She felt this way.

Hello.

She's so persuasive.

How does it feel?

Jason?

She's so for today.

I like the feeling that was suppressed. Feel like I feel like I got no press, but like I feel like I need it.

The list of season after let go, and that's the reason I'm Obama released the season.

Skype?

This is the latest.

In the morning.

Three in the morning.

Play.

She's so pretty.

Say, say.

She's so pretty.

She's.

OK, alright, we are getting paid.

OK, OK, I know.

I hope they all die.

Hey, I'm gonna sign in.

Finally.

You should be my baby.

Baby and and this is not in Las Vegas and we stop dictation and we sold persuasive phrases.

My love.

How to save?

Brazil.

And now she's still.

Do you feel something?

Say.

How does it feel to feel?

What's up y'all? What's going on?

I'm taking two-minute 2 last like seconds to.

Things went out.

Hello hello hello got a request please.

Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. What is up? What's going on? OK, good to see you both.

Hey, hey, what's going on? How you doing?

All is good. All is good. We're getting hang up there. Yes, yeah, but yeah, all is good. How are you?

Doing pretty well.

What's good, boss?

Hey.

Staying in the building with OK.

Was having it was happening.

Everybody is like here, not necessarily here, there and everywhere, but I feel like it's a lot of people do a lot of different things. So, so like spaces have been a little little on the on the chilly side lately, but I'm enjoying the opportunity we got. We get to like connect with people.

A little bit more than we did when it was, you know, when it was rolling. It was like so many people in spaces and all that, all the good kind of stuff.

That's true.

Yeah, I don't normally. I normally go towards the small spaces anyway, man. Like when it's like if I see like.

30 Plus people I normally don't go in cause it's gonna be hard to really engage, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah. After I feel the same way, I will, I'll, I'll go through a large space if it's something, something big that I know a lot of people interested me in, like when the merger was going on or when it's like, you know, security or something like that. But otherwise, I'm not a big fan of like Big Kill spaces, like shield spaces or spaces where they're like shooting the shit, just doing whatever.

But we we can go ahead and and jump into it and see kind of where our conversation goes and if we get some, some more people, I'm going to keep kind of tweening out and then put it in a couple of different places as in combo starts.

But we get in here, I wanna make sure we're down. Let me forget, I have to make sure that I let folks know about I've been accepting we got going on. So I gotta let him know about JT space and I got to let him know about Kangaroo podcast and I'm probably going to end up doing it sometime anyway because this is a recorded space in case people listen back.

And also because we could space, I mean Rica celestial celestial retrograde. So I don't want to forget about those three so we can make sure we get our ohgi fam highlighted. This one probably going to be a little bit of a.

Gonna be strict with a about an hour or so. I just like the kind of hour format at least for these types of conversations and then I want to make sure we're gonna well at least I am going to head over to what kind of me for the second part of one of the conversations they were having started last week. So and I want to make sure I missed that and probably going to ask anyone else who joins us to join us over there. They're having some great conversations but.

Yeah, I've been in a up and down mood these past probably like the past week or so. But past two days I've been feeling kind of good. And so I've been playing like a lot of music and I just want to just share about like music lyrics and stuff that we enjoy, whether it's fun stuff, inspirational stuff. We get ratchet until, like feel like we always kind of get kind of deep and introspective and get down deep in the subjects in the comments and wanted to be a place where we can do that or we can j

We have to be light. Until I started the space with Dochi, she was my kind of artist of the summer. I was listening to all her, her stuff. That song was persuasive.

And that was for me kind of what started everything going for me in the during the summer I ended up choosing to do a piece to her music and maybe one day I might have to put it on film, film and man let everybody see it. But that was one of them that really stood out in my just in my mind because I'm all about the production and I just I liked how many like the different layers that they're were in the song. I like the lyrics, period. It's it's got a lot of different innuendos.

In a lot of different, different sections where not only is she talking about like herself, but she's talking about that Mary Jane. How that Mary Jane kind of.

Turn the turns around that that decision making some sometimes makes Mary J makes things a little bit more persuasive to step into.

So I opened with that and another one that's been in my brain, and this one is my my bird's eye is real bird ish.

I am a big pop Mr like I love pop music like hardcore, like American Pop, UK pop, Asian pop. I love it. But one of my favorite lines from like any pop song is from Cassie. Her song long way to go.

And not only is it her delivery, but I like the fact of the matter, she says.

I love it when they try to get intimate, even though they know I'm really not into it, I'm not into it, I'm not into it. Trying to Take Me Out to dinner, I'll cancel it.

That just embodies to me, that just embodies just like that that bird like in their brain. Like, Nope, not doing it. Thanks.

And it's real Flippy. And I just like how she delivered it because it's like not very matter of fact. So that has stood out to me. Oh, and feel free to kind of take this work wherever with any the child like to share. You ain't y'all have to be British like me, but I do like to be a be on my ranch shit sometimes. But I would love to hear any.

You always, always thought Cassie was underrated.

Uh.

I always like to.

Look, he is very much, very, very much.

