"Just because we CAN make a flying car doesn't mean that a car should fly" : Stream of consciousness explorations into technology and music.

Just because this car can exist, does it ABSOLUTELY have to?

So Shawn Carter pulled out a lyrical pearl handled pistol and slayed autotune in a manner consistent with Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. It's apparently deceased, but what do we learn from it's demise in moving forward? Autotune was a beautiful conspirator in hip hop's ability to gain financial and critical respect in mainstream circles. T-Pain based an entire career off of the use and mastery of it, Cher kicked off it's use by reviving her career yet again with it, Kanye West used it to create one of the more compelling odes to complete and total heartbreak in quite some time, and, well, by the end, everyone jumped on board and decided that if these folks were cashing big checks and making immediate impact by doing something so blatantly simple, then they could too. But there's a bigger point here. Technology is confusing the music industry. Instead of focusing on making tougher and stronger cars, we're trying to make cars that fly. Has technology grown so fast that we're concerning ourselves with mastering it instead of mastering music? To this author it's the most pressing issue we have in music today.

The real beginning of the technological hustle to success starts in my mind with Lil' Wayne's rise to power. The man was the true original master of the mixtape, as starting somewhere in 2005-2006, Weezy flooded the rap game and the internet with as much music as he could record, and in an unprecedented situation, created track after track after track of amazing music, pushing himself to be as voluminous and creative as humanly possible, cranking out solid lyrical performances that made him a player and a star immediately through hard work, skill, marketing and dedication. It became clear that the route to success wasn't from the studio to the CD rack at Sam Goody anymore, but instead from the emcee to the computer. This has bled over to DJ culture as well, with everyone taking themagical mixtape road to glory. Releasing mixtapes allows for an immediacy and freedom, as no samples have to be cleared, meaning smaller budgets and an entire musical world being a possibility. However, not everybody is Weezy F. Baby, so for every Weezy there's a Charles Hamilton on the underground, just as voluminous, but still searching for the magical elexir to become a financially viable and respected performer.

The computer killed producing as well, as instead of using technology intelligently, it would appear as though producers merely make slight improvements upon sounds on top of the charts, not pushing the game ahead constantly which computers and technological programs (like the nefarious Autotune) allows for. Searching for new samples and new concepts in the mainstream is not a perpetual grind, as instead it is the domain of the underground, allowing this sector shut out from major labels to do so, but as long as it's not heard on major Clear Channel controlled radio outlets, it's a tree falling in a forest that doesn't make a financial sound. At the end of the day, making music, namely hip hop music, has become about making money, and where art and finance can coincide is a beautiful point that infintessimally few can reach.

On the flipside, technology allows for amazingly ridiculous jumps in cultures as well, as seen with the rise in dubstep in the electronic world, as DJs have taken basslines to absurd places, creating music that is driven the bass instead of the treble, weebling and wobbling all over the place, an innovation for sure, but an innovation that to many offends the concept of what musicality is, and a definite issue of again, possibly taking technology too far into the realm of "we can do this," instead of the realm of "why are we doing this?" In this case, it's, as expected a case of entirely too deep explorations into technology's forms instead of simple appreciation of technology's functions. There's a point of no return that can't be breached that has been obliterated.

On both ends, technology is a difficult beast. The immediacy of culture often makes crafting and excellence difficult propositions to reach in tandem, and also allows for everything and anything to be at play. Innovation allows for great ability for individuals to best express themselves, but what works for the goose may make money for the gander, but certainly may not help it. The buying public is sadly fickle and stupid. Let's all remember that long before we killed autotune, Milli Vanilli sold millions and almost killed synthy Euro pop, as Rob and Fab were outed as GRAMMY WINNING frauds. To best master technology, it is important to remember quality over quantity, and talent over timing. The true masters will always win in the end, but how muddled and difficult music must become prior to that is the issue at hand.

The nature of Jigga's "Death of Autotune" merely shows that there are absolutely more pretenders than contenders in music more than ever. The nature of creativity is both high and low, and this creative oddity seems to be a critical issue. Because of computers and the internet and technological advancements therein, we have the issue of people now able to infiltrate music now with more cubic zirconias and fewer diamonds. However, because someone can record as much as humanly possible, the ability to create a solitary diamond certainly is increased. However, for the folks that create diamonds every time, the technology allows for greater ability to discover new methods of top notch creation. At the end of the day, both the perpetual contender and the newborn pretender, well, both have diamonds, and due to the various income streams and access to celebrity of he game (some see blog stars and one hit wonders as big as mainstream stars), both diamonds can be construed as being of the same size.

From nothing we have everything, and from absolutely everything we have nothing. Amazing...and confusing.

Just because we CAN make a flying car doesn't mean that a car should fly.