what does that make u

been reading a verse of this a day

Music can be anything

In particular, it very much can be a vehicle for spiritual enlightenment

I couldn't imagine only listening to fun music

Also if music is a commodity surely books are too?

its hilarious ppl use it even as a joke

It's literally a half step away from the "you need a certain IQ" argument lmao

youre on a kanye west forum stop it

I dont call myself a marxist

I don't listen to Travis scott because he is mid/ I got too old

then stop gatekeeping marxism

If you've ever had a profoundly enlightening experience from listening to an album outside of being in awe of the musical composition you probably just haven't had enough enlightening experiences in your life lol. Kendrick Lamar fake interviewing 2pac and talking about "democrips and rebloodicans" isn't as deep as y'all think it is and I love that album

WRT books, again, the mere dissemination of information is controlled by the commodity form. Everything is a commodity as long as it costs money to get it and it is produced/harvested through human labor. As such, a certain level of engagement with commodities will be inevitable to acquire any information about anything. Even if I read a Wikipedia article for free, the website was created using commodified technology/software and was accessed on a computer of some kind, which is also a commodity.

But books for millennia have been the most consistently effective way of translating longform, granular information to individuals. Whether they are commodified or not, that's the best we have in our current moment. An album has never once possessed a tenth of the theoretical/informational/linguistic depth you can get out of the best literature. They are two separate media that exist for two separate reasons.

Just like a painting can't be used as a substantial source of information about anything, nor can an album. An album is closer to a substantial source of information than a painting generally speaking, but neither are suitable sources of information, even if their messages and themes may be positive.

Being a Marxist-Leninist and a Travis Scott fan at the same time annoys so many people and I love it

yeah ngl, people oftentimes think that philosophy gives them a sticker where they can essentially say whatever they want and it be taken seriously since philosophy is typically stereotyped as speculative ruminating

lots of people need to read some of these thinkers to learn what consistent arguments, concepts and ideals look like so we don’t have a bunch of dudes passing stoner musings as insightful philosophical takes

could be my inner traditionalist talking though, so eh

Music is at best a form of propaganda for a social message, and since Travis Scott's music generally has no message at all, it doesn't matter if you listen to it nor not no matter what your political persuasions are because it literally just exists to sound good/cool

There's implicit messages, okay if you think you're immune but most young people are not, and are influenced accordingly

I'm not 16

Also the glaring majority of kids who are "influenced" by music grow out of that influence lol, and the ones who don't probably had completely f***ed up home lives which is an entirely separate issue

@simulacrum listen to Swans, Coil, and Liturgy

Also

I've listened to Swans and Coil

They're both good but hard to sit through because it's just too abrasive for my liking. I like experimental rock and industrial/experimental music but when it's just oppressive mechanical noise I can't get into it that much

Implicit influence nests itself in the subconscious

I've met many kids who treat TS and his ilk as role models

Those kids are probably un/undereducated or are lacking better role models in their real lives, and are probably overexposed to pop culture media/gossip, which leads to this phenomenon.

The lack of children reading non-fiction books cover to cover and the lack of quality non-fiction that is written to be digestible for children's reading preferences is the biggest reason why kids turn to celebrities, artists, etc, as role models for how to act as people lol

Up until the Reagan era it was genuinely absurd to consider entertainers who weren't otherwise activists or something outside of their music as role models

For sure

I'd say that's most kids at least here in the US

I primarily blame techs addictiveness

Camberwell Now
Captain Beefheart
Heldon
Mothers of Invention
Pere Ubu
The Residents
Tortoise

some other good ones, you've probably heard most of these though

I've listened to Beefheart, Mothers of Invention, Pere Ubu, and The Residents. Heard of Heldon

I'll peep them though , any recommended works?