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Forum nameThe Lesson
Topic subjectRE: Read again.
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=5&topic_id=2700386&mesg_id=2701034
2701034, RE: Read again.
Posted by vee-lover, Sun May-20-12 04:25 PM
>>wait, you just said D'angelo is not uncompromising yet you
>say
>>in the same paragraph that GRREAT artists don't
>>compromise...so which is he?
>
>Never said anything of the kind.
>
>I said *true* artists recognize that compromise is a part of
>their process. The fact that D'Angelo has compromised, though,
>does not make him a true artist--in my mind, at least--because
>I believe a true artist PUTS OUT WORK.

again, you keep trying to use the fact that he's been absent from the music scene as justification that he isn't a "true" artist. I can accept the fact that because of his limited output that ppl don't yet consider him to be a "great artist" (Chris Rock said in the article that its all abt body of work) but that doesn't mean he isn't true to the music he makes.

> And first of all, when you have
>>ppl putting millions of dollars behind you, then of course
>>you're going to have to compromise on some things - whether
>it
>>be the album cover or which song to release...but the
>>overriding principle for any artist is to be able to make
>the
>>music they want to make instead of doing what's likely to
>get
>>them a hit...
>
>So then the reaction is to spend 10 years NOT releasing any
>work to prove that you are a true artist?

you act like he was bullshittin during his time away lmao. I don't think he planned to be away this long, just like I'm sure Lauryn Hill didn't plan to either, things happen artists, particularly blk artists. (read the article since you said you haven't and they talk briefly abt the pressures blk artists, especially great blk artists, experience vs their white counterparts.
>
>Please. D's hero Marvin Gaye worked under MUCH more rigid
>record company directives... The industry was much more
>structured and demanding when James Brown and Sly Stone, Isaac
>Hayes and George Clinton et al were putting out work on a
>regular basis... See, that is the test of a true artist: When
>the label censors your original vision, you use your
>creativity to work around the strictures and still produce
>something that manages to convey your vision while marginally
>appeasing the company.

the music industry was entirely different then than it is today. For one, artists had more freedom to create the kinds of music they wanted vs today where EVERYTHING is formalaic because there's lots more money backing artists of today. And its funny that of all the artists you mentioned, all of them w/the exception Isaac Hayes has talked abt the pressures of the music business and how it contributed to some of their personal problems.
>
>If you feel you gotta take your ball and go home because you
>feel the label ain't letting you say exactly what you wanna
>say the way you wanna say it... that ain't nothing to be
>admired; that's weak.

that's a poor analogy because that applies he just stopped making music altogether and went into hiding...when the truth of it is that he fought w/the label and eventually got his way.