Music is such an integral part of so many people's lives. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who's not deeply attached to a song, album or group in some meaningful way, even if it's just a singular one. Music is the most widely consumed medium of art by and far and that's mostly due to the complete elimination of the traditional music gatekeepers. The internet has allowed almost anyone can make a rise to fame. But this revolution has also created a whole new segment of music listeners that I can only describe as the music purists.
It's really easy to tell who in your friend group is a music purist because they don't do a very good job of hiding it. It feels as if music purists physically cannot restrain themselves from criticizing someone else's music taste. They attempt to discredit certain artists simply because of the type of music they make or how they entered the industry.
There are many subsets of music purists but one thing remains consistent: a condescending attitude. Most conversations with these people can be boiled down to "your sense of music is bad because you listen to XYZ" or something to that nature. Not surprisingly, if you ask these people what their favorite artists are, Kendrick Lamar, J.Cole and The Beatles will more often than not be in their top 5.
Not every artist should be required to say a deep and meaningful message through their albums. What makes music so great is often its diversity and if every rapper was a "conscious rapper" or a "traditional musician" we'd soon end up with an echo chamber within the industry. Lil Uzi Vert deserves to occupy space within the industry the same way Kendrick Lamar does.
There's a similar ideology against those who have remained independent. Musicians only get 12% of all the money made within the industry and yet there still remains a stigma against those who come from outside. Many of these people have had great deals of success remaining independent and often times signing to a label isn't all it's made out to be.
There will always be an ever-changing rotation of who's considered "good" in the music industry. Only music that is truly great makes it through the years which is then compared to music that comes out now that will more than likely be replaced or forgotten in a few years. However, that doesn't make that music any less important or valuable to the culture as a whole.
