Innovative or Overrated?

The mainstream infiltration of 'experimental' music acts such as Santogold, M.I.A, Spank Rock and most recently Yo Majesty certainly marks an interesting time for the stagnant music scene. Pushing the boundaries of popular music and defying classification with their collages of sound, incorporating various influences, dialects and styles. M.I.A and her ilk have become all the rage among critics and some musicians.

The fact that the Sri Lankan-born vocalist is experiencing new levels of popularity due to her hit Paper Planes appearing in the trailer for the stoner comedy Pineapple Express, with subsequently every rapper imagininable spitting over the off-kilter beat, helps the cause further. She has even been sampled on T.I.'s new project Paper Trail, for the mammoth posse cut Swagga Like Us.

It is interesting to note though, that many of the outlets proclaiming the genius of artists like Santogold are music magazines/websites catering more towards an alternative rock audience, rather than an urban audience. Not a determining factor in the argument, but interesting nonetheless. Outlets, many of which are run by jaded longtime music industry veterans who are quick to try and prove they have their finger on the pulse of what's hot. That is just my personal opnion though.

With that in mind, the question is: are these artists really as daring and innovative as some media outlets would have you believe? Or are they simply performers with no more ingenuity than so-called mainstream artists, hiding behind eccentric personalities and off-the-wall glitchy production, elevated to the level of genius by pundits who are just playing follow the leader? Like say, putting lipstick on a pig.

Just like a similar trend, where every rapper under the sun will rhyme over whatever the hot beat of the moment is ad nauseam (like the recent A Milli craze), the internet certainly plays a part in breaking these new artists, just as it also serves as the platform for gossip and rumours.

Maybe artists like those mentioned above are brilliant and are breathing new life into the corpse that music has become. I guess you could say that if artists like this weren't around the music biz would be even more dull and formulaic than it is now.

Personally this writer is unconvinced by the artists being touted as being part of the new musical revolution. I believe that artists who just make music well without any sort of gimmick, like Chrisette Michele, B.o.B and Sa-Ra (although admiteddly their eccentricity shines through quite a bit), should be applauded more. As Diamond D said back in the day, K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid).

On a side-note, would it be too much to ask if Kanye, Wayne and everybody else that's not T-Pain (because the man simply has nothing else going for him except that) please give the auto-tune a rest? The whole robo-pop thing was kinda interesting at first, but now it's just reaching complete overkill, you could do so much better. Thank you!