REAL TALK + GUEST BLOGGER ::: The Mindlessness of Today's Music, Videos & Artistes

We've had a lot of people complain about how 'mindless' entertainment seem to be in recent times.

A lot of people feel the content we have as entertainment are not appropriate and there have been whispers and open protests against certain programs on air.

One form of entertainment  that has been overtly whipped is music and music videos.

Today, our guest blogger, Xuzia, shares his thoughts with us and yes, you gotto check it out. He is a multi-gifted bloke based in Port Harcourt.

His songs have been premiered right here on Gospel City Naija and we've also had him talk about his humanitarian  project, The Relief Ark. . Today, he takes a whole different curve by analyzing the music industry and some inherent misnorms.

The Mindlessness of Today's Music, Videos & Artistes

By XUZIA

I'm up. A little cranky as I've not gotten much sleep because I'm probably excited about what today is going to bring. Its about 4am and I've got these thoughts running through my head as I watch some tv. Flipping channels and getting to one which had music videos and after a few songs have played, I ask myself, 'why do all these tracks sound alike? Why do they all have girls half dressed or almost fully exposed dancing in them or just trying to look sexy? What happened to the message in music? What happened to creativity?'

Now while I understand that there are different types of music and respect the fact that these people have worked so hard to get where they have gotten to, I still liken these presentations to what I'd refer to as 'prosperity word'; the type that you could get in some seminars that inspire you to be great but the speaker never explains how YOU could 'get there'. They take you into that perfect world they created and you get excited and ready to take on the world. So you step out of the place pumped up to be successful without a plan on how to get there only to realize that Life awaits you just outside the doors of that same seminar. See my point so far?

Remember those early days as children when we sang little songs that reminded us of our multiplication tables, states in the country and names of leaders? I was in a taxi recently and some lady's child of probably about four years of age was singing what has become a popular 'dance song' word for word! Here's my issue, the song had so much sex orientation in the lyrics and here we had a child singing along. I looked up at the mum and she wasn't even bothered by it! Funny thing is most of these musicians cannot even write a decent short essay. Maybe that's why most of these songs are short, simple and are designed for dancing. It actually is sad to me that after all the dancing, we still have to face a very real world without the tools for existing successfully in it. A bitter friend of mine who was in the taxi with me said, 'while the world is building future leaders, we want ours to dance. No more value...no content and yet we desire change.', I said to him in reply, 'Sometimes it’s not the people who change, it’s just their priorities that do. Put a man in a tight corner and feed him with fish only; he'll think that fish is all there is in the world. But open his eyes to other possibilities and watch him blossom.'

Here's another senario. Some days ago I was in a discussion with a producer friend of mine and I asked him, 'what is success? when you have it, what do you do with it? what is this all about? why are we in this business even?'. I asked these questions because even after all our work as producers, singers, actors etc, when Life happens we still are never prepared for it. Take for example the recent illness of a certain great Nigerian Producer and music head which hit the media hard and had everybody talking all at once. I noticed rather than being useful to the health support of this great man, most people want to use it as headlines to push their products or brands meanwhile life had been happening and none have been prepared for it.

Since social networks have become the new venue for 'reality', one would say the knowledge lies therein. But looking through the content even over there, all I've seen is pictures and mostly mindless banta. Where's the music? Where's the content? How come we say we are entertainers but yet contain little or no responsibility? How come reality has taken the backseat to this made up world that our 'music' has created? How come a 'rapper' who preaches violence, crime and racism would win an award and start their acceptance speech with 'I wanna thank my lord Jesus...' How come our barely dressed 'video girls' are wondering why they're not married? How come we are not pro sensible but expect possitive change in our society? Are we so disillusioned to see this reality that surrounds us?

The media is a strong tool in passing information from place to place and with the advent of portable smart devices such as our phones and tabs, social networks and blogs as well as print media, we must do well to pass value through it so in the long run create a better future for us all. If we say we are entertainers, music heads, actors etc we must act responsibly. These young people are watching us. They're learning our ways. Some want to even be like us. What are we showing them? How can we turn these talents into something that can heal instead of destroy? How can we write our names properly in the sky? Hey, don't get worked up by this write up, its just my personal view on the matter. Trust me, I haven't even began to preach. Just me saying, 'Be the change you want to see. It starts with you.'

Share on Google Plus

About Gospel City

This is a short description in the author block about the author. You edit it by entering text in the "Biographical Info" field in the user admin panel.