Why Our Musicians Sing Crap

Music is an art. Perhaps the most enduring art. 

Art is the ultimate form of expression. Ultimate because, there's nothing like it. Art is for expressing what hasn't been expressed before. To show what can't be described. To paint what can't be seen or to paint what can be seen in a way it has never been seen. Art is more than just a piece, it is the embodiment of the artist's life. It is a work of the artist's lifetime. It is his obsession. He lives for it.

There was a time big buildings were work of art. They were designed and built by artists. No two mansions looked alike. Then, there came along engineering and automation. They replaced the artists with technical drawings, specifications and construction workers. Big houses are now a commodity. No longer an art.

There was a time writing was art. It was even called calligraphy. Then came typewriters, computers and printers. Now, writing is no longer an art.

Music is facing a similar threat. The advent of computer generated tunes and brain-dead compositions are turning music into a commodity. No more need for talent, passion and insane amount of work; like it used to be. Everyone is now a musician. The untrained voice, the accidental musician and the computer guy are now churning out music tracks. They are dulling the society's music taste. Everyday we undergo hours of brainwash sessions listening to crap. We no longer have taste for music, real music. The one that is a work of art.

And as long as Nigerians keep buying and promoting the crap popular people push on them, every street boy, every school boy and everyone looking for quick cash will release a track. Some will catch the lustful eyes of some of the big marketers and more crap will be forced down our ears. And the next generation will not even know what music should be.

So why do our musicians sing crap?

1. Most are not musicians. Just ambitious regular folks trying their hands on the new in-thing.
2. No research. Art is about creating what doesn't exist. An artist studies all the methods used by those before him. He builds on them. No one will paint Mona Lisa and expect the world to be wowed. Even if he did it by inspiration, and has never seen the one by Leonardo da Vinci. Art is about stretching the human mind, making it see new things or old things in new ways. The legends researched and took what was existing several steps forward. They don't just recycle beats and rehash crap.
3. No brain. You should be able to separate a song into it's components, and each should make sense. The instrumental should make sense, the lyrics should make sense, and the video should make sense. And I don't think these should be too much for someone that makes his celebrity living off music. What more incentive does he need to put some brain into it.
4. No one cares. We don't have real music critics. Someone to show them what's wrong with their music. Someone to help us understand what music should be. Someone to give the real musicians a credibility. Someone to be our music conscience. To be a pain in the butt of those that care only for the money in music. And to intelligently praise true work of art.

Finally, music is meant to be deep. To strike cords in us we never knew existed. To stir strange passions within us. To make us disconnect from the world around us. To make us better and more mature. Not to make us swear and curse and say terrible things all for the sake of a dance-able beat.