Sorry, this isn’t an article from your bro, Dan-e-o. Its Dante Ross Tha O Show writer and host of The Rosscast and I’m here to talk about music and wrestling and the phase each are going through right now. We all know that hip-hop loves wrestling and wrestling loves hip-hop. But each of these genres are going through some things right now and its leaving most of us confused, some of us happy, and some pissed off. Not just hip-hop but music in general. I’ll attempt to break this down.Right now there are people that say that new stars aren’t being built and the ones we do get are bad. This is so not the case and right now is a bad time to use that argument. WWE has replaced ECW with NXT which is nothing but new stars being created.
In music though I may not like 98% of what’s out there (if I hear Lady Gaga one more time people will die!) but I see that there’s an audience for it. Just like with wrestling. May not be my cup of tea but millions of others are happy with it. You don’t like The Miz but someone does otherwise he wouldn’t have his spot. I don’t like Ke$ha but thousand of teens and a few shame filled adults do.
Wrestling and music are each going through a period where its being geared towards a young audience and leaving those of us who are…older, feeling left out. I’ll accept your John Morrison and Drake but I refuse to take your Drew McIntyre and Miley Cyrus. Us older fans of music and rap know that we aren’t being catered to and we get it. But don’t take what we used to like and mess with it.
Enter the remix.
I’m not a fan of “musicians” that make remixes of songs that weren’t even born when the original came out. I am an even less of a fan of these songs being done badly. I don’t like hearing when a superstar is the nest insert name. Jeff Hardy was the next Shawn Michaels, remember? Yeah. We all see how that turned out. Dude might be the next Jake Roberts instead. Mary J. Blige was called the next Aretha. I don’t even have to say her last name. That’s called icon status, ya’ll. She’s about a few decades short and millions of records short of getting there. We put presser on new artists (Usher was once called the next Michael Jackson) to be as great if not greater than their predecessors. Its not possible. There will never be another Luther Vandross (sorry, Ruben Studdard) or another Hulk Hogan (sorry, John Cena).
We’re in strange times, everyone. I’m not ready to give up and I doubt I ever will. I still check out new music and find what I like. I still watch wrestling and find a new star to follow. Lots of people talk like they are done with each but one conversation with them will immediately get them running at the mouth about who they love and most times they’ll even admit to liking something new. For me its Sheamus, Drake, John Morrison, and Emerson Lake & Palmer. Kidding.
What new music are you listening to? What wrestlers are you following and hope to see years from now? Talk to you all later!
3 comments: on "Tha Time's Are A-Changin'"
Good article, Dante. I definitely agree with you, how many times have you heard a vet complain about the new style of wrestling? It's happening now, it happened in the attitude era, it probably happened before the attitude era. I can just picture vets in the back when Lou Thesz was first starting talking shit about having a "finisher" and how the Lou Thesz Press isn't a legit wrestling hold.
Though I will not accept Drake. He's just not that good. I'll give him props for popularizing a new style of punchline, even if it's lame as hell I understand some people are down with it. And that's all a new star needs to do, something different that creates a new fanbase so a new generation can get behind it, and the grizzled vets watching are always gonna be in the back saying "That's not real (industry), back in my day....".
I don't care what you kid say, none of today's wrestlers could hold a candle to John Cena, the man was an icon.
Good article,i agree with a lot of your points,but I have to tell you that Mary J Blige is pretty much The Aretha of her generation. She may not have the sales but then again,the game is a lot different than it was then. I think we tend to get caught up in the comparison game a wee bit. Far too often we tend to try to compare athletes and musicians from one generation to another,all the while not taking into consideration that they were ALL a product of their times. We would love to think that our favorites from our era could be considered better than their counterparts from other eras,but we never take the times into account. Hogan;s gimmick would NEVER be over today,because kids today have the benefit of having more information available to them than kids in Hogan's era, Cena would never have been over in Hogan's era because kids in that era would have never embraced him. In Hip Hop its a whole other argument. The earlier acts in Hip Hop were and ARE far superior due to the fact they they were CREATING the Art Form. The Run DMC's,KRS Ones's ,Rakim's and Big Daddy Kane's of long ago stood out because they were the cream of a a smaller crop.Only those who were truly special even DARED to get on the Mic. The so called artists of today,who are the beneficiaries of that era's creativity,are drawing from a much larger more watered down talent pool,which has resulted in the mediocrity that has manifested itself upon us today. Today every swinging dick and his mother,thinks they can spit a hot 16 and the result of that has created a beast that needs to be put down! I agree with you on Lady GaGa,who is merely just a BiSexual Madonna rip off,and as for the others,i blame the audiences that actually support this crap. My theory on why the truly mediocre acts are gaining more success is that the people who support it KNOW that they suck,but they actually see them as THEIR chance for success. They figure if a no talent piece of trailer trash like Britney can make millions,than why can't I? Whats really sad is that with the proliferation of Reality Shows that are growing like some out of control cancer upon our culture,they may not be wrong!
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