Music. Expression through song and sound, spanning across the world coming in many different flavors. It’s a factor in many people’s lives, gives some people comfort, gives some people motivation, even gives some people life. In today’s society, music is as prevalent as ever.

But it’s not the sounds that many people talk about, or even the ideas that they express. Now days, talking about music turns into slander of one’s opinion or tearing down an artist’s career with words. It’s crazy how many outlandish statements are made regarding music that don’t have anything to do with what’s important, the music itself.

Yes, at the end of the day, it’s all an opinion. Opinions that get misinterpreted as facts or insults. How many times have you said “I don’t like _____’s music,” and was looked at as a “hater.” These misconceptions that fans create in their minds is strange, but defines the state of music today.

Think about the last time you’ve had a conversation about music with someone. Sometimes we’re lucky and have an intelligent discussion about a genre or artist and talk about what state it’s in, what we like about them and what we’re looking forward to. Other times, and in most cases online due to anonymity, the conversation gets lost as it’s morphed into people feeling personally insulted because someone does not share the same opinion on music as them.

I like to say I have a diverse taste in music. I mainly listen to metalcore, metal, rap, classical, and a few other genres here and there. I’m open about my opinion, so if someone asks me what I think about something, I’ll be blunt with it. I also expect honest opinions when I ask what someone thinks of an artist I like and I don’t get offended if they say my favorite artist is trash.

That’s just a brief synopsis of myself and opinions on music, I love talking about it. But when opening up the topic of any artist or genre, especially doing so on a website, I begin to hear the same things over and over again. Go to a Youtube video and just look at the comments of a song. What happens when one person disagrees with the majority? When viewing a music blog, how to people interact with the other users? Better yet, how many people out there claim to be “musical experts” and feel the need to exert their “knowledge” on everyone else?

What kind of comments are we talking about? Things like this:

1. Artist is as bad as worst song

Ever had someone tell you *insert artist here* is the worst rapper/singer of all time and show you just one song? That’s what this is about. The whole ordeal of claiming an artist is terrible and only previewing one track is way trying to place one’s own opinion on someone else. It’s to bring down an artist and convey them as garbage or untalented.

Example: Lil B. I’ve never heard so many people say someone is the worst at a genre for a while now until Lil B showed up. I remember the first time someone told me he was awful, they played me “Wonton Soup” and I just shook my head. At first notice, I found myself to dislike his music but to say he’s the worst rapper ever? That’s a pretty strong statement to base off of one track. I’m not a Lil B fan by any means, but I can easily pick out songs that he has that are a lot better than “Wonton Soup.” The reason my friend showed me that song was to get me to agree, create an illusion that this is the best that Lil B had to offer and I would set that standard on him forever.

2. Only listen to underground / mainstream

This applies to any genre, just switch out indie with underground. This is a statement I hear from people who value their own musical opinion as the be all end all. Saying, “I only listen to underground rap,” is a strange thing to say. Maybe it is true that all the artists someone listens to are part of either mainstream or underground, but listening to an artist based on where they stand in the commercial level is pretty jaded.

It seems that some people say this so they don’t get grouped with the Young Money fans and don’t want to look like posers. Sad but true. On the other side of the coin, I’ve heard that if an artist is played on the radio, that means they are good. Which leads to, I will only listen to a certain artist, if they’re on the radio. It’s a take on music that from either side, is nonsense.

3. Stop listening to artist due to popularity

I keep using rap examples, but that’s because I’m assuming the majority of people who listen to Prince EA like rap and would be more familiar with them. Anyway, this is one that is prevalent in all genres. Artist is small, doing mixtapes or independent releases. Small shows, small fanbase, pumping out a lot of tracks in a short span of time. Eventually, they get big, slow down on the tracks and releases, hit the commercial phase.

There are exceptions to every rule, but being told the reason someone stopped listening to someone like Drake because he got big is lame. I could see if someone said, “I felt there was more substance on Room For Improvement,” or, “Not a big fan of him singing more.” Those are reasonable responses, but not listening to someone you enjoy because of popularity? That can be paired with number 2, trying to be “different” by not listening to who everyone enjoys.

4. Judge someone based on favorite artists

Someone says their favorite artist is Lil Wayne, what’s the first things we think? Be honest with yourself, if someone tells you that Wayne is the best rapper alive, do you feel like you know everything they listen to? I’ve seen on HHDX, WSHH, well, any rap site, when someone talks about Wayne being their favorites, they’re automatically Young Money flunkies who don’t know good rap. Just because someone says something like Tupac is their favorite artist, does not automatically mean that they’re not a Lil Wayne fan.

5. Stereotype based off of sound

I’ll keep this one short. Listen to hip hop with a lot of bass, you listen to drug dealers and pimps. Hear the word “money” or any variation of it, you’re seen as a gang member. Listen to any type of rock that has screaming, you worship the devil. The list goes on... See how ridiculous this is?

6. If you don't like artist, you don't know genre

Hate to use the same example, Tupac. A lot of people consider him as one of the best to do it. Saying you don’t like Pac through a comment on a website? Oh man, all of a sudden you don’t know rap.

I told someone I was not a fan of Metallica, their sound just doesn’t do it for me. What was I told? I don’t know metal or rock music. Opinions thrown right out the window.

7. Being a “true” fan

This is something I see that to this day I don’t understand. Take Nas for example. I don’t like Illmatic. It just sounds alright to me, but not something I would throw in the car. Since many consider that his classic album, I’m not a true fan? What happened to liking an artist because you like their music?

When “I’m On” came out by Trae Tha Truth, many people made comments about how this was the “real” Wiz Khalifa and not that commercial Khalifa. Basically, if you don’t like “real” Wiz, you’re not a true fan. Does that make sense? Labeling others based on what songs they listen to as a “real” or “true” fan? No, it doesn’t.

8. Opinion is null if haven't listened to everything artist put out

Remember when an opinion was your own? It was respected if you could back it up with reasoning? Back to another personal example, I’ve listened to all but one of J. Cole’s mixtapes and never really considered myself a fan of his. When the album dropped, I gave it a listen and just couldn’t feel it. I’ve told people that I didn’t like J. Cole and the first response I always get, “you listen to The Warm Up?”

No, I haven’t, and I don’t plan on it. Why would I listen to that if two other mixtapes and one album didn’t do it for me? Apparently not doing so means I did not give everything he had a chance. Why can’t I just not be a fan instead of having an invalid opinion on an artist someone else likes?

9. Album sales = Greatness

Jay-Z. That should be descriptive enough. What does that make you think?

10. I listened to artist before you so therefore...

The good ole’ OG heads of an artist. I’m not sure why people say this, thinking their a “true” fan, (ties back to number 7), because they listened to someone first. Busta Rhymes verse in “Look At Me Now” was the first time for some people to hear him spit. If you went to the video on Youtube, some of the top comments were, “Like if you are not a hop-on and have been listening to Busta since E.L.E.” Congrats, you listened to him before others. Does that really mean anything? That everyone else is a hop-on because they finally got a chance to listen to an artist?

So what exactly is this: a rant? An explanation? A topic for discussion? Not sure what to classify it as, it’s more of an observation of the state of the musical culture. It’s the way I have seen music and how I’ve seen it discussed. I’ve barely scratched the surface of what people talk about and I’m pretty sure everyone could add five each to the list, of all the generalized comments about music we see today.

Most people online rant and rage about how music and artists have gotten dumber, but what about the fans?

- Jordan Rainey (@Jawrduhn)