Genius is defined as attendant spirit; an extraordinary aptitude or level of infulence. This definition is vague and not very definite. Leaving me to believe that genius like love is neary impossible to define. In other words there aren't a group of words that give a definite understanding of this one word. So I am here offering my own "definition" and a few individuals who fall into that category. (The real reason for this blog).
I believe a genius is one possesses a protuberant amount of talent, understanding, skill and potential. There is a thin line separating the genius and the gifted, but there is a line.
The genius is prolific in his or her field of brilliance. Whether it be music, painting, or stand up comedy, the individual has abundance of mind blowing material. There is a consistent level of excellence that is indisputable and usually comes during a season of magnificence.
How many people actually fit the category of genius? Very few. How many fit the category as I've defined it. Even fewer, ten to be exact.
These are from my lifetime, there will be no Einsteins, Beethovens or Mozarts.
- Richard Pryor- the benchmark for comedic excellence and the greatest recording artists of all time. One of the few artists to mine his own existence and give life to so many classic routines. His anger, fear, joy, pain and love all became fodder for his performances.
2. Marvin Gaye- the musical equivalent to Pryor . Gaye could not salvage the wreckage he called relationships, yet he sang about it most beautifully. His life was the muse for the fantastic canvasses he created in the vocal booth.
3. Stevie Wonder- Wonder has created remarkable recordings for nearly forty years. That in and of itself is commendable but when you review the influence he has on those that came after him it is even more amazing. Over a five year stretch he gave you Music of my Mind, Talking Book, Innervision, Fullfingness, First Finale, and Songs in the Key of Life. Hitting a creative a streak arguably unrivaled by anyone. Stay tuned for 4-6. Until then has hip hop produced any geniuses discuss.
2 comments:
Im not sure Im going to disagree a whole lot on your choices here this post because we have chopped this topic up many times over.
But in all honesty, the last 5-6 years I have puposefully disagreed with you on various topics just to get under your skin. Being that much of our taste in music, film, and any other genre run parallel, I think this gives our conversations added meat. In the course of doing so my thinking changes with the wind. This has served me well because I've been able to not only dig deeper for inforamtion in our debates, it's allowed me to hang toe to toe with you and draw my own conclusions apart from yours! It's damn hard trying to come up with credible reasons why India. had a better debut album than Alicia Keys...but I stand firm on that one, at least for a couple of more years to see how both albums hold up! Now this "GENIUS?" post is just that!"GENIUS?" Damn if I let you run away with this one with out disagreeing somewhere. The first 3 go with out saying, and yes this genius title gets thrown to many peoples way far to often. I have an idea who 4-6 are...I won't say a word, but is this in any order? Any athletes, artist, writers, business men, women, WOMEN at all?...if not, I think you have to reconsider that magic number of just...10!
Hiphop has produced 5 (count them 1,2,3,4...5)
and they are as follows in no particular order..
Dylan
Dylan
Dylan
Dylan
and you guest it...
Dylan!!!
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