But yeah, feel feel free to share any anything that pops up in y'all's brains or any you can't prepare it with. I'm down. I'm gonna try to write them down. I might even curate a little playlist to to share or think about when I'm riding in the car, going to class, or whatever, just to think about some of these lyrics I've been dropping.

I meant I might have to check out that Cassie Song. I don't think I ever heard that, but that's a bar.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's all that's like, look, that's like 2003. I know I had to be in middle school or some shit when that thing came out.

That wasn't even middle school for me. I don't know why I'm lying. I was smooth up before high school.

But it is always stood out to me though always stood out to me. But if it's hot, I'm gonna, I'm gonna listen to it and I'm gonna keep it in my brain. So.

Here.

But what about child?

Uh, man, that's funny. I mean, honestly, man, I've been going back to like the old stuff. Like, I've been going back to like, you know, like, I'm. I'm originally from Tennessee, man. So we we used to listen to it a lot of like, no limit and, like, cash money.

Come grow.

Yeah, like we used to losing that stuff all the time, you know, I'm saying, especially in high school.

So like I've been kind of going back to that, especially like going to the gym and stuff, but it's funny because.

Like, you know, people talk about music now and.

The lyrics, which I mean, I can't listen to stuff nowadays. It's just I feel like it's a whole nother level. But you know, back then it ain't like the music was lyrical, you know what I mean? But.

Like I was listening to. I just think it's so funny. Like me reciting no limit lyrics, like it's poetry or something, but.

Look, I just. I just needed to some pop shit. Like, come on.

Well, like, well, my bad piece, he said.

He like my favorite song is I always make make him say right so.

Yes.

When he was like.

He's like I'm down here slang and rolling with these hustlers trying to get rid of all you haters and you Busters.

Like I used to love. I used to just love like the way that masterpiece the rap because like.

He was so he was so passionate. And I think now, like, we understand, like, why he wrapped the way that he rapped because he was like, running a whole empire, you know? I'm saying. And he was like, literally, like, trying to, like, get these cats to like, be millionaires, you know? I'm saying. So I was like when he was really talking, like, from a hustler standpoint, like, he really meant it, you know? I'm saying. So it's crazy. You kind of go back to listen to their music now. You kind of appre

Master P get now so.

I've been bumping the hell out of that stuff recently.

That's do you do you did take that one back, that is.

And shout out there. Hello, hello, hello friends, good to have you in the comments.

That's.

We, I don't know. But like kind of going going back to what you what what you were saying like especially compared to music today, like was it was was it more lyrical? Like I feel like they were probably seeing more back then they would be saying now a lot of stuff now. I feel like it's almost down, say recycled. It's not a whole lot of people that are, you know, talking about.

Not even relevant stuff, but just talking about diverse things. You know, all all of this stuff that's hit right now is, you know, Q make them pay for your dinner. Make them pay for your Burger King or.

You gotta spray and spray them with the choppa. Gotta flaunt, flaunt, flaunt the money.

Yeah, like I'm in the club doing whatever. Like, you know, ladies falling into feet and all that type of stuff. I you.

And I feel like.

Well, it's funny, man. It's funny not not to cut you.

The I like the content was a little bit different. It might have been the same, it might have been the same subject, but the content was different back in the day, you know?

Puffed out.

Well, I well, I would say like, well you saying like I I think the styles was different, right. So like even with like no limiting cash money, even though they were both from basically like a neighborhood over like they sound totally different as far as they want their music.

Hmm.

But like, when you think about like, I was, I I have like this workout mix that Apple suggested. And I I kid you not. I can't tell you who's rapping from song to song because they all sound the same and literally like like every song is different people, but they all literally had the same cadence, flow style, even like their voices all sound the exact same, yo. Like, and I don't want to sound like an old head, but like it's just weird. Like it's almost.

But she was still being more independent these days is almost more like it's a a music machine these days than it was in the past. But independent music is easier to do now. So it's just so strange that they all sound the exact same. But I mean, it might just be because they noticed that's how they're going to get paid, you know? So.

And it's strange, man.

Shout out to spoon. Super welcome. Welcome to the Commons. We are talking about just dropping in and and talking about some some lyrics that stand out with us. Music wise. I was. I started kind of being a little bird with some ratchets with some pop. Cassie and Kane took us back to the real real with some make him saying and no limit.

Well, not to be. You have any any you want to share? I know you. You. I mean, come on. You know you deep into music, so I know you got some good stuff.

I.

I like you, got something great to contribute?

I don't know. I don't know because, like, that's crazy that you said that because I'm more so on the production side. So like, my the way I even listen to music is completely different. I can listen to a whole album, a whole whatever, multiple times before I even hear the lyrics. To be honest, people are like, why you like that song? I'm like, God, this. That's just tight. Like the, you know, the beat, the melody.

Yeah.

More drawn to lyricist and artists when they when they use their voice like an instrument along with the track. So I mean, you know, I feel good lyrics here and there. I'm more of an R&B old school dude, you know? But but yeah, lately I think like the the album that like touched me lyrically. I was like, oh damn, I like it made me pay attention was Kendrick Lamar's latest album. That's the album. I was like, Oh my God, I got to listen to this, like really listen to this.

