There was a time when rap music really meant rhythm and poetry. In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, the group Public Enemy was dominating hip-hop in the United States and was one of the first groups of its genre to enjoy success internationally. This was not because of digital, synthesized remixes, but because of their revolutionary sound and their honest and insightful social commentary. They garnered enough political influence and worldwide popularity to truly be called the “genius voice of a generation,” a status that many artists, most recently Kanye West, have tried to claim for themselves.

That was then. This is now:

Her booty got swag/Her booty got swag/Her booty got swag …  Her booty so big I can hang my chain on it/She got a donk part two was happenin’ … New money and I got it from rappin’ (Soulja Boy).

Perhaps it is unfair to criticize an entire genre of music because of one classless and arguably talentless act, but the example of Soulja Boy personifies what I believe to be a disappointing trend in our popular culture; that it has become increasingly commonplace for popular artists to do almost none of their own work, or to be without much musical ability at all.

As many of you are aware, voting to decide whom to bring for our bi-annual “big concert” in the spring has been going on for a while now. As a student who came to Gustavus on a music performance scholarship with every intention of becoming a professional classical musician, it offends me that we would think for even a moment about paying another exorbitant concert fee to any artist who, by all accounts, has demonstrated little appreciable musical ability. To be fair, all I know about Jason Derulo is that his first and most popular song “Watcha Say” is a remix of the song “Hide and Seek” by Imogen Heap from 2005. Frankly, that’s all I want to know.

In a few short centuries, we’ve gone from composers who scribble entire musical scores of masterpiece symphonies on parchment completely from scratch in their spare time to paid professionals perfecting generic beats for ‘artists’ who in some cases don’t write their own lyrics, play musical instruments or even sing their own songs. Many of these popular modern artists are not so much musicians as they are stage performers, and are far from musical.

A truly musical act should be able to ask honest questions, should make you appreciate the performers’ skill and musical ability and should above all else move you on a deeper level than the kind of movement that happens at the Dive on Friday nights. Otherwise, what’s the point?

We pride ourselves on values at Gustavus. We rarely miss an opportunity to hyperbolize how much they mean to us. Now is a clear chance to show that they are important. There are multiple artists in the running who have been committed to faith, good works and music their entire careers. They also, shockingly, can play instruments, sing without auto tune and they write their own music. These talents take years, sometimes decades to perfect.

We have a real chance to celebrate music, work ethic, talent and philanthropy with this concert. The choice is ours—let’s affirm our values and chose someone who can put on a really musical show for all of us. If that doesn’t work, we could always just set up a gigantic video screen in Lund, watch Stomp the Yard and blast Jason Derulo. Lord knows I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.