[Music]
in college ten years ago when I learned
rap sensation Lil Wayne was performing
at the Target Center in Minneapolis I
begged my friends to suck up the $78
ticket price but when everybody turned
me down
the decision was simple it’s just me and
Wayne after all so much of my childhood
was just mean Wayne when the bells in my
high school rang I press play in my idle
imagination went wild thanks to the
wizard of hip-hop the metaphor magician
at the Target Center when he sang him
wonder why I stress I am the best
cuz even bobbleheads tell me yes our
entire sea of 15,000 fans replied with
his irresistible laugh Wayne’s rhymes
were candy for the ears tasty yet toxic
misogyny violence hyper sexuality
materialism sometimes blatant
insensitivity were the high fructose
corn syrups of his music
this sugar fed society’s cravings
between 1997 and 2012 the 15 years where
I aged from 10 to 20 for Wayne was
everywhere on the radio atop billboards
charts where he eclipsed Elvis’s record
for most Hot 100 hits YouTube television
advertisements
the average teen listens to four hours
of music daily during those 15 years I
listened to Wayne just two hours daily
that’s roughly 11,000 hours about two
years worth if you subtract sleep double
that for time on TV YouTube reciting
lyrics one soundtrack shaping my young
mind now I knew popular music or
contemporary hits radio was influential
I witnessed hip hop for example grow
from an American genre to a global John
ray and culture I’m also a songwriter an
artist manager who’s worked in the music
business for years and I even researched
musics impact on identity during my
doctoral studies at Harvard but until I
began studying
song specifically I had no idea how big
a role the radio played in our psyche I
learned there is more than a method to
Wayne’s madness but a mathematical
formula in his songs and in other hit
songs that these songs share a common
algorithm combining beat cadence harmony
melody rhythm dozens more
characteristics in a way that beckons
our brains to binge on beats to recite
and repeat as lyrics sneaked into our
subconscious and shape our very being
through the field of hit song science
and an inside peek at the music business
we witness a phenomena that has major
implications for us all hit song science
was coined by Mike McCready inventor of
music x-ray a software capable of
predicting a songs mainstream success a
paraphrase a story about McCready told
by Malcolm Gladwell the years 2002 the
Creed II walks into a record store watch
30 random albums just released back at
his office he x-rays them with the press
of a button his software analyzes dozens
of song characteristics like it did for
millions of songs from Beethoven to The
Beatles it generated a mathematical
signature for each scored its potential
then pointed Macready to the hits a
curious news reporter calls a shock
McCready explains that his software went
nuts over one album called come away
with me from some unknown named
Norah Jones predicting 9 out of 14 songs
had major hit potential 20 million album
sales and 8 Grammys later Norah Jones
was a pop sensation hits of course have
been around decades but the birth of hit
song science as a field of study is
recent as new technology has enabled us
to prove that hits are a unique beast
through advanced MRIs we can now track
the blood flow in our brain and one
scholar notes that hits cause our brain
to release dopamine at rates comparable
to sex or drugs we now know our brain
loves aw in anticipation in a song or
distinct changes in speed and offbeat
phrasing the field is
so busted myths like sex sells actually
human connection sells when human
connections done right in a song sex
doesn’t even help with sales and while
language already shapes our thoughts
mixing language with music is like bacon
soda meets vinegar the relative impact
is volcanic my point is from melody to
message hits are masterful creations
with massive influence that’s why a big
artist in front of a song and the big
budget behind it fails 9 out of 10 times
without true hit makers behind the
scenes I’m talking about expert
lyricists Meletus –tz– so on take max
Martin leading hit maker of the 21st
century trivia wudu britney spears The
Weeknd Backstreet Boys ariana grande
Katy Perry maroon 5 NSYNC pink and
Taylor Swift to name a few have in
common
that’s right Max Martin masterminding
their hits Taylor Swift definitely
wasn’t talking about max when she’s
saying we are never ever ever getting
back together because they’ve gotten
back together for four hits since that
one including three number ones only
John Lennon and Paul McCartney have more
hits than this dude but the bizarre
thing is that could be max Martin right
there and we wouldn’t know thankfully
