What's your Music?

[The Wizard]

I'm sure Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page would agree that everyone from everywhere can make great music.

I suppose, but then Jimmy Page was merely building on top of a foundation (or rather, IMO, a rather elaborate construction) already laid by black people decades before (note: I'm a big Led Zepp fan, mind). Nobody has had such a profound impact upon modern Western music as black people.

But I'll let it slide, since you're the boss.

So now I'll try to list some of my favorite artists. Awaiting edits ():

Pete Rock & C. L. Smooth ("Carmel City" is a track on their album, The Main Ingredient)
De La Soul
Gang Starr
Immortal Technique
Jedi Mind Tricks
Biz Markie
Chubb Rock
Jeru the Damaja (only the first two albums, Premier-produced)
OutKast
Goodie Mob
Nas (Illmatic)
Mobb Deep (The Infamous...)
Notorious B.I.G.
A Tribe Called Quest
Jungle Brothers
Big Daddy Kane
Scribe
k-os
Heavy D & The Boyz
Ice-T
Pete Philly & Perquisite
The Roots
(Eric B. &) Rakim
Wu-Tang Clan
Kool G. Rap (& DJ Polo)

I've probably forgotten legion of MCs who aren't on my iPod as of now. And I don't much like KRS-One, for some strange reason...

So that concludes hip hop. Onwards:

Jimi Hendrix
Led Zeppelin
Parliament Funkadelic
The Whispers
Oliver Cheatham
James Brown
Barry White
Marvin Gaye
Aretha Franklin
Ella Fitzgerald
Billie Holiday
Sonny Rollins
Buena Vista Social Club
Celia Cruz (¡Azúcar! )
Miami Sound Machine (Dr. Beat )
Juan Luis Guerra (& 4.40)
Juanes
Claudius Philips & OREO
Immorales
Luny Tunes
Zion y Lennox
Hector y Tito
Don Omar

Phew! That was it. For now

Also, I find myself repulsed by the mainstream of today's hip hop, which increasingly feels like a soulless machine whose only maintenance is based on repetition alone, and whose negatives are endless, ranging from offensively low-intelligence lyrics to generic voices.

Word up. They took up the lyrical simplicity (boo!) of characters such as Snoop Dogg or Eazy-E, and then tried to imitate Mobb Deep (The Infamous...) and Raekwon (Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...) -- but they couldn't handle it. Result: 50 Cent. And why did Jay-Z squander his lyrical ability on the bling-bling era?