house/techno music and hip hop.
Your thoughts? I know, I gets deep but it’s a conversation that needs to be had.
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