Martin’s pop songs aren’t so toxic but
meanwhile most of music’s mainstream is
the new opium of the masses
tranquilizing toxic a feeling of healing
as it does its harm and we’re blind to
it see during my years as a Wayne fan I
truly believed Wayne was just a positive
influence in my life fun inspiring when
he said things like money over bitches
and money over everything I rejected
those messages I was raised to respect
women and I was always mission over
money
this just entertainment what I grew to
realize popular musicians were shaping
me in self-destructive ways excessive
smoking hyper sexuality materialism
numbness to social inequality
this realization hurt and it came in
three waves wave one happened as an
English major in college my coursework
in hip-hop helped me learn that though
radios hip-hop was a mainstream it was
the minority because in communities
nationwide where struggle breeds
creativity positive hip-hop abounds in
wave two I taught 11th graders in
Clarksdale Mississippi and realized
positive hip hop may abound in urban
areas but rural America rarely benefits
from such diversity so for many of my
students toxic musicians weren’t mere
entertainers but real role models that
they followed and as I watched that a
mirror reflected back I saw a hypocrite
singing along two verses we committed to
heart yet finding my heart reversing its
commitments in wave three I got serious
about my music thanks to toxic
inspiration I was a song writing
Shakespeare on those topics but my
penwick inkless for positivity I turned
to those rare positive hits for help
like Royals by Lorde who spoke for
masses of fans when she’s saying jet
planes Islands Tigers on a gold leash
that kind of luxe just ain’t for us we
crave a different kind of buzz or happy’
by pharrell with a billion YouTube plays
and even more in renditions the whole
world was like clap along if you feel
like happiness is the truth because I’m
happy it was undeniable the whole world
felt more loved more connected more
happy hits like these helped me realize
that the toxic music I vibe to was
actually killing my vibe and I had to
let it all go at first I had withdrawals
but my mind cleared and I began finding
myself in the very places I once
neglected like the old school from Sam
Cooke to Stevie Wonder and the new
school I discovered amazing artists
making positive music that was just as a
easing to the ear for a while though I
resented Wayne and myself for once being
a fan but I was torn how can I blame
Wayne born into an oppressive maze a
community plagued by poverty racism poor
schooling trauma he escapes this maze
and then I I criticize him for his
escape route but where do you draw the
line he knows how he knows how harmful
this is how could he be so selfish for
years this was my unresolved stance
until I visited a bookstore in Seattle
this past February where I rekindled my
Wayne flame for the first time in years
this time it wasn’t his music but his
book gone til November a diary he kept
while incarcerated and one entry he
reflects on a letter he received from a
church criticizing him for not using his
platform more positively here’s a
snippet if I was rapping for the Lord I
would literally change the whole world
it would be way bigger than having a
million kids saying like
bling-bling I would have truly had the
power of having pop-culture turn to God
man I really got lost in those thoughts
listening to Lauryn Hill and dozed off
and that’s when God spoke to me in my
sleep and told me to stop trippin that’s
not my calling yeah that is because if
it was those thoughts would be popping
into my head instead of I will Merc you
and I’m gonna f that bitch it was a cool
thought though but it was just a thought
and that moment a burden lifted I
forgave Wayne and myself because I
realized that even powerful music Minds
underestimate the power of music on the
bind I’m an artist too working in
Hollywood
hanging with hitmakers I didn’t realize
it either that just cuz hitmakers know
how to shape it doesn’t mean they know
how hits shape us Wayne believes God
inspires his toxic music but in reality
the music decisions we each make daily
dictate whether we receive divine
inspiration or a distraction from it his
song science is proof in a songs pudding
and the proof of possibility we can
create hits that shape us into kind and
loving beings committed to serving one
another so artists don’t believe the lie
that you gotta dance with the devil to
do God’s work if you master the science
and business of hits your positivity
will circle the planet parents educators
policing your children’s media is a
short-term losing strategy the winning
strategy is helping them understand and
learn that what they let in year matters
a lot in her Pulitzer prize-winning book
