Is Amy Winehouse talented?

[ibanez468]

Quote:But the thing I never could understand is how rap got to be considered music. I like a fair amount of it, but it don't got no melody, kids.The thing with rap & hip hop travelin' ed, is it's all about the beat. That's probably the second (if not the first) most prominent thing goin' on in that kind of music. Rap & other vocs first, beat second, (or vice versa even) everything else gets worked around those 2 things. The beat though, has to be strong. That's really what holds it all together. From what I understand, as long as you have a kickin' beat (drum loop) you can work any & everything around that. Rap (at the time) wasn't so much about melody. It didn't need a melody the way you're used to hearing. Especially since they weren't singin'. They were rappin'. It usually just needs a slammin' beat and a nice deep bass line, and then all the other bells & whistles get added on around that. Rappers are still tellin' a story just like singers, just maybe not in the most traditional sense. They're rappin about their reality, and how they live, and the struggles they have to endure. They're explaining their world thru a different set of eyes, than say maybe a country singer explains his/her world, even though there are similarities comin' from both worlds.These days though, the hip-hoppers & rappers have started implementing melodies and choruses in their tunes, whereas before, those things were almost non-existent. I heard Jay-Z admit to that fact one day, as he explained how he use to write when he first started, as opposed to how he writes now. Even he realizes the importance of melodies & choruses in a tune. But early on they were able to get by without 'em. And nowadays, the rappers and the singers are combining their skills, so you hear both on any given joint or video. Is it great, or fantastic? Not necessarily, but it's there now.ibanez468

[onoffon]

Quote:that whole speech was the product of a screenwriter's vivid imagination...makes for a great Hollywood movie of course.Call it poetic license... But, then, you've always known I have a flair for the dramatic...

[ddusty]

Quote:The thing with rap & hip hop travelin' ed, is it's all about the beat.I agree, that's like saying a drummer or percussionist isn't a musician because they don't play a melody.As my earlier comments stated, I agree with Matto, that music is just as much about conveying emotion as playing an instrument.Ed, you don't have to like rap music, but you shouldn't put it down so much.

[vicky]

funny...I'd bet many of you giving props to Ms. Winehouse don't own her album, and don't listen to her....no one's actually saying they're listening to this music...

[ajenkz]

I have both albums, and Back In Black is one of my top 10 favorite R&B albums

[linziellen]

I listen, I like, I sing! Lol. On top of talent you have to be so very head strong. Mentally she does seem to be hanging on by only a thread but maybe she's stronger than we give her credit for. Perhaps Amy isn't to blame, perhaps it's her situation, her age, money and obviously everything it buys. Also it has crossed my mind that this is all publicity because without that she would be just "talented"!At the end of the day whatever it is she does for the millions, she's doing it well, it's working. And look at all the artists and bands that have been to deaths door and back...Amy will either prove just how strong she is or she'll get sucked in, I suspect she'll be back time and time again.Big up, respect an all that!!!

[squids]

Well, she's gotta be doing betta than they thought, she got implants while in rehab, according to the news.

[arthurjames]

Implants? In drug treatment? Makes one wonder how serious the rehab she's in is about helping her with a potentially life-threatening problem. As for a very late .02, I think she's talented and when I heard her stuff on the radio it jumped out at me. Love the retro production, but her phrasing, tone and sincerity grabbed me, too. Wasn't real impressed with the Grammy performance, but I think someone's allowed to have an off night in rehab. But implants? Would Dr. Drew approve of this?Arthur

[horacejesse]

But it just clicked over for me into verbal form, as it already has, or shortly would have, for everyone in the discussion and many just reading, what the relevant statement is that can be boiled out of either answer to this binary bomb, defusing it into ordinary, harmless components.With or without talent, they are probably doing almost everything else right anyway. If we made our pool of suspect "talents" larger, we would see the bell curve start to form: most of them do, most of the time.Because they are on the list of "suspect talents" in the first place, means if we compared their bell curve to the curve of the persons of "obvious talents," who also succeeded internationally, we would almost surely find it is steeper: Even more of them did, even more of the time. They did not make it onto our evolving list by coincidence. A higher number of them encountered even stiffer resistance than usual. And we all have an evlolving concept of just how stiff usual is. Taking on stiffer and succeeding, well, momma don't want no lazy cry babies 'round here.(Do you write and think about how to do things right better than you act upon the same notions? I do.)Now things really get interesting as we examine the two curves. Though the curve of the group containing folks like Weird Al is indeed steeper than the one containing Whitney Houston and her like, the amazing thing is that it isn't so much steeper. What we would see (if what I have gathered is true about the "obviously successful" in the entertainment industry during my time as a Taxi member) is that the curves of the suspects and non-suspects are roughly similar. Most of them did most things right most of the time to acheive international stardom and then maintain it for a respectable run.Now that is an acorn which applies with equal precision, without a doubt, to the group merely aspiring to become "obviously successful," since all of the above persons were once in this group also. Okay, that's all of that.We have not even tried to define talent. It would be interesting to see definitions in use during the last four centuries. Was the term more or less inclusive than it is now? I think less.

[edteja]

Quote:Quote:The thing with rap & hip hop travelin' ed, is it's all about the beat.I agree, that's like saying a drummer or percussionist isn't a musician because they don't play a melody.I disagree, but that certainly is food for thought, ddusty.Quote:Ed, you don't have to like rap music, but you shouldn't put it down so much.I wasn't aware I put it down. Saying it isn't music wasn't intended as a put down. I don't think Dylan Thomas writes music, but I love his poetry, and I loved Richard Burton reading it. I love good books, but I will categorically say they are not music and I doubt anyone would think I was putting it down. I don't care for opera, and have put it down, but it definitely is music.