I was recently in a in a zoom space where they were broke down like that, pretty much the whole album, the lyrical content of the whole album. Maybe that's a little little subconscious, got my brain started on this, but it was the whole lyrical content of the whole album and pretty much about what each song is talking about and how they code, how, you know, it kind of relates to black, black community and black society today.

So it was it was really interesting because the therapist that was in it that was breaking it down also has a background in music as well, so.

She was able to take the lyrics and.

Present them to the audience in a way of he's thinking about this or you know these. These lyrics are are saying he's talking about this. So he potentially may be feeling like this subconsciously or.

Likening it to another part of a different song where that connection kind of strings in so you kind of can get where he is in his head space. It was it was y'all, it was deep. It was we think it there, we took it there. It was very nice out. It was cool.

Welcome. Welcome to tomorrow. Good to have you in the comments going going back to the old school R&B, though we've talked about this before in a in a matcha and introvert space.

What?

I muted myself. What?

Hmm.

Where do you go for R&B like in in in your brain? I I have been.

Of course, you know, we we got all the Marvin Luther, very, very white, all that type of stuff, but probably like a couple of months ago.

Do you know what's the? Let me look it up real quick. It is the name of the song is if and when.

Oh, about the three degrees. Has anybody heard that?

No, never heard that.

Yeah, we need.

My hip.

Yo it is.

Three women and this had to probably be like the 60s and 70s, but their voices just butter like butter and the song the I know, the chorus says. If and when you're headed back this way, where love was found.

Want you to know this girl will still be around?

And if you ever what was it? I'm coming off the top. I can't remember off the top, but just the way and I feel like the majority of the song is just the chorus, honestly, but the way they maneuver it around the baseline and the way they.

Kind of weave in and out like vocally of one another.

Yeah, it's like it's one of them songs like, whoa, like you hear from the course already, kind of what the content is, but even when you're in like a good mood, it'll get you the wild slide in a minute, like in the corner, like who? I went through it, but it's it's made me very much start to look more into them as well. And they were quite the little underrated group voices and vocally and arrangement.

Just stand out. Stand out. Welcome, star. You gonna grab the mic? You got some like you want to share with us?

God.

I wanted to just circle back. Well, first, I appreciate you allowing me to speak and hosting this space. When I saw the topic, I was like, I hop in this joint, but I wanted to circle back real quick when y'all talking about Kendrick, had the opportunity to see him in Columbus, OH, that's where I'm from. A couple weeks ago on tour and man, it was such an incredible experience. I don't know if you seen country live before, but like his skill with his, like, breath control with respect to how fast

The energy, he's able to do that at the same time, you know, controlling the crowd, moving on the stage, you know, I'm saying, I thought that was like.

Extraordinary to witness. And you know Kendrick, he does like I think to.

I think to the point that was made earlier was like he used his voice as an instrument as well. And a lot of times I think, I don't know if that's engineering the the the studio engineer doing that or that's just really him. But like when I saw him live, like, Nah, he really does this. So I thought that was super dope and like to also circle back to a point that was mentioned.

About being on the production side, I got a playlist, I call it sample Saturdays. And like one thing I think is super dope is like sometimes I just be listening to a song, whether that be riding in the car with somebody or I just so happen to come across something random and I hear a sample. I never heard the original sample before, but I heard the the song that it was like used from and it makes me kind of go on my my research grind and I'm like, damn, I never knew this was the sample to that s

They're the like they read the then redoing it, but you may not have heard the song that they got that sample from. So I just think that's something that's dope to the to that point that was brought up earlier.

Let me ask this question is, and I know that this is a matter of of of opinion, but which which do you feel is more important, like the lyrics or like the music composition arranged for production?

Ohkay.

That's a very difficult question to answer because of the genre sometimes, but to keep things simple, I think that.

Uh, the production matters to me first because that's what's going to pull me in. Is this going to make me want to listen to the lyrics, or is this going to make me just want to vibe out? And I could really care less about the lyrics. And if the the artist is using their voice as an instrument, that might matter more to me than the actual lyricism. But if the production is something that's like kind of giving storyteller vibes or giving like this is a a theme, then I'm going to listen to it.

More for the lyrics. And sometimes I'm disappointed if their lyrics don't match up to their production. If the production over signs the lyricism too much and I'm gonna be like, Nah. And other times I'm gonna be like, man, the lyricism were great, but like the the production didn't capture me. If the beat was just a little better than I might like the song a little better.

Oh, wow. OK, I that's that's that's an interesting perspective, but I feel like from the from the emojis that I saw popping up from Onaji being Kane, they they relate can't go ahead. What you is that does that match your own perspective?

Yeah, no, it does it. It made me think of something too. I mean, probably two things a I realize.

How old I am because like songs that I grew up on not when I grew up on, but like songs that were popular.

When I was younger or like being simple now, right? Which is crazy to me when I hear songs come on and I'm like, oh, I hear the beat. And then I'm like, oh damn, this is a real, you know, this is like a sample or new song now.

