This article highlights several things we talked about in the two threads about gospel music and Mary Mary's video/song "God In Me"....
Personality Driven: Gospel artists today are getting craftier with their celebrity and are putting it to the test
http://www.prayzehymnonline.com/articles_personalitydriven.html
Personality Driven: Gospel artists today are getting craftier with their celebrity and are putting it to the test
http://www.prayzehymnonline.com/articles_personalitydriven.html
WHEN YOU LOOK AT Billboard’s Gospel charts every week and you notice the same names dominating the top for the last two decades, it just puzzles one on how did a person inhabit such staying power and how does one obtain it. Of course, the backdrop to these stories all sound the same. Each artist goes through a trial-and-error experience, trying to identify their style and developing a support base. They remain dormant and underground for a lengthy period and then comes the breakout season. In gospel music, once an artist finds their way to the top tier of its popularity scale, they can ride on the coattails of ecstatic fans and the always-embracing church community until their spiraling descent into seclusion.
The Clark Sisters, with a support system dating all the way back to their mother and their Sound of Gospel days, has just recently experienced a popularity revival from mainstream society and even with gospel supports as they delivered their first reunion album which climbed the higher portions of the gospel charts. But each of the sisters have experienced great success on their own; racking up on Stellar and Dove awards and Grammy nominations and appearing on shows like The View, The Tonight Show and superstar compilations like EMI’s Oh Happy Day.
Unfortunately some artists are less fortunate to bounce back into the popularity program. Still with gospel radio now in question and lesser super-power companies losing interest in gospel music with the recent drop of departments and downsizing, a growing number of artists are working the grassroots-engaged system of Twitter, MySpace, YouTube and Facebook to enlarge their popularity more than ever before rather than focusing on their former regimen of producing great records.
The recent scenario - and most puzzling of them all - can be traced to gospel/R&B maverick Tonex’ (aka Ton3x). His moves are becoming more and more questionable by the hour as his track record of controversial news headlines teeter to the top like gospel’s version of Paris Hilton. Puzzling enough is knowing that Tonex’ announced his retirement from the gospel industry after Verity Records decided to drop him after his musical tirade "Naked Truth" exploded across the World Wide Web in 2007. An apology later, Zomba, the parent company to Verity Gospel , notices Tonex’ is still a brand worth investing in. Zomba then creates Battery Records; a newly formed label designed to harness Tonex’s creative abilities and hopefully allow the artist to do what he wants without hurting any of the established labels' reputations like Jive, GospoCentric and Verity as he journeys away from conventional gospel music into mainstream. While the album Unspoken fails to generate much spin on gospel radio, it still is being promoted as a gospel album and even features the Vertiy logo on the back of the project. His retirement from gospel is far from a career obituary blurb as the artist makes his rounds of necessary publicity performing in churches, GMA mixers, and making appearances on gospel-related blogs, web sites and YouTubers. Regardless of how unpredictable he is or how the gospel community responds, his celebrity, even beyond his extraordinary super skills as a producer and singer, remains his greatest asset.
The crisis in the modern church is learning how to balance individual personalities with the church’s main purpose. True, a person on assignment must uphold Christian principles when proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to the world but lately there’s been more personality exhorted and extracted from today's artists rather than the personality’s original focus. Tracing these formidable truths to Mary Mary’s latest music video, “God In Me,” is just another example of how popularity can supercede principle. The music video to the newly-released urban single boasts superstar appearances from Flex Anderson, Shanice, Kanye West, video vixen Amber Rose, Heavy D, Common, David Banner, Fonzworth Bentley and Kelly Price. Along with the superstar coverage, the music video and lyrics also promotes - even in the midst of an economic recession - what appears to be the lifestyles of the bling-bling rather than survival steps from Suze Orman.
When the media received details on the music video via DaSouth.com, hardcore Mary Mary fans and gospel supporters were suspicious of the duo’s decision to feature secular-Christian collaborations. A blogger from Beats & Blessings, DaSouth.com’s radio network, commented that he wondered “would we be making such an issue or big fuss if Mary Mary weren't as well known or...if they collaborated with R&B singers like a Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, John Legend or some "conscious" rapper.” Mary Mary even stunned a few with the assertion that they would be interested in a rap/vocal collaboration with embattled rap star T.I. (announced on 93.5K-Day for a live interview earlier this year). Mary Mary commented: “I listen to his whole body of work and I think sometimes that people classify you on whatever that hit is, and that might be the feel of radio and what everyone thinks is the biggest, but when you listen to their whole body of work it tells the story of who they are. I like listening to his story.” Their idea of a collaboration landed on music blogs, web sites and even on T.I’s music label’s website (Atlantic Records).
