Must Be The Music

Music is an issue that is close to many hearts at Rhodes University and I’m sure to students all around the South Africa as well. I will take an even bolder step and say that music feeds many souls all around the world. The problem lies in how that music links you with the people around you. Does everyone in your group of friends have the same music taste as you do? And if not how do you decide where to party and hang-out to accommodate all in the group? This has been a problem encountered by many students at Rhodes. But the worst part about this situation is when you get labelled as a particular type of person when you attend the venues that cater for your particular choice of music. Being stereotyped according to your choice in music is something I am totally against and something that I feel is unnecessary.

Music is an escape; a release from what we know is reality into what we feel reality should be. It allows us to get lost in worlds that are beyond life experiences and to be self indulgent for those splendid three minutes. Music is much like our dreams in the way that we cannot control what those melodies do to us at that time and we just let loose in whichever way our body reacts. My views here are shared by Just Another Soul Thinking Aloud in a poem written on the blog about how music can transform the body through the rhythm of the soul. Because music has such a big impact on a person, it would be unfair to judge on a person on what moves them. One can have a liking to many different kinds of music and to acquire a label when enjoying a certain type is just wrong.

The classic stereotypes you get when listening to a certain genre of music or enjoying a certain type of club scene are: Hippies that listen to ‘chilled rock’ and indie music; emo’s that listen to death metal ; jock’s and poppies that listen to rave and dance and gangsters that listen to Hip-Hop. Alistair King, a first year at Rhodes University, has agreed that the “stereotyping is just a way to make everyone have a place in society”. This was a confirmation of my theory: the only reason we have stereotypes is because humans are afraid of uncertainty and when one is not labelled and in a group of his own it becomes problematic.

One should have the liberty to do what they want and be left alone in their space. They should be able to say that they love a certain type of music and not be thrown into a social category within that music genre. The societies of today are changing and merging so no stereotypes should exist in practicality. One should be able to rage on about their favourite artist - like Briget does about James Blunt – and should be acknowledged for their taste without being ridiculed and labelled.

Lastly, one should have the pleasure of having random tastes in music and everything else for that matter. Just because you listen to one type of music cannot mean you don’t enjoy another. If I was labelled for the music I listen to, then I would be a jock, emo, hippie, and gangster – or more simply, JOEMHIGA!

A Letter to my Younger Self

What’s up Dude!

So we made it to varsity! We made it to Rhodes and we are exactly where we want to be. We still want the same things, you know make a couple movies after varsity and get involved in the film industry, but I think that we are a little different now. I have changed, not in a major way but I have changed. Especially my taste in movies, art and of course music!

We don’t even listen to the same music anymore. I’m still into the stuff that we used to listen to but I’ve been experimenting with different genres and there is some awesome stuff out there that we never even considered listening to! The 80’s tunes will live on forever, they are classics, but some of this new music that I’ve been listening to is amazing. We always took our musical influence from our parents because they have some wicked taste in music but come on, we are our own person. We should decide what music we like by listening to a whole bunch of different genres and not just following the crowd.

Here’s a perfect example; did we ever listen to any other Reggae apart from Bob Marley? No we didn’t. Ok, Bob is the “King of Reggae” but there are some other awesome musicians out there. There are bands that you have never heard of like “7th Son”, “Slightly Stoopid” and so on. If I told you now to listen to a band called “Slightly Stoopid” you would laugh at me, but they are one of my favourite bands at the moment. We have never liked house, it is the one genre that we never connected with but I’m really enjoying deep, chilled house at the moment.
So dude, things change, your opinions and tastes change but we are still the same person. I envy you because you have the opportunity of living my epic musical journey all over again.

Peace and love brother,

Masta Jay