Respect of Autotune (No Jay Diss)

"This ain’t a number one record / this is practically assault with a deadly weapon" - Jay-Z "D.O.A. (Death of Autotune" 2009

Now before cats get it twisted, lets put a lil light on the situation. This autotune debate has really gotten outta hand. In an article Kanye West (co-producer of D.O.A. with No ID) stated that they removed all songs with autotune on Jay's Blueprint 3 album to make a point that it would be an anti-autotune record. Even though the Louis Vitton Don drop an all autotune record with 2008's "808's and Heartbreak". There has to be a line in the sand where it ends and actual vocals come back to the forefront. Personally, I feel that the "autotune movement" needs a kick in the ass, cause those that are doin it arent doin it right, (with the exception of Kanye and maybe Lil' Wayne).

Before there was T-Pain, there was Teddy Riley who used autotune / voice box to an extent but not completely relying on it. Before Teddy and the new jack swing sound, there was Roger Troutman from the family band Zapp (if you ever had a Zapp record and read the liner notes you'd realize that every one of the 9 million artist on the records was a Troutman...LOL) Roger brought us songs that will forever live and be considered classics, Computer Love, More Bounce to the Ounce, Doo Wah Ditty, and Be Your Man.

Troutman really put the autotune / voicebox sound on the map, and did it correctly. T-Pain DOES NOT! I have seen footage of Zapp in concert (somewhere) and he (Roger) had the voice box tube in his mouth and worked the autotune and he sounded just like he did on the record, which is something that was an honored tradition back in the day. I saw T-Pain on Regis and Kelly (Yeah I know, but no cool point deductions cause I woke up and it was on the tv...) and he sounded horrible....There aint NO WAY ON EARTH, that you can use all that technology on a record, in the studio and then perform on LIVE television and sound like a choking cat. Take this as a warning cause if you expecting to hear the dude sound good in concert you better guess again. Dude gassed erybody up with that nonsense, I'm in Love with a Stripper (sucked), Bartender (good song, sucked bad live) and Buy You a Drink which put him out there to mainstream audiences (read:white folk) major hit, but sucks cause DUDE CANT SING FOR REAL! I'm pretty sure that Roger is rollin over in his grave and probably has a headache from all the misusage of his beloved voicebox.

I feel Jay on D.O.A. though, cause the cats that are using autotune (Ron Browz) are totally disrespecting a key branch of the Soul / R&B tree. Its almost as bad as Cassie, thinkin she could ever be the next Aretha Franklin or Tammi Terrell, or Aaliyah for that matter of fact. Another line from D.O.A. that really hit was "I know we facing a recession, but the music y’all making going make it the great depression." All he is really saying is stop with the gimmick cause if you cant do it live you aint gonna make money, people gonna stop buyin your music (no matter how loyal you think your fans are) and the music industry is gonna go under (at least the R&B / Rap) side of the business will be in dire straights. So to all A&R's out there stop and think a minute, this shit is a gimmick and cats are using it to trick you. If they can't sing for real don't sign them and you won't have to worry about droppin em after the first live performance...

Posted in the booth from the mind of the Insomniaq - Press record mane!