I guess if pop culture isn’t your thing you might not know, but anyone who buys groceries is probably bombarded with references to their marriage every time they check out. But I could certainly see someone being able to filter that stuff out.
To all of the “Get off of my lawn!” types, not knowing who either Beyonce or Jay-z is (that he’s one of the most successful rappers ever and that she is a very popular and widely drooled-over singer) is probably roughly equivalent to someone in the late 1960’s saying “Mick Jagger? Who’s that? Dianna Ross? Never heard of her!”
Mick Jagger was the very visible front man of one of the biggest rock bands of the day, rock at the time probably being roughly equivalent to rap/hip-hop today (i.e. the ascendant form of popular music for the era, young people like it, old people think it’s noise etc.). Dianna Ross was an equally popular, beautiful singer who left a popular trio for an extremely successful solo career.
Of course I know. Biggest celebrity couple after Brangelina. They are frequently mentioned in all sorts of media, like in talk show monologues. Recurring characters in SNL. I’m pretty sure that gossip rags feature them constantly.
Since I was buying Jay-Z CD’s before Destiny’s Child even formed, count me with the ones who think of Beyonce as Jay-Z’s wife, and not the other way around.
The Rolling Stones and other bands of their type were innovative, taking classic rhythm & blues and turning it into something new. Classic rock, progressive rock, punk rock, new wave, and alternative rock were innovative styles that were also socially relevant. I don’t hear the social satire or commentary in hip-hop. It seems like it’s the disco version of rap. And disco sucked. Hip-hop sounds derivative and un-original, and seems to be all 'Me, me, me!.
I knew she married Sawn “Jay-Z” Carter, big time rap performer-entrepreneur and owner of the NBA Nets, back in '08.
But… I could not identify for you any track by him other than “99 Problems” and the “Empire State” collaboration with Alicia Keys, and in both cases I’d have to listen for the refrain to know that’s it.
I don’t want to get in a big debate over this but… oh who am I kidding, yes I do!
The relative merits and influence of the two genres can be debated ad nauseum, but I don’t see how my analogy “seriously overestimates” the influence of rap on current popular music.
I don’t know exactly what you mean by “important” or by “music in general,” but for the sake of argument I’ll go waaaay out on a limb and say that rap/hip-hop has been as influential to popular music (i.e. what’s playing on the radio, what’s actually selling millions of copies in the stores) from the late ‘80’s to the present as rock n’ roll was to popular music from 1960 to the 1980’s. Look at Billboard’s Hot 100 top 10 singles of last year.. Most of the singles listed are rap or hip-hop, and much of the rest have obviously been influenced by hip-hop (David Guetta’s dance music, Justin Bieber’s teen pop, K$sha’s, I don’t know, tramp music?). Perhaps rap’s influence on music as a whole has been diluted somewhat, just because the whole music scene is more diverse today than it was 50-60 years ago. But to my ears it’s the dominant force in popular music today.
I would have probably said Chris Brown, but if given 3 choices, I would have realized it was Jay-Z. There was a big to-do about them going to Cuba recently, no?
I’m sorry to report that while I often get made fun of for not knowing celebrities or many other pop culture trivia, even I knew who Beyonce’s husband was.
My point is this that hip-hop may be king of the pond, but it’s a much smaller pond these days. Furthermore, there’s much less of a consensus, too. In the past, if you were young, you listened to rock of whatever flavor. But now, because everyone supplies their own music, it’s easier to tune out anything you don’t like. While in the past, it would have been hard to avoid knowing about someone like Jay-Z, now it’s the easiest thing ever. If he isn’t on my iPhone or YouTube playlist, he doesn’t exist.
Incidentally - can anyone give me a link to a could of Jay-Z’s biggest hits? If he’s that big, I’m sure I can at least hum one of his tunes.
Fair enough, I like the disco analogy and agree with you on the inane “bling-centric” subject matter of most of today’s Top 40 hip-hop, but I really wasn’t concerned with the artistic merit of either genre, I was talking about their relative contributions to pop culture. In the 1960’s rock acts like the Stones were playing this (relatively) new music that sold millions of records, flooded the airwaves, and topped the charts. Teens and young adults loved them, their parents were baffled by all the noise. I think it’s fair to say that today rap and hip-hop have replaced rock n roll as the popular music that young people like and old people hate.
I’ll add that I think your view of rock is biased by the fact that A) you have a rather lofty 60-year historical perspective on the genre (who knows what our counterparts in 2050 will have to say about hip-hop/rap) and B) after a couple decades, the only rock 'n roll you still hear is the best of the best, whereas the hip-hop you hear on the radio is just the unit-shifter of the month.
Serious XM radio, iTunes Music Store :). But I take your meaning. You’re right, as music distribution in all it’s forms has become decentralized it’s a lot easier to “escape” music you’re not into these days.
If I used something other than Yahoo as my home page my answer might have been different, but I did know before reading the thread who Beyonce is married to. A lot of my pop culture knowledge is tertiary, coming from Kathy Griffin’s stand-up, or them being on the same episode of Letterman as the musical guest I recorded the show to see, and so forth.
It wouldn’t surprise me one bit though if my husband does not. In fact I’d be flabbergasted to learn that he does.
I’m imagining that the OP’s girlfriend is no so much surprised that he hasn’t sought out the information, but that he’s been able to avoid absorbing it from somewhere. Sometimes I get cranky at realizing I know more than I care to (or rather* anything*) about the Kardashians or the Duggars.
I’m really surprised (not judging, just surprised) by the folks who don’t know who Beyonce is at all or recognize her name. It almost seems like that would take deliberate, drastic action, like running from the room whenever her name is mentioned, turning off the Super Bowl at halftime, etc.
I didn’t know who she was married to. I kind of know who she is but have no idea who Jay Z is.
I’m not a recluse, I watch TV and movies, I listen to music and I pay attention to the news so how can this bit of knowledge just pass me by? The majority of my news now comes from the internet. I go to multiple sites and can read or watch the stories I find most interesting. For the most part I’m not interested in the celebrity sections nor the music sections. It’s not like I avoid them and if a story pops out at me I’ll read it but I don’t seek it out. Most of the TV I watch caters to a different crowd than what I think advertisers for music would consider a valuable resource so I never see any commericals or shows that revolve around them. I watch the superbowl but dislike halftime shows so use that time to get food and chat with friends. I knew Beyonce performed but just didn’t know enough about her to watch. I understand there’s a huge audience for pop music and celebrity gossip - but the point I’m making is that with soooo many ways to get our entertainment and news it’s easy to pick out what we like and never be exposed to the very hot things that other sources are selling.
