Songs that make the whole world sing ...

I've always been fascinated by the human dynamic involved in the makings of epidemics. A group of individuals or an individual uses a snappy word or phrase, wears an article of clothing, or makes a memorable gesture and turns something ordinary into an intense trend where it's consumption is infectious. ( See Malcolm Gladwell's 'The Tipping Point' ).

Much of the music industry base their business philosophy's or strategies on predicting trends or a calculated effort in lighting the spark that may catch fire and become rampantly spread. It happened with golds chains and flat tops in the 80s, then baggy clothes and bling in the late 90's and in the 21st century 20+ inch tire rims became a must have. Politicians tie phrases to their campaigns in the hopes that voters are drawn to the words and repeat them.

I say this because I feel it is important to acknowledge that music in itself is highly epidemic in nature. Hip-hop artists are among the most influential personalities of the world. This influence attributes to an immense power. The power to reach so many people at once, for the length of about 3-6 minutes.

I've admitted that I allow my son to listen to hip-hop understanding the power that it has to influence his mind. Nevertheless, the truth is I do a considerable amount of filtering, on a song by song basis judging on whether certain records tone or content exudes a certain level of negativity.

Like any art form that uses subjective forms of expression and is open to many opinions, I choose not to ignore the contribution that this music form offers as a pandemic culture.

http://hiphopgalaxy.com/blogs/spatemag/2008/02/02/news-kanye-west-50-cent-and-snoop-get-painted/