But the other part too, when I think about it.

Like the songs now when they're being sampled, I don't feel like they're being changed much. And I'm like, maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like back in the day when songs were simple, you didn't even really know it was simple, right? Like maybe they took, like, just a few of the lyrics or, you know, something Kanye did when he takes the lyrics and he turns that into the melody. Or, you know, Dre might have took just a portion of a song and turned it. Now I just feel like the whole song.

It's just put back into another song and they might just add, you know, something to the beat, you know? I don't know, that's just me, but I just noticed that the sampling now, I just feel like they're just repurposing the music.

I feel like a lot of that and y'all can y'all can tie me in like if if you feel in opposition. But a lot of that for me from from what I notice comes from or is used to.

Piggyback off the appeal of that song that they sampled and so I hear a lot of that in mainstream music and I've talked about this with people before and and when I say this is not shaped to people but you know that's how people got they come up when you think about you know people like sweetie or Lotto or even right now with.

Jack Harlow and this glamorous song that he is like running all up and through every award show like that's been crazy to me to see them take the, you know, sample these songs and then piggyback on top of them of that mainstream appeal to help push their own song forward. But I don't feel like that's for everybody because I hear other samples and I'll, you know, I'll use Renaissance Beyoncé's Renaissance as an example full of samples. Some, you know, some are interpolated.

And and are moved around or not you be. What's up?

Yeah, for sure. Like all you guys, all all three of y'all spending facts in the nail in the head.

But, you know, it's a kings point. Maybe that's just us getting old, you know? Like some of the older heads, they're like, Nah, we don't like, you know, these songs being, remix being. And maybe we're just now in those shoes where we're like, no, these are our songs and y'all is flipping them, but y'all ain't doing a very good job of it. Maybe it's just like that cycle that we had to go through, like our parents is trying to tell us like, neither. New songs ain't tight, youngster.

I don't know, I just. I feel like it's different though because like.

I feel like, I feel like it would be mass more, you know? I'm saying like, like you hear like even for songs we grew up on, right? You you find out that it was a sample, like, even like.

Thing like most like Luther Vandross songs were samples which I didn't even know, but like I just felt like stuff was more.

Masked, right? I feel like now it's just literally like they went and took the song and just replayed it and it just changed the lyric and then just changed some of the lyrics they like. They not even like just up on the music. They sample in the whole song now to the point now they're just like changing.

A couple words in the actual song, you know, I'm saying, so I but I get it though, because you got like people like was named Jack Quest or whatever. Like they like like bossy. A lot of them got popular off of literally just singing the songs on YouTube and stuff and then that's how they got popular. So I think it just has become a part of kind of how the music is now.

Welcome, welcome. You are smart to the comment. Sorry, go ahead.

Yeah, that's, you know, that's a good point. But like, a lot of times I'll talk to, I'll talk to the younger kids and I'll talk to, you know, my kids. And I'm like, hey, like, have you heard this song? You know what song they sound from? They're like, Nah, I don't, you know, I don't know. I don't know. I don't care. So I don't know, maybe it's the same thing. Like maybe we just some of those older songs that were like, oh, I didn't know this was a sample of this, but then you go back and listen

Right now, it's like we can hear it right away. It was like, these are our jams, you know what I'm saying? Y'all butchered about here. I don't know.

No, I I agree with that when I when I talk to my students or when I play music, I used that as an example. I like a lot when because music, music now is content wise and even when it is on the clean side, like it's difficult to use in public situations. And so when I'm when I'm teaching technique in in public schools and stuff like that, I I can't go in there with just playing the song just straight out.

You know, even the radio version and so.

There was a moment where mashups were really, like, super big and there was a mashup using the.

The instrumental of Rihanna kiss it better, but the lyrics of Whitney Houston how will I know?

And so when I played it, the students were mad excited because they were thinking it was kissing better. And then the lyrics came in and it wasn't Rihanna and they were like, what is this, turn this off. We don't know this.

Guarding.

And I was like, wait a minute, like, whoa, like, wait a minute.

Yeah, but I, I echo kind of what we we were saying earlier or I think what John was was saying earlier and even on RGB that a lot of times, especially now, I don't really feel like a lot of the younger audiences are listening to lyrics, they are listening to the beat, they are listening to the the musical production and the rest of it comes come second.

Yeah, but they even danced to the lyrics now though, because like.

I know.

My my daughter. I mean, you definitely know that, right? Like my daughter.

Even like my daughter loves to dance and I notice that she dances to.

The lyrics more, you know, I'm saying so like even, let's say it was a song where the, you know, the beat is a little bit faster, but maybe the lyrics, they're not.

You know, it's not as much of that in the song. She won't really dance to it, you know, I'm saying. So I'll be like, yo, like, You Can Dance and it's just listen to the music, listen to the beat. But, like, she can, like, switch her brain to doing that. So I don't even know when that kind of shifted. You know, I'm saying when I hear a song, I dance when I moved to the to the beat. And I know it's a lot different now. Like, like what? You know, what kind of created that boss or like, when did tha

I have not even really sure now. Now that you say that, it kind of makes me go back and think about what I'm doing when I'm creating and a lot of what I what I do and a lot of what I experience.

