We seem to celebrate mediocrity and this has carried over into much of what the mass media pushes as great music. To find great, classic music, one has to look beyond what is thrown at us and seek out the gems outside mainstream.
In the past lie the seeds for the present. In the present linger visions of the future. Sometimes. To build tomorrow, we need to look to yesterday. John Legend & The Roots’ new collaboration Wake Up! is perfect example of this. Sadly, a lot of music today is flimsy, shallow, lacking an understanding of where we are spiritually, politically, intellectually, etc. Much of it (or at least the stuff that is pushed out at us by mass media) seems to have become a derivative of mediocre, watered-down pop music, without creativity or commitment. It is hard to differentiate between artists (and I...