November 4, 2013

Music As A Medium For Expressing Ideas


I have always thought that the best way for an artist to express themselves was through music. With this approach, you are able to captivate people’s attention and truly get your point across – if not on the first listen, than on the second or third. Traditionally Hip Hop music has been the standard genre to clearly communicate an idea, mainly due to its roots in Spoken Wordplay. 

Recently I’ve heard a unique way of using music as a medium for an idea, by means of artists sampling famous speeches into their production. To combine their voice with a well-known individual, speaking on a prominent, related issue, allows artists to change the mood of their work to reflect a viewpoint, without directly having to mention the issue themselves. This can be extremely effective, adding a significant societal undertone to the entire piece of music, while keeping the artist at arms-length. A clever approach. Hear it in action with the 2 songs included below – Nipsey Hussle’s Who Detached Us (featuring Steve Job’s Stanford commencement address), as well as Thomas Jack’s Symphony (which features JFK’s inaugural address).

Thomas Jack – Symphony (Feat. John F. Kennedy)


Nipsey Hussle – Who Detached Us (Feat. Steve Jobs)

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