While listening to an NPR program called “Fresh Air”, hosted by Terry Gross, guest Ahmir Thompson, also known as “Questlove”, spoke about his new documentary titled “Summer of Soul” which showcases a 1969 summer music festival in Harlem, New York named the “Harlem Cultural Festival”. Towards the end of the interview Thompson mentions that Jimi Hendrix had begun to feel more like a novelty among his Rock & Roll peers and showed interest in performing at the Harlem Cultural Festival to be among his African-American fans and peers. Although his interest was declined, the notion of Hendrix shows a perhaps projection of supposed change of direction in his career. In Jimi’s final interview, he mentions that he would like to make his music a bit “easier” with a “solid beat”. A week later he passed away (1970).
This brings up the question, how would Jimi Hendrix and other passed musicians fair’d throughout time?
I imagine that Jimi Hendrix would have been an avid fan of Hip Hop and instead of Steven Tyler singing on Run-DMC’s “Walk this way” it would have been Mr. Hendrix and Hip Hop would have gotten an extra push from someone who believed in creating a 3rd world that was different from the ‘freaks’ who had a prejudice of their own and those who sat in a suit & tie. Stepping aside from being a front man himself, working on production would have been the next logical step for Hendrix, which would have integrated more live instrumentation into Hip Hop. So imagine a post-modern music era in which Jimi Hendrix co-produced an album or song of Kanye West’s.
Would music sound the same? Of course not. If musicians like Hendrix & Marley would have lived through the 2000’s artists would have perhaps been prompted to have more control over their image, their music, and their opinions, due to the influence of the original statesmen of music and liberation. The untimely deaths of artists and musicians prevent the grandfathering of critical points and ideas that future artists need and needed for the sake of creativity and expression while feeling the forces of an oppressive corporatized medium that manipulates the perception of the public and the image of individuals while using any living opportunity as a chance for product placement.