Violent Entity Music Project

There is a new company called i/denti/tee that opened for business in December 2008. They have partnered with EDUN Live, a project to create jobs in Africa, created by Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson, Hard Rock Café and iTunes who offer10 free downloads with each purchase!

 

Through their custom widget, they are also running a debate on site about what the best “I” lyric of all time, which you can imagine has gotten pretty heated. And their engineering some pretty cool data visualizations around the results from the debate. The widget was built it to get people talking about all kinds of music together.

 

At this time, there are 9 i/denti/tee t-shirts in production, however they are working on adding lots more. People can go to their website and add their favorite song lyrics that begin with “i”

 

After that, you can vote on which “i” lyrics make it to the next batch of i/denti/tee t-shirts that will go into production. My personal favorite already for sale looks like this – istillhaventfoundwhatimlookingfor – kinda makes you look at lyrics differently in a cool kinda way, doesn’t it? All copyright issues become resolved through hard work to make sure all of our printed lyrics have been legally cleared by the publisher and that the shirts are sourced locally from Africa.

Users can pick from a pre-cleared set of lyrics (U2, Jay-Z, Coldplay, to name a few) or they can enter the music debate themselves by submitting their favorite lyric, garnering support for it, and getting it cleared to print and wear.

 

These efforts have created a new, responsible and ethical line of t-shirts that allow music lovers to express their passion for music by wearing their favorite lyrics on their chest. Inspired by a love for music and the lyrics of their favorite songs, i/denti/tee gives other people the opportunity to express themselves.

 

i/denti/tee has an opportunity to grow into something big. It’s not only a fun project but also provides opportunity, which helps to heal our world. Imagine the t-shirt you would like to design. What song lyric means the most to you? What is the meaning and how does it relate to your life? I have hundreds of song “I” lyrics posted on my blog and feel free to add yours too.

 

Christian music is changing. It’s changing both in form and style, in terms of how it’s played and performed, but just as much, it’s also changing people, leading them closer to Christ. Christian music has become more and more mainstream where it’s hard to differentiate between mainstream music and Christian music. The difference between mainstream music and Christian music is that the Christian music lyrics are a positive alternative, not just another negative song out on the market.

Just the other day, listening to the radio, I heard Alive by P.O.D. on KROQ, an extremely secular radio station. This proves how Christian music is changing and evolving because it’s becoming more and more adopted as normal music than it is this church-going, hymnal music.

Christian music is becoming more of a “positive alternative” than it is this independent genre of its own that people stay away from. The positive aspect of Christian music though, is the how the Christian lyrics are influenced. It’s not the beat, it’s not the sound, but it’s the actual Christian lyrics that are being integrated into mainstream media.

Another band that can be captured in this is Switchfoot. Switchfoot lyrics are heavily influenced by Christianity, but they are not considered to be a Christian band by the secular world. They are certainly Christian rock lyrics, but still just rock lyrics in the eyes of the world.

There is the complete flip side of that though, such as Casting Crowns. Their lyrics are strongly influenced by Christianity and they are labeled as a Christian band because their music is more worship-focused. Christian worship music is almost a complete genre by itself because of how huge it is.

How has Christian worship music changed over time? It’s become quite a bit more modern. Casting Crowns is a great example of how it’s been modernized because it’s not the traditional organ and piano, but you have the complete band with guitar, drums, including the piano. It’s a complete band that sounds like a normal band, but it takes a worship aspect.

Christian music is a genre of music that cannot be ignored as a genre because of how massive it is. There are really no other religions which have such a prominent role in music as Christianity does.

The continuing oppression and suffering of the freed slaves bred a musical genre that today can uplift and encourage all peoples.

Turmoil and Revolution Breed Genius

In the early twentieth century, popular culture in America underwent a massive revolution. Mass industrialization reduced the need for farm labor and increased the need for factory labor in the major cities, leading to mass migration of African Americans from southern homesteads to northern industrial centers such as Detroit, Chicago and New York. Through various advancements such as the assembly line, cataloging, and the department store, the availability and popularity of consumer goods sky-rocketed.

One such development, unique in its nature, was the radio and the gramophone / recording studio. These technologies made music and news accessible to more people than had ever previously been possible, and, just as importantly, gave the layman an outlet to develop and promote music. So, very quickly, studios were popping up all over the place, and soon enough, through all the chaos and inefficiency that plagued the early recording industry, Gospel music emerged as the overwhelmingly popular genre.

But why was this? And why is it important now? The early twentieth century was not a particularly spiritual one in America’s history.

Timelessly Uplifting

The popularity of Gospel music is really quite simple. Gospel songs were generally short, energetic, and uplifting. Southern Gospel groups were generally all male tenor quartets, representing a popular format that has stuck with culture even today. In many ways, Gospel music in the early recording industry represented the earliest form of what we today know as pop songs, and created a sphere of influence that eventually spread on a global scale. The music was easy to listen to, accessible, and catchy.

Before the invention of ‘mass media’ such as radio and records, gospel music was really only experienced in its birthplace – the southern black church. Segregated from white churches, African Americans developed their own unique music genre, one that spoke to their condition of being a depressed (held down), segregated, discriminated people. The black gospel music lyrics that emerged from this condition and their church services speaks to us today, because seeking salvation and support through troubled times is a universal condition.

But once African Americans started moving from souther farms to northern cities, and once the records and radios were in place in the 1920′s and 1930′s, the rest of America could hear southern gospel music for the first time. And they liked what they heard. What’s not to like about short, energetic and uplifting music lyrics that comfort us in times of trouble?