I weave in and out of both because I do like production so much and I like lyrics as well. But when I'm creating, I'm gonna jump. You know, I might hit this line with the with the words and then I'm going to drop down and hit the rhythm of the beat and then come back in and make your eye and make your attention go to, you know, what's going on in the production with the 808 and stuff. And that's for me. That's what I like to do when I'm listening. That's what I like to pull out. That's what I li

Because it's all it all connects like even though they're different elements, it all connects to make the song, at least for me.

Welcome B. Welcome B, saying welcome to the comments. We are talking about lyrics this evening and sharing lyrics that we enjoy or lyrics that stick out into our head. Right now. We're kind of talking about production. Is it more production styles that we enjoy that catch our eye? I mean catch our ear or is it more lyrics that kind of catch her ear and kind of where that came from? Guitar, your hand is up. Go ahead.

Yeah, I just find 1 to respond to cancelling just about like when did like dancing to lyrics coming thing. But like if we really think about it, it's like Loki binding thing if you depend on the genre we talking about, right. I may not be talking specifically about rapper hip hop, but if we're talking about like Cupid Shuffle, if we're talking about Cha Cha, the, you know, I'm saying like they're really giving you instructions on what to do during the dances while those dances are so popular at

Any type of event that you can think of, put that song on and if it's dead, everybody gonna get up, get to the center, to the left, you know, slide to the right.

Come on.

You know, I'm saying so those are very simple words that production is really not that lit if you compare it to, let's say fuck free. You know what I'm saying? Or FNF but.

But the lyrics are simple enough where you're probably going to get more people to dance to the the words of that than the production of F&FI don't know. Let me know if I'm off there, fam.

Yeah, that's true.

Now you're right, you're right. That's a good point with, you know, like the Cha Cha slide and different, like line dance, you know, specific songs like that. Yeah, that's a good that's a really good point.

Yeah, it.

And so that's now I'm really, really thinking about how I how I consume music and I look every and F is is is a is a bot. Don't give me F&F is a bot and for that I probably catch the earrings before I catch the production, but.

When I thought about it, the lyrics came up, but then I started to hear on the other side the B and the production and so I started to kind of jump in between both. So that's that is very interesting and that's very common I feel like in.

In social dance, you know, that's that's why we got, you know.

Soulja Boy and all that all that type of stuff and and some of those same some of those same examples that that you gave but when we're listening for our own you know pleasure or.

Guess 2.

Have the the, you know soundtrack and the background of of our lives kind of what where does it go from there? Is any is anybody heavy in in foreign music or music that is non-english?

OK, I.

I like some soca and some reggae.

OK.

OK.

What about that? Like, well, and the reason I asked that question is, again, I'm I'm a pop minister and I love all types of music, but I do find a lot of a lot of my interest goes toward Asian pop.

And I know conversational Japanese. I don't know Chinese, I do not know Korean and things like that. And sometimes when I when I hear these, when I hear these songs, I'm able to still connect, even though I may know bits and pieces.

They are. It might be production, it might be the rhythm of the lyrics. If I look, if I look the lyrics up and.

Times they they're matching what I'm feeling when I listen to the songs.

So it.

I think a lot of it is very music based music related to where music, like I said before, it's kind of the soundtrack of our lives, but even those words.

And how they're delivered for me is is what pulls me back or when I connect with and what I relate to. Does anybody feel that same way?

Yeah, well, my daughter, man, she.

My daughter dances like every day, right? And she got well. I kind of got forced into this group. What's it called? You might know, boss.

Black, black, pink.

You know, I'm saying yeah.

Correct. Yes. Black think the big group right now.

Yeah, they're great.

Yeah, but they but they're dope, though. I like to. I like how they transition, right. They kind of transition from English to they're Japanese or Korean, right?

Yeah. So they they transition back and forth so you can kind of get the vibe of what they're saying, you know, I'm saying even when they do transition back to Korean, I used to back in the day, I used to listen to this group French, I think they're called like.

Umm.

The Nubians, or Les Nubians, they're French and they were, I mean, they were dope, you know, I'm saying, I don't know, they're still around, man, but they were really dope. But that was like back in my Neo soul day, so.

You know, I'm saying I definitely for that, but yeah, I think sometimes you can just, you can kind of get the the feeling or the emotion from the music without even really understanding it, you know, I'm saying just by how people are delivering it.

I see hands, I see emoji. So that that popped up for for a couple of people came. Go ahead on Najib.

For sure. Yeah, I'm, I'm not super hip with, you know, like the Asian the pop scene and K pop and stuff like that. But I just recently like.

Hmm.

Have been diving into like music from the continent, right. So and this is like just a couple years ago and I was like, Dang, I wish I would have been known about Afro beats and like, like, you know, like this music, you know, it's it's kind of hidden from us. Like, I mean, I mean not hidden but just not like champion, you know? I'm saying. So I've been like super about listening to like like the top like pop playlist like from Africa and Stuff. I've been on that way for probably a good like 4 y

French, you know, French music that'll come up on those playlists, you know? And yeah, I don't know what they're saying. I know what they're talking about, but it's still jamming, still afrobeats, but they're speaking in a bunch of different languages over there, and I'm like, this is tight. So yeah, that's all. I just wanted to contribute to that.

