Components of Music

When you think of the word music, what comes to mind? Beats, lyrics, bands, stages, crowds, instruments, etc. Music is made up of many different aspects that all merge together to give a certain type of music a certain feel or an impression that it leaves on the listener. Many artists sound completely different depending on whether you're listening to them live or sitting at your desk typing out a blog like I am right now. Moving along, I'm going to do my best to break the concept of music down into its primordial pieces and sort a few genres out and see which one satisfies all the pieces.
First, you've got to start with the beats, or the "music" of music if you will. This precisely blended mix of instrumental sounds is what gives you the sound/beat aspect of music. If music were a towering skyscraper, the beat would be the foundation. Without a beat, music is just lyrics/poetry, which is a separate entity in and of itself. This isn't a negative thing necessarily, it just alters the chemical makeup of the product on the molecular level; it becomes and entirely different work of art (because music is art). Now some genres, like classical and jazz, rely heavily on their beats to form their version of music. Classical is practically all beats, which is why it's an incomplete genre of "music." It's missing the lyrics and depth necessary to inspire. As a listener, I'm left wanting more. Now these "beats" may inspire some sort of emotion within the listener, based on the cadence of the song or the instrumentals featured within it, but I feel like it's lacking a human element. I want to hear the lyrics of the composer and decipher what he or she is trying to say through this piece of music.
This brings me to the second aspect of music: lyrics. The words of a song tell a lot about the artist and help the listener to interpret what the composition is getting at. Without lyrics, the song is just a beat as outlined above. One genre, rap, makes use of lyrics and beats, but it lacks depth (we'll get to that in a minute). The beats are usually acceptable, and the lyrics/rhymes are there, but again, I'm left feeling more-or-less empty when the last few bars are dropped and iTunes rotates on to the next song. It's a superficial existence; dwelling within the beats and lyrics dimensions of music. This is where the majority of mainstream music makes its entry. Akon and T-Pain get paid millions to make songs, about what? Clubs, hoes, drinking, being on a boat, etc. The beats, I'll admit, aren't always bad, but the lyrics are only skimming the surface of our existence. For something more, we must turn to hip-hop.
Hip-hop combines the trifecta of beats, lyrics, and depth. To start off with, the beats are off the chain. A good beat in and of itself can incite depth. That's why you occasionally find gems within every genre. Though I may dislike classical music, I'm sure I could find a few songs that utilize the depth I'm looking for by just pairing a few instruments that really speak to me together. But the lyrics are what really ignite the depth of a song. Groups like Blue Scholars, Strange Fruit Project, and Sweatshop Union (just to name a few) even tell stories with their lyrics. This shit just speaks straight to me like I'm sitting there face-to-face with the emcee and he's telling me what's good. Think of music as an arch (I'm nailing these metaphors today), the beats and lyrics are the arch itself, but it's nothing without the keystone to hold it all together; the keystone being depth.
Now when you go to listen to your music, check for these three aspects and you should be able to tell if what you're listening to is legit or whack. So don't be afraid to critically analyze a few songs and decide if you're getting musically short-changed or not. Music needs to be able to impress thought and emotion on to the listener. Are you feeling that?

P.S. I know this may seem hypocritical, but what I'm listening to right now (see below) is actually an instrumental piece of hip-hop. But like I said, sometimes you find those hidden masterpieces that can get by on just beats or lyrics alone. For the record, DJ Shadow makes some seriously ill beats. Word.

----------------
Now playing: DJ Shadow - What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 1, Blue Sky Revisit, Transmission 3)