T.I., who rose to fame after placing ten Top 10 hits on the charts and for appearing in motion pictures and was on probation in 1998 for a conviction surrounding a state controlled substance act and for giving false information along with possessing militant firearms and marijuana, plead guilty to his latest set of convictions and was sentenced to a thousand hours of community service and a year and a day in prison, according to sources at Blender Magazine. Mary Mary might be a fan of T.I.’s story on compact disc, but his track record is lightyears away from a gospel performance. T.I. confessed to Blender in February that he had been arrested “somewhere around 32 times.”
Public discussion on the matter continued at popular gospel blog GospelPundit.com, while message boards like the Yahoo!-powered PRAYZEHYMN Group, which celebrates a more liberal, open-discussion dialogue, was mostly met with silence and loads of conservative supportive viewpoints on the matter. PRAYZEHYMN Message Board member “Denise” expressed her thoughts to those who naturally opposed Mary Mary’s decision: ".As for the video--who are we to judge where those people are in their walk with God. Maybe it's us that need to take the beam out of our own eyes!”
Even on YouTube, the comments to the video posted by Mary Mary have been marked with accolades from their supporters and well-wishers rather than a mix of constructive criticism from those outraged by the super leap into popularity-driven ministry.
Seems like the old double-standard gets the best of some personalities in gospel music. When BeBe Winans surfaced in the news months ago for allegedly beating up his ex-wife Debra Winans, the media including gossip blogs and media anchors like EURweb.com and the Associated Press went on a frantic tour of launching tidbits on the shocking arrest. Things appeared to look gloomy for the Grammy-award winning singer as a mug shot surfaced while Chris Brown was being mauled by the media for a similar situation with his girlfriend and popstar Rhianna. Chris Brown’s music was even banned from radio while late-night comics and Djs protested against Brown’s actions. For Winans, he kept his job at BET, his music remained in rotation and the gospel music industry choose to ignore the allegations. Either an act of God vindicated his career from possible meltdown or maybe his personality in the gospel world was all the favor he needed to escape the troubling, eclipsing fate of most embattled superstars. For superstars like R Kelly and Chris Brown, who once portrayed a squeaky-clean image, they didn’t get the same kind of treatment or restoration.
Guess the old urban proverb rings truer than ever before: “If you got it, flaunt it.”
Seems like today’s gospel singers are doing their best to flaunt the big personalities they have been so blessed with. Nowadays it’s not important on what you sing or how you sing it, it’s knowing who you are when you sing it.
The Clark Sisters, with a support system dating all the way back to their mother and their Sound of Gospel days, has just recently experienced a popularity revival from mainstream society and even with gospel supports as they delivered their first reunion album which climbed the higher portions of the gospel charts. But each of the sisters have experienced great success on their own; racking up on Stellar and Dove awards and Grammy nominations and appearing on shows like The View, The Tonight Show and superstar compilations like EMI’s Oh Happy Day.
Unfortunately some artists are less fortunate to bounce back into the popularity program. Still with gospel radio now in question and lesser super-power companies losing interest in gospel music with the recent drop of departments and downsizing, a growing number of artists are working the grassroots-engaged system of Twitter, MySpace, YouTube and Facebook to enlarge their popularity more than ever before rather than focusing on their former regimen of producing great records.
The recent scenario - and most puzzling of them all - can be traced to gospel/R&B maverick Tonex’ (aka Ton3x). His moves are becoming more and more questionable by the hour as his track record of controversial news headlines teeter to the top like gospel’s version of Paris Hilton. Puzzling enough is knowing that Tonex’ announced his retirement from the gospel industry after Verity Records decided to drop him after his musical tirade "Naked Truth" exploded across the World Wide Web in 2007. An apology later, Zomba, the parent company to Verity Gospel , notices Tonex’ is still a brand worth investing in. Zomba then creates Battery Records; a newly formed label designed to harness Tonex’s creative abilities and hopefully allow the artist to do what he wants without hurting any of the established labels' reputations like Jive, GospoCentric and Verity as he journeys away from conventional gospel music into mainstream. While the album Unspoken fails to generate much spin on gospel radio, it still is being promoted as a gospel album and even features the Vertiy logo on the back of the project. His retirement from gospel is far from a career obituary blurb as the artist makes his rounds of necessary publicity performing in churches, GMA mixers, and making appearances on gospel-related blogs, web sites and YouTubers. Regardless of how unpredictable he is or how the gospel community responds, his celebrity, even beyond his extraordinary super skills as a producer and singer, remains his greatest asset.