I think it it has helped.

John was like Afro beats and groups like Black Pink have helped a lot of us expand our our music palette just wider than what we than what we normally would we have. There are so many of my students and people that are.

Learning different different languages from from the, from the things that they listen to.

Finding more interest in music that is not American, and for me, I love that. I do feel like we could be real insular, you know, here in the here in the US, and being able to expand ourselves out and understand that there's more to.

Life and there's more to living in and there's more people and more of the collective consciousness than there than just in our city and state or country helps, definitely helps us widen our minds to be able to.

Absorb different perspectives. OK, what's up?

Hmm.

And I know you might wanna reset. So my boss, I wanted to throw this out to you just so before I forgot and it's something it's kind of it's kind of come up I've I've seen kind of the media and stuff like that so I thought to you and anybody in the room and you know you can dress it when you when you want to but like do you think?

Currently, like do you think R&B as we know it is over or like do you think it's dead?

Ohh wow.

No question. Yeah. OK. So let me reset. Welcome, everyone.

Tell Ninja you presents the Commons. We're talking lyrics today. Welcome to Beijing. Welcome to non fungible Daniel down there. It's good to see you both. Hey Lex, what's going on as well?

We started our space. We're talking about lyrics things that music that music, lyrics that pop up in our brains that, you know have have stuck with us. And we've now turned that into production versus lyrics, and now we're kind of.

Spoke a section about foreign music and now Kane just came in and dropped a two time brick on the on the stage and asked.

Our thoughts about whether or not we feel like R&B is dead? Woah, wow.

Short answer no.

I say that because a lot of the R&B artists.

A lot of that music right now is not.

Ohh, it's not what we're listening to in the mainstream, but it's still being created.

When I think about.

The first person that pops in my head right now was Ari Lennox and she just dropped a new album called Age Sex, Location.

And everybody else is going in like going in on that if I take it back to Jazmine Sullivan.

And and her most, most recent drop?

And then you always go back to the classics. Classics will never die. So I I think that a lot of people say R&B is there right now because that's not what the what the prevailing music audience is listening to.

But there are still people out there that are creating it. There are still people that are holding that torch. There are still people that are continuing to push the genre forward. But I would love to hear from anyone else on the stage or if anyone else would like to, to grab the mic and give us what what you think as well.

Who did? Who did we miss? Who were the people that you feel like are still, you know, pushing on, be forward? Or is there nobody and you feel like it's dead? What's up?

Alright, I'm gonna say.

Before it goes over to B, I'm gonna say like, I mean, I agree with what you're saying.

But because, you know, we base music off of what's popular, I'm gonna say it's dead right, but not in the sense that it's not being created, but just it's not being pushed and it's not being advocated for.

Right, so like I I feel like songs used to be.

Like mainstream. And I feel like that kind of affected how people thought about it, right? Or thought about music and how it affect their life, right?

And I feel like, you know, I ain't gonna get deep in all that, but I'm just saying, like, I feel like.

You go back to like one of my biggest songs has always been is Lauryn Hill and beyond DeAngelo. Nothing even matters.

Uh, huh?

Like the the lyrics in that song, you know, I'm saying like ages the.

The production of it and then the lyrics of lyricism of it, but between going back and forth between both of them, they're basically almost upstaging each other, talking about the subject. And that was a main that was not like a a top ten song, but it was a mainstream song.

Correct.

You don't really even see that anymore. You don't even really see music between a male and female R&B artist anymore.

You know, I'm saying. So it's just.

You know, I just feel like this is different and I feel like it's just not being pushed. So to me, it doesn't exist in the, you know, in the same point of that anybody's really focusing on it.

I understand. I understand.

Let you we see you, you come up and you you grab the mic. I would love to hear what what your perspective is on.

First, I just want to start off by saying what's up, family. It's always a pleasure. It's always a pleasure.

My opinion on it is that music is just like any other thing in life. It changes. It shifts.

And I totally agree with what what the brother was saying, because the best music is the one that's rooted in.

Life experience and just like, I think like back in the day it was more rooted from the soul and like actual experience and like nowadays it's more of an image thing and kind of like A1 sound fit all they try to put people in a box.

But I do definitely still agree that there are people that are still holding the torch for R&B. I do think that it definitely has took a different route though, just like the sound of it and the approach of music as a as a whole.

It's definitely shifted and changed, but you know, that's that's also like that's that generation and this is this generation and I think that our generation currently we're still finding ourselves we don't want, we don't want to admit that, but we really are still finding ourselves and those are some big shoes to fill, you know, like ever since we're a kid, we're we are always like showing these iconic people and I think sometimes we want to be those iconic people, but we forget that they were

And that came through the music. So we were not connected to more. So the music were connected to the person's soul and their experience that they were putting through music and not everybody's good at communicating. And I learned to be actually like a really good artist. You got to be a good communicator and you got to kind of be in touch with yourself so you can put yourself out there and then people can connect to you from that way. That's always going to be, you know, like a deeper connectio

Come on through legs.

