As a fan of rap music, I can’t seem to figure out why a new fad of rap is getting so popular, and I also can’t pinpoint why I like it as well. I call this new style “emo rap”. Artists like Juice WRLD, XXXTentacion, Trippie Red, Paris rap about things like depression, suicide, and heartbreak. This breaks away from what most traditional rap is like. When I listen to it, I don’t necessarily connect with the lyrics but I can see why many people who struggle with these things can relate. The music style itself is a mix of new wave rap and R+B. I think the beat and rhythm come from mainstream rap but the lyrics are reminiscent R+B. It sounds like something that Drake would make in his early days, but much darker. The style of these rappers is different as well. This is something that I don’t enjoy as much. They look like clowns to be honest; bright colored hair, strange clothes, face tattoos, painted nails. It’s very weird and it seems like they’re all in competition to out do one and other of the clown scale. I suppose that every fan of a certain genre doesn’t understand new wave sound and styles. Maybe my resentment to this style is just me getting old. None the less, I still think it’s good music and its a cool new dynamic of rap.

My blog today is about Studio 54 and the disco era. Everyone has commonly heard that disco is dead, but what killed it? Is it possible that a club can make or break an entire genre? I think that for disco that is absolutely the case. Prior to Studio 54, discotheques were around but not extremely popular. It was considered to be a genre set aside for African-Americans. When Studio 54 came along, disco took the main stage because of the inclusiveness to all people. Disco was on top of the world, arguably because of the club. People traveled from all over the world to visit the club and foreigners would take the discotheque model and bring it back to their own countries. When Studio 54 was closed, it seemed that disco closed with it. Is it possible that when the energy of the American discotheque ended, the genre of music ended too? I believe this to be true and you can ad-lib new genres to test the theory. Think of what EDM would be if music festivals and raves didn’t exist. Sure, EDM is good music and people enjoy it, but if raves and music festivals were outlawed, the music would not gain the same popularity that it has and it would eventually fiz out. It is still amazing to me that one club, Studio 54, built and destroyed disco.