The crisis in the modern church is learning how to balance individual personalities with the church’s main purpose. True, a person on assignment must uphold Christian principles when proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to the world but lately there’s been more personality exhorted and extracted from today's artists rather than the personality’s original focus. Tracing these formidable truths to Mary Mary’s latest music video, “God In Me,” is just another example of how popularity can supercede principle. The music video to the newly-released urban single boasts superstar appearances from Flex Anderson, Shanice, Kanye West, video vixen Amber Rose, Heavy D, Common, David Banner, Fonzworth Bentley and Kelly Price. Along with the superstar coverage, the music video and lyrics also promotes - even in the midst of an economic recession - what appears to be the lifestyles of the bling-bling rather than survival steps from Suze Orman.
When the media received details on the music video via DaSouth.com, hardcore Mary Mary fans and gospel supporters were suspicious of the duo’s decision to feature secular-Christian collaborations. A blogger from Beats & Blessings, DaSouth.com’s radio network, commented that he wondered “would we be making such an issue or big fuss if Mary Mary weren't as well known or...if they collaborated with R&B singers like a Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, John Legend or some "conscious" rapper.” Mary Mary even stunned a few with the assertion that they would be interested in a rap/vocal collaboration with embattled rap star T.I. (announced on 93.5K-Day for a live interview earlier this year). Mary Mary commented: “I listen to his whole body of work and I think sometimes that people classify you on whatever that hit is, and that might be the feel of radio and what everyone thinks is the biggest, but when you listen to their whole body of work it tells the story of who they are. I like listening to his story.” Their idea of a collaboration landed on music blogs, web sites and even on T.I’s music label’s website (Atlantic Records).
T.I., who rose to fame after placing ten Top 10 hits on the charts and for appearing in motion pictures and was on probation in 1998 for a conviction surrounding a state controlled substance act and for giving false information along with possessing militant firearms and marijuana, plead guilty to his latest set of convictions and was sentenced to a thousand hours of community service and a year and a day in prison, according to sources at Blender Magazine. Mary Mary might be a fan of T.I.’s story on compact disc, but his track record is lightyears away from a gospel performance. T.I. confessed to Blender in February that he had been arrested “somewhere around 32 times.”
Public discussion on the matter continued at popular gospel blog GospelPundit.com, while message boards like the Yahoo!-powered PRAYZEHYMN Group, which celebrates a more liberal, open-discussion dialogue, was mostly met with silence and loads of conservative supportive viewpoints on the matter. PRAYZEHYMN Message Board member “Denise” expressed her thoughts to those who naturally opposed Mary Mary’s decision: ".As for the video--who are we to judge where those people are in their walk with God. Maybe it's us that need to take the beam out of our own eyes!”
Even on YouTube, the comments to the video posted by Mary Mary have been marked with accolades from their supporters and well-wishers rather than a mix of constructive criticism from those outraged by the super leap into popularity-driven ministry.
Seems like the old double-standard gets the best of some personalities in gospel music. When BeBe Winans surfaced in the news months ago for allegedly beating up his ex-wife Debra Winans, the media including gossip blogs and media anchors like EURweb.com and the Associated Press went on a frantic tour of launching tidbits on the shocking arrest. Things appeared to look gloomy for the Grammy-award winning singer as a mug shot surfaced while Chris Brown was being mauled by the media for a similar situation with his girlfriend and popstar Rhianna. Chris Brown’s music was even banned from radio while late-night comics and Djs protested against Brown’s actions. For Winans, he kept his job at BET, his music remained in rotation and the gospel music industry choose to ignore the allegations. Either an act of God vindicated his career from possible meltdown or maybe his personality in the gospel world was all the favor he needed to escape the troubling, eclipsing fate of most embattled superstars. For superstars like R Kelly and Chris Brown, who once portrayed a squeaky-clean image, they didn’t get the same kind of treatment or restoration.
Guess the old urban proverb rings truer than ever before: “If you got it, flaunt it.”
Seems like today’s gospel singers are doing their best to flaunt the big personalities they have been so blessed with. Nowadays it’s not important on what you sing or how you sing it, it’s knowing who you are when you sing it.
