thegreekdog wrote:TA1LGUNN3R wrote:greekdog wrote:I'm not saying Donald Glover is not a musical genius. I like the song; it's good. I've listened to it a number of times. I like Rage Against the Machine. I've listened to that band my whole life. I like NWA. I would venture to say all of those groups and people are musical geniuses.
Oh come on. "Genius" is one of those overused words. None of these acts are musical geniuses. They may be good or talented, but they are each a far cry from geniuses.
I mean... okay. I think Tom Morello probably qualifies as a musical genius; he went to Harvard and his guitar playing was cutting edge. I also think NWA qualifies as well given that they popularized gansta rap. It's okay if you don't like them. You don't have to like musical geniuses. I don't like the Beatles and I can acknowledge their musical prowess. Also, not the point of my post. The point of my post is on the social commentary that Donald Glover is selling, not whether he is or isn't a good musician.
This is a correct take though. De la Rocha could have fronted any other band and been fine. Not great necessarily, but fine. Morello is what made Rage groundbreaking. But anyone who sees musical genius only in people like Mozart isn't worth arguing with. Confusing genius with being a child prodigy does no justice to either (though mozart was both). If one has to go all the way back to Mozart to find an example of musical genius, one clearly don't know what the f*ck one is talking about. And I don't think Glover is a musical genius. He's pretty good though.