As always, like with the with the zoomed out perspective. Thank you so much for that.

That it it it speaks so much to how music is so personal to us because as you said it, where we're, we're connecting to that, to that output from from the from the artist and so regardless of if it's the lyrics or or the production like.

It's a lot of times, just so much has to do with how we connect to it.

You know, you came up on on the stage. Would you like to share your perspective? And then we can go to Saint.

Yeah, thanks for inviting me. Thanks for this room and all you do, boss.

I am.

I understand the question. You know, about R&B being dead and I thought it would be, it would be. I would be remiss if I didn't address, you know, what I meant. Like the old R&B, like of the past, it's hard to be replicated.

And and now our current R&B is changing because they to say the least, but I don't think it's dead at all. I just like like Lex said, it's in the in this transitionary period it's like trying to understand who it is and I think someone said that I'm the best music is just a reflection of experience. I feel that.

R&B right now it's, it's, it's.

No, it's not really being honest with itself. You know, they're trying to front as if like and yeah, they have already admitted who they are. Like I there there will never be no music soul child or ushers or or yeah, now we just gotta Marion and Ray J and sad.

But to your to your other question you asked about foreign music. I'm from London and I I really am. I love the stories of music, the way they they comprise people's experience. So and London, like grime, whatever you want to call it when I was growing up.

They wouldn't, you know, let those dudes on the radio stations and or and let them create music. So what they did was they would find abandoned flats and set up illegal radio stations in the abandoned flats. The police were trying to find out where they're radio stations were and they would promote their music through these legal radio stations and they'd move flats every every few days or whatever and.

To tend to get caught and now through that illegal radio sessions they've created a whole genre of music that there's you know tons of millionaires and you know top artists from that genre that they created and and so the same thing could be said about hip hop over here you know, being sold as a records out of the back of the back of cars. And I just admire the stories that go into the creating of music.

And how they connect with our experiences.

Thank you for for sharing that Daniel and that's.

We gonna find a way, we gonna find a way, we're gonna find a way to say what it is that we want to say.

I love that before right before we get to Saint I want to just take a moment as we start to wind down our space up in the birds nest. The Jumbotron up at the top. I placed a few things up here. We've got some great stuff happening from our onaji fail. We got Kane who was in the space with us right now. Our our wonderful cane just dropped a new podcast called the 10 Minute Morning Huddle. So it is an opportunity for you to go in and.

Get a get a get a word about whatever, Kangas, Kangas feeling everything from business to motivation to mental health. So make sure you take a second to look at, to look at that, and tap in with it. I listened to it earlier today.

You already know, like.

He's the one. This is great. I'm so glad he's moving in this direction. We've got our own Dean of HR Rica, our hyperrealist artist. She has a space there at the time as well. Celestia, retro grade.

That is a piece that she has forbid on open sea. Beautiful, beautiful piece there. Not only does it fuse in her hyper realism, but she also has some real elements as well of actual floor elements and and flowers. And then we have our own resident advisory JT she just dropped a collection of motherland fabrics, so these are these NFT's were inspired by fabrics from the continent as he likes to say.

And if you take a take a take a look, see you might get to see where he got his.

Design and character inspiration from and then last but not least I wanna shout out bees you who's in the space as well before she takes off and the lakomy space that is happening directly after this one they started a small series called Charity begins at home. And so last week they were speaking to the panel was all men, kind of speaking about what it is that men would like for women to know and then this week is about.

This week is for the women, and so BG is a wonderful facilitator, a wonderful kind of mediator of asking questions and being able to guide conversations in a very civil manner in a way that everyone is able to listen. So as soon as the Commons done, I know where I'm headed. I would encourage you to head there as well.

At last as we start to wrap up saying thank you so much for being patient and allowing me to to do that real quick. What do you feel, what do you feel about our our kind of last question is is R&B dead or is it just?

Kind of bubbling under and keeping the current until it becomes mainstream again.

Hey, thanks for having me, man. So yeah, I think it's it's a culmination of several things and 11 main thing that you said, Boss, was that it's not like the it's not at the forefront nowadays. So you know, I mean I don't know how old you are, but like I grew up in the 90s and that was like push, you know, 90s R&B was a thing, whereas now it's not. And I think the Internet has created like this.

Hmm hmm.

This kind of like a, it's it's more image based now. You know what I mean? It's it's not so, so much emphasis on the music as, as much as it used to be. So now there there's a lot of it's more flexing, you know the music has become like more show off you more bravado, more flexing and stuff, you know. And then also another thing you know with the Internet it connected like so many different genres and so many different sounds and then now what we normally might not.

Mm-hmm.

Consider R&B. It really is R&B. It's still rhythm and Blues, but it just might have like a different twang to it, you know? And and I don't think it's dead. I think you just really got to look for it. And I mean, I'm sure everybody here has seen like a tiny desk performance. And I mean, if you've seen, if you watch tiny desk, you know that, you know that R&B is not dead because I see amazing R&B performances on there all the time, you know what I'm saying?

