So this was probably the second or third PVT I attended. The funny thing was the venue was cancelled last minute so the tour manager/founder (Saad Omar) contacted me to get a venue, unfortunately the university rooms we had were full.
Anyways, Saad got a venue (alhamdullilah) in Virgina. So everything worked out. I had seen the performers perform before but what really hit me this time coming to PVT was the loss of appreciation for lyrics or words in music today. It was refreshing to see people who yearned and demanded a better brand and level of music that challenged intellect, encouraged introspection and went above and beyond the usual instrumental-driven music that we hear today so frequently. The state of the music industry today is very parallel to the state of society as a whole which has become a body without a soul. Singers/Rappers can have the most mundane and meaningless lyrics yet have an amazing instrumental or sound/beat and it will catch on quickly.
It is with this said that our music industry (coupled with media/magazines/movies) has become so baseless and meaningless and it's no surprise society has become so intellectually-challenged. Fort Minor's song "Cigarettes" puts it perfectly:
We dont care if it's true when we lay the money down
We don't believe the words, we just love the way they sound
They're acting like we're idiots, They're lying to our face
Maybe we are idiots, we buy it anyway
We've become so consumed by instrumentals and club beats we've lost all capacity to think and be inspired by music. Have our lives come to a point where we just listen to club beats? What happened to inspirational music and introspective music? Why isn't that type of music selling? Where is the socially-conscious music that we saw during the 60's? Have we become a society that no longer thinks?
It's with this I say we need a revolution in the music industry and why not have it come from Muslim artists? Let's cultivate our musical talent and spread the messages that need to be heard by the masses. Let's get beyond the complaining and moaning about how bad it is and change hearts and minds thorough music.
So stop complaining and start a revolution!
