THE MUSICAL MELTING POT
By Brent Doldron
Musician Monte Croft. (Photo by Brent Doldron)
Cultures and demographics do not sway people from listening to drastically different genres. In the past, people listened to the music played most often in their communities. As cultures began to come together more, curiosity among the neighborhood’s residents developed. Today, it is not uncommon to browse through the library on a random New Yorkers’ mp3 player and discover a playlist featuring a song by political rapper Common alongside the contemporary rock group Fall Out Boy.
Musicians and producers are aware of this phenomenon. Several modern CDs display a new diversified sound from the artist. The style is a representation of the artist’s native genre with nods to the world’s other popular forms of music. In New York City, where diverse culture thrives, such artists become praised in the public eye.
One popular producer who New Yorkers hold in high regard is Timbaland. Singles from his latest album, Shock Value, have held Top 10 spots on radio stations. Companies such as Electronic Arts and World Wrestling Entertainment Inc have endorsed other songs from his CD. The album also received platinum certification, which can be owed to its diversity in sound and form. Such an album epitomizes the New York / melting pot ideology as it is comprised of many of the musical styles frequently played in the city among people of all different ages and cultures.
A survey that I issued during November of 2008 to five different people in New York City has revealed that an individual stated that Britney Spears, Kelis, Tamia, Toni Braxton and Utada Hikaru are their favorite artists. These artists are iconic for conquering the genre with which they identify. The five artists mentioned represent five different forms of music: electro-pop, alternative rock, R&B, soul music and j-pop.
The survey has also displayed that an individual who may favor one specific genre will embark on an exploration that will find him different forms of the same genre. On one result of the survey, Mariah Carey and Joss Stone were listed as the favorite artists. Both of these artists are categorized in the “soul” genre. However, the difference in the region that these two artists come from sometimes reflects in difference in production and instruments, accent and sound emphasis, slang and colloquial phrases and overall signature sound. It gives the listener a more dynamic way of enjoying his favorite genre, as he selects between artists who practice two different forms of making soul music.
Specific neighborhoods in New York City display the cultural diffusion mentioned. In Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights and Flatbush, there are many residents who are from the West Indies. English is predominantly spoken in the West Indian islands. However, each island interprets the pronunciations of words differently as each island has its own distinct dialect. The neighborhoods of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights and Flatbush are home to immigrants and descendants from these islands, as well as American residents. As the Caribbean-Americans hear the native sounds of hip-hop, rap and r & b, they include the elements of these genres into their own culturally unique form of music, reggae. The resulting music is faster, has synthesized-instrumental production and retains the Caribbean dialect. This form of music is known as dancehall music. The artists, realizing the potential popularity of dancehall began to market their latest albums to America where they were well received. The songs combining familiar and new elements on albums such as The Trinity by Sean Paul and Good 2 Go by Elephant Man reached Top 10 Positions on Billboard’s Top 100 Albums listing. This has also worked for Barbados-born singer, Rihanna, who is enjoying success in America and The United Kingdom for making her name in the world of reggae and then exploring pop, electro-pop and rock. Her latest album, Good Girl Gone Bad features singles such as the R & B song “Umbrella” and the trance record “Don’t Stop the Music”, two distinctly different styles.
The ideas of genres influencing each other and diversity in music were acknowledged in an interview with Monte Croft, jazz musician and singer. Croft stated that “repetition of drums” found in the music of many contemporary jazz artists today are the result of an influence of hip-hop music. Additionally, because “the business model of the record label is dead” according to Monte Croft, artists are less required to follow the idea of sticking to one genre in order to be better marketable for the label, and are now able to explore different forms of music as independent artists.
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Diversity flourishes through the concrete metropolitan world of New York City. As neighbors influence neighbors, people influence people, peers influence peers, cultures therefore influence cultures. Cultural influence is an immortal characteristic of New York City.