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Review: Ice Spice's New Album 'Y2K' Sparks Doubts About the Credibility of Music Label Executives and Award Show Officials

by Diamond Brown

What's Happening to the Music Industry?

Image Credit: Johnny Nunez | Getty Images


Once upon a time, there were people called "gatekeepers" in the music industry. These individuals controlled access to the industry, and to gain commercial success as an artist, you had to be talented. As I sit here in my cubicle at the SSM office on a Monday afternoon after subjecting myself to the unskilled artist we call Ice Spice, I can’t help but wonder: has the world gone mad? Is lyricism dead? Is there some correlation between the rise of amateur artists and students failing in school?


According to an article written by Liberty Vittert for The Hill, “The dumbing down of academic standards is endangering the future of our children and the entire American workforce. The people this is harming the most—at roughly two or three times the average—are non-white and socioeconomically disadvantaged students.”


Rappers like Ice Spice, Sexyy Red, and even Cardi B are all marketed towards the Brown and Black communities. Their lyrics are juvenile, raunchy, classless, tasteless, and downright dumb. But is this because their labels or managers feel this will sell best to their target demographic?


We can see other newcomers such as Megan Thee Stallion, who is very adamant about breaking into the Asian community—recent songs like "Mamushi" and "Otaku Hot Girl" are both evidence of this—and Doja Cat, who is marketable to both Black and non-Black audiences. As a whole, these two are not going to give us mediocre music.


But back to Ice Spice: how and why is an album like "Y2K" acceptable to a label for release to the masses? It’s 23 minutes of a long run-on sentence. There is hardly any diversity, poetic flow, or hooks that don’t make you sound like a remedial English student when you repeat them. Where are the gatekeepers? The industry is crumbling right before our eyes, and there is no one to save it. Are you lying to me?


THE ALBUM

It’s truly a shame that we have to call it that when you think of other artists who take so much time to perfect their craft and work on increasing their education so that they can produce clever lyrics and profound storytelling. Astute rappers such as Nas, Nicki Minaj, Eminem, Lil Wayne, and more are regarded as some of the greats.

While this isn’t always the goal for every artist, it should at least be their goal to entertain and show leadership through their craft. The entertainment industry is filled with fierce competition, and thank goodness for that because otherwise, there would be no goals to reach, no real reason to put forth effort.


Fans of Ice Spice and Sexyy Red should feel slighted by these artists, because even though they are not looking to compete with the greats, they are not even, in the slightest, concerned with giving their fans quality versions of the art they chose to produce.


Many people bash Beyoncé for only showing up or doing commercials when she has something to sell or promote, but isn’t that a better trade-off than, say, an artist who is constantly on social media shoving out lackluster music and having little to no care about how they aim to entertain and present themselves to their fans and spectators? We can say a lot about Beyoncé, but one thing we can never add to her name is monotonous and indolent.


Artists like Ice Spice are a slap in the face to the music industry. As a whole, the industry should be embarrassed; they are officially a laughingstock. All money isn’t good money as more and more people are waking up to the fact that music is, in fact, bad these days. If more fans start to feel like the music is being dumbed down because industry elites think we’re all just too stupid to understand and support gifted artists, then rest assured an uprising will be forthcoming.

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