I agree. I was actually gonna I was actually gonna bring that up I I I very much was because you know we had that usher tiny dance that became that mean that watched this that was all over the place for a hot 2nd and us just had his resurgence. Anita Baker is is killing the game in Las Vegas. So you know it's around, it's around and the people who the people who know this music, the people who love this music are seeking it out and.

In that opportunity, these people music good, good music is timeless and I think we all know that I'll understand that. So regardless of if it's the mainstream or not, I I do agree that a lot of music right now is is about flexing and.

I've.

Been here thankfully long enough on Earth long enough to witness some extremes. Like how the extremes happen.

And so there was one time like, you know, like they say in the 90s where R&B was in and I think about SWV and like the new Jack swing era and all that type of stuff that was so popular and prevalent then. And then we get into the pop, which was a little bit of both. You know, we had, we did have some people who were doing some music stuff. If I think about you know, John B and a few of those, that's kind of 90, still not really 2000, but then we've kind of switched to the opposite side.

Where it's not necessarily about the lyrical content and the production, but about like the flexing and the image of it. So maybe we'll maybe that that pendulum will swing back to the opposite side and all those people that.

We feel like.

Aren't getting the shine the people like. You know I mentioned earlier the islamics the the the Jazmine Sullivan.

For all intents and purposes, the very controversial summer Walker could, you know, could potentially see their own resurgence.

Talking kind of to wide down our our time together. I would love to open it up one more time to any of our speakers or if anyone else would like to come up and just kind of give you a final words like what is it, share with us a song, share with us what you hope to see.

Happen in in music.

Just feel free to take us out on on on the final word, just.

About lyrics or production or what you love about music yourself, is there anyone who would like to start us off?

Lecture that, raise your hand. Go ahead. Go, Papa.

What I love about music is that it really is like a universal language.

I I love the way that it connects people.

And how it felt differently for everybody and also the way that everybody perceives it differently.

But it still has that that energy or that feeling to it that only music can give you. You know? And I love how it's really like empowering for people when they do find their sound or they do find music and like they use it to. Not only I want music to go back when it uplifted our people and it educated our people to believe in themselves and the power that they hold and.

That you can be more than a gangster, you can be more than a rapper, even. You can be more than what you even see in your everyday life. I want music to go back to really feeling like soulful to people because I like that was always such a big thing for us, especially our community. Music is such a big part of US and.

I think we really got to get back to using it the right way and that's really guiding our people back to their selves and shining a mirror onto us, but in a beautiful way and a in a powerful way and just really, really shaking up the the world like it always does. You know, that's what I love about music.

Thank you, Lex, very much, very much. Appreciate that. Very much appreciate that.

Anyone else on the on the stage would like to contribute. Feel free.

Yeah, I don't know if I need to even say anything else at the legs drop that right there, so.

Just say drink lots of water.

Angular, angular, the rest, that's all I got.

Very nice. Very nice.

Any laugh.

Any last thoughts if anyone else?

I am. I must say I did enjoy Keynes podcast.

I typed that.

Come on through. It was. It was great, right? It was great.

I'm I'm I'm very, very much glad to see that you know OK you you got in this direction because I was I was gonna say it when the when the space is stopped. But you know it. We just kind of turned around and have to take a moment to wait and see you pop up with a podcast. Make sure you subscribe. It's on Spotify. I listen to Spotify. It's also on anchor. It is also on Apple Podcasts. So make sure you go follow that as well. If you are iPhone user you can also review.

Right. And all that good type of stuff through Apple. So make sure you sell some love to our Dean of marketing paying hustle. As we wrap up. This has been on IG. You presents the Commons, please make sure you continue to keep your eye on anaji. I know there's so much going on. Why should I say so much going on? But there's not a whole lot going on. But you know what is a lot going on or not see?

We keep on moving out here. We are things that things are not stopping the train does not stopping over here on the at the university. So continue to tap in and check in with us through our Twitter. Also through our discord we have our onaji you space that comes every Saturday at 12 noon. So I think we took a small break last week but hopefully back again this week. So we're excited to see all of you back if you would like to join us.

I was in my in my, in the art, in my R&B brain, and I was trying to.

Find a R&B cover from one of my favorite artists. She's actually a black artist, but she's big in Japan and her name is Crystal Kay and she is.

Heard the preferred genre is is R&B and so she did a cover. I'm going to see if I can find it to take us out, but great voice, love her. Continue to.

Pursue music and continue. Continue to listen to the things that resonate with you. Continue to use that music as the soundtrack of your life and continue like, can't say it. Drinking your water, minding your business. Stay black, protect your magic. Stay allied. Protection magic. Stay you.

OK, I'm about to head over to economy, to the economy space. It's already started, and if you would like to join me, feel free. But if not, we're gonna have Crystal Kay take us out with very special.

Yeah.

Thanks so much for joining me tonight and spending your evening in the comments. I will see y'all soon. Goodnight.