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Where did the Love go? In today's black pop music, love songs are harder to find
The Undefeated ^ | 2020 | Jesse Washington

Posted on 07/23/2020 1:47:27 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege

“God is love,” the Bible says. Black American music began with this love. We asked Him, in our African call-and-response tradition, for strength and freedom. These “Negro spirituals” begat the blues, which begat jazz, rock ’n’ roll, R&B, and rap.

Today, much of the love expressed in classic songs seems as anachronistic as cassette tapes. The Hot 100 pop charts still have plenty of songs by black artists about sex, which has always been an essential thread in the emotional tapestry of music. But compared with past decades, when popular black artists consistently gave voice to humanity’s most powerful emotion, far fewer chart-topping songs today discuss love as that alchemy of need, companionship and commitment transcending the physical.

These numbers show a coldhearted truth: The deepest forms of love are fading out of popular black music. Or as Lil Wayne said in his 2018 hit single “Uproar”:

“What the f**** though? Where the love go?”

Yes, we are quoting profanity up in this piece. Because while there has never been more vulgarity in black pop than now, there has never been less love.

“Art reflects life. I think both men and women now are having a hard time buying into love and long-lasting love,” said rhythm and blues singer and musician PJ Morton. His catalog of love songs, including “Say So,” the 2019 Grammy winner for best R&B song, resides outside the popular mainstream.

(Excerpt) Read more at theundefeated.com ...


TOPICS: Arts/Photography
KEYWORDS: music; songs
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To: Jamestown1630

India was the first such video I came across. She has beautiful eyes and her reactions are a joy to watch.

Of course with You Tube, you watch one type of video and soon you have gazillion suggestions for similar ones. So I check them all out. Some are better than others.


41 posted on 07/23/2020 4:11:18 PM PDT by CIB-173RDABN (I am not an expert in anything, and my opinion is just that, an opinion. I may be wrong.)
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To: Ann Archy

I was never a fan of the Beatles. When I first saw them on the Ed Sullivan show (I was 11 years old) the beat and the ‘difference’ in their presentation was fascinating. But as I grew older, all the songs seemed very shallow.

I do still like hearing ‘Blackbird’.

(My husband thinks their best years were 1964 to 1966.)


42 posted on 07/23/2020 4:12:46 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Black people have suffered from the same failure of the public ‘educational’ system as the rest of us have suffered.


43 posted on 07/23/2020 4:21:32 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: Califreak

Absolutely love the Spinners. The guitar intro and appearances during the rest of the song “it’s a Shame “ are my favorite, happiest, most uplifting notes ever.


44 posted on 07/23/2020 4:47:53 PM PDT by F450-V10
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

RAP: Retarded African Poetry.


45 posted on 07/23/2020 4:50:07 PM PDT by CodeToad (Arm Up! They Have!)
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To: Califreak

The Spinners are one of my favorite groups.

Wanna hear some real soul, check out the full version of The Love I Lost by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.

You can feel the emotion.

Black female singers of the 60’s and 70’s were awesome.

Roberta flack
Dionne Warwick
Marilyn McCoo
Diana Ross
Aretha
Valerie Simpson
Whitney Houston


46 posted on 07/23/2020 6:34:03 PM PDT by cyclotic (The most dangerous people are the ones that feel the most helpless)
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To: F450-V10

12:45


47 posted on 07/23/2020 6:36:39 PM PDT by cyclotic (The most dangerous people are the ones that feel the most helpless)
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To: Tax-chick
We want someone who is ours. Just ours in a very special way.

We are willing to do anything and everything to get that, we will risk our heart, our health, our sanity to have it.

And today they are being told not only that it can not exist but that they should not even search for it. That the very wanting it is wrong. It is no wonder so many of them end up drugged and in counseling. You might as well tell people not to breathe as to tell them not to want their helpmate.

48 posted on 07/23/2020 6:51:21 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (And lead us not into hysteria, but deliver us from the handwashers. Amen!)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Yeah...like “let’s get it on” by Marvin Gaye? A real tender love song...and the classic heartfelt love song...Sexual Healinv...both songs sung at weddings worldwide.


49 posted on 07/23/2020 9:15:09 PM PDT by Getready (Wisdom is more valuable than gold and diamonds, and harder to find.)
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To: Getready

Sexual healinG!


50 posted on 07/23/2020 9:18:09 PM PDT by Getready (Wisdom is more valuable than gold and diamonds, and harder to find.)
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To: waterhill
Leon Bridges is one of the few young artists of today whose music I actually enjoy!

Leon Bridges - Smooth Sailin’ (Live on SNL, 2015)

51 posted on 07/23/2020 9:31:44 PM PDT by nutmeg (Mega prayers for Rush Limbaugh)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Very insightful.


52 posted on 07/24/2020 3:19:02 AM PDT by Tax-chick ("You can't die of every little thing all the time." ~Itxu Diaz)
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To: Pox
But that type of music doesn't meet the requirements of their dem masters who prefer that they live their own “culture”, insist that they hate whites, and perpetually advocate for strife and division in our cities and neighborhoods.

It’s such a shame and a reversal of progress— black pop music had been one of the greatest influences to pull down the color barrier since the founding of the nation, and especially from the 50s thru mid-80s — until the ugly and profane rap era.

53 posted on 07/24/2020 7:40:52 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ("When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice." --Donald Trump)
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To: Fiji Hill

I would add “My Girl” and (“Goin’ to the) Chapel of Love” off the top of my head.


54 posted on 07/24/2020 7:44:49 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ("When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice." --Donald Trump)
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To: waterhill
Leon Bridges a young songwriter from Ft. TX. Brilliant!
Beyond

Perfection, including the lyrics and the beautiful imagery of the video! Thanks for the link.

I might also add that one area where contemporary black singers are adding to the love is in gospel and Christian pop music. Thinking of Tauren Wells, Mandisa, many others.

55 posted on 07/24/2020 8:00:36 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ("When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice." --Donald Trump)
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To: cyclotic
Black female singers of the 60’s and 70’s were awesome. Roberta flack Dionne Warwick Marilyn McCoo Diana Ross Aretha Valerie Simpson Whitney Houston

Roberta and Aretha — top of the top. Patti LaBelle should also be on your list. Tina Turner was the greatest, greatesr show woman. Saw her live in 1970 when she was still with Ike, and it was not hard to see why he felt so outshone (hence abusive). The crowd, both blacks and whites, went wild for her.

56 posted on 07/24/2020 8:20:07 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ("When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice." --Donald Trump)
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To: Albion Wilde
In the last days of 1964, You've Lost That Loving Feeling by the Righteous Brothers reached #1 in Southern California and sat there for nine weeks. I liked the song and was somewhat resentful when My Girl knocked it out of the top spot in early March, 1965.

Chapel of Love by the Hitmakers (1958) is another one that I like. It was highly collectible, so it took me a long time to find a copy. Now, you can hear it on Youtube for free.

57 posted on 07/24/2020 9:26:58 AM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: Fiji Hill

Loved the Righteous Brothers. Hope you’ve bee able to forgive “My Girl”—was that the Temptations or the Four Tops? Good times, R&B. I remember dancing to My Girl in a Dutch youth nightspot in Utrecht or Amsterdam in the late 60s! Don’t remember whicn city, either, but I do remember the fellow I danced with!


58 posted on 07/25/2020 5:26:16 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ("When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice." --Donald Trump)
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