Informer

Many writers make unfair general statements to make their points more dramatic and give them more power. While this can be very irresponsible I really see no other way to say what I'm about to say. Matisyahu is exactly what is wrong with my generation. Now forgive me if I come off as a little harsh but I'm really annoyed by this guy and his fans. I just finished watching Matisyahu perform on the Cone Zone, and he just plain sucked. SUUUCCCCKKKKKKKKKEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And what really got me was how crazy the crowd went even at the mention of the guy. The thing is Matisyahu is popular for one reason and one reason only; he is an extremely visible character out of his element. But it doesn't matter that he sucks at it. It doesn't matter that he's downright awful at it. All that matters is that he's a white Hasidic Jew doing reggae. And that's what's wrong with us. Our whole goal is to put the traditionally uncool and make it cool despite talent or ability. I can't get why this is acceptable. See, in the past when blacks had caused the evolution of jazz into rock n roll, the next step was for white people to give it a shot. The difference back then was that there were people like Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, Elvis, Roy Orbison etc. who were actually good. These people went out of their element to create good music. That's acceptable. More recently we can look at the Beastie Boys who entered the hip hop scene as white as white can be, but they were good. Eminem is even sort of acceptable. But Matisyahu just freaking sucks. SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS. I mean he's just horrible, and the most annoying thing to me is that there are better reggae artists out there and these kids who follow Matisyahu could care less, because it's not cool to fit the mold of people who are good at something, but it sure is cool if you don't fit the mold even if you suck at whatever it is you're attempting to do. From the New York Times, "Perhaps Matisyahu's fans aren't familiar with a little-known group of performers who still make great reggae records: Jamaicans." Exactly!!!!!! I mean would you buy a crap painting from a talentless artist just because he's blind, has no arms, and paints with a brush in his mouth (that's not to say these qualities automatically make one talentless) when there is an actual good painting from a completely talented and "normal" artist? My point is there's just no excuse to praise and give so much attention to mediocrity (at best) when there is actual great works out there. Matisyahu is nothing but a Jewish Snow, and let's face it, "Informer" was one of the worse songs to come out of the 90's. I don't mean to single out non-black, non-Jamaican reggae musicians, these two just happen to come in mind. Hell, even Brad Nowell was decent at his reggae attempts, but that's because he got it. He understood reggae for what it was and he felt it and didn't use it as a tool (this coming from someone who is sick and tired of Sublime). I don't know. I feel like I just wrote a whole bunch of crap but somewhere here I'm sure my point came across. One final thing though. I even have more respect for fans of Lincoln Park than I do Matisyahu, because at least Lincoln Park sucks at something that is their own. There is no better alternative to Lincoln Park (besides no Lincoln Park at all). My only advice for LP fans is don't waste your money on them when all you have to do is buy a single and you own every song they've ever recorded.