the nurture assumption Judith Harris
shows us it’s not nature or parenting
really but peers that shape our
children’s identity the most in what
shapes our peers media especially music
so finally music fans your mind is so
sensitive
give it light and join me as I team with
hitmakers worldwide to trump the toxic
and transform the world one hit at a
time thank you
[Music]
you
in college ten years ago when I learned
rap sensation Lil Wayne was performing
at the Target Center in Minneapolis I
begged my friends to suck up the $78
ticket price but when everybody turned
me down
the decision was simple it’s just me and
Wayne after all so much of my childhood
was just mean Wayne when the bells in my
high school rang I press play in my idle
imagination went wild thanks to the
wizard of hip-hop the metaphor magician
at the Target Center when he sang him
wonder why I stress I am the best
cuz even bobbleheads tell me yes our
entire sea of 15,000 fans replied with
his irresistible laugh Wayne’s rhymes
were candy for the ears tasty yet toxic
misogyny violence hyper sexuality
materialism sometimes blatant
insensitivity were the high fructose
corn syrups of his music
this sugar fed society’s cravings
between 1997 and 2012 the 15 years where
I aged from 10 to 20 for Wayne was
everywhere on the radio atop billboards
charts where he eclipsed Elvis’s record
for most Hot 100 hits YouTube television
advertisements
the average teen listens to four hours
of music daily during those 15 years I
listened to Wayne just two hours daily
that’s roughly 11,000 hours about two
years worth if you subtract sleep double
that for time on TV YouTube reciting
lyrics one soundtrack shaping my young
mind now I knew popular music or
contemporary hits radio was influential
I witnessed hip hop for example grow
from an American genre to a global John
ray and culture I’m also a songwriter an
artist manager who’s worked in the music
business for years and I even researched
musics impact on identity during my
doctoral studies at Harvard but until I
began studying
song specifically I had no idea how big
a role the radio played in our psyche I
learned there is more than a method to
Wayne’s madness but a mathematical
formula in his songs and in other hit
songs that these songs share a common
algorithm combining beat cadence harmony
melody rhythm dozens more
characteristics in a way that beckons
our brains to binge on beats to recite
and repeat as lyrics sneaked into our
subconscious and shape our very being
through the field of hit song science
and an inside peek at the music business
we witness a phenomena that has major
implications for us all hit song science
was coined by Mike McCready inventor of
music x-ray a software capable of
predicting a songs mainstream success a
paraphrase a story about McCready told
by Malcolm Gladwell the years 2002 the
Creed II walks into a record store watch
30 random albums just released back at
his office he x-rays them with the press
of a button his software analyzes dozens
of song characteristics like it did for
millions of songs from Beethoven to The
Beatles it generated a mathematical
signature for each scored its potential
then pointed Macready to the hits a
curious news reporter calls a shock
McCready explains that his software went
nuts over one album called come away
with me from some unknown named
Norah Jones predicting 9 out of 14 songs
had major hit potential 20 million album
sales and 8 Grammys later Norah Jones
was a pop sensation hits of course have
been around decades but the birth of hit
song science as a field of study is
recent as new technology has enabled us
to prove that hits are a unique beast
through advanced MRIs we can now track
the blood flow in our brain and one
scholar notes that hits cause our brain
to release dopamine at rates comparable
to sex or drugs we now know our brain
loves aw in anticipation in a song or
distinct changes in speed and offbeat
phrasing the field is
so busted myths like sex sells actually
human connection sells when human
connections done right in a song sex
doesn’t even help with sales and while
language already shapes our thoughts
mixing language with music is like bacon
soda meets vinegar the relative impact
is volcanic my point is from melody to
message hits are masterful creations
with massive influence that’s why a big
artist in front of a song and the big
budget behind it fails 9 out of 10 times
without true hit makers behind the
scenes I’m talking about expert
lyricists Meletus –tz– so on take max
Martin leading hit maker of the 21st
century trivia wudu britney spears The
Weeknd Backstreet Boys ariana grande
Katy Perry maroon 5 NSYNC pink and
Taylor Swift to name a few have in
common
that’s right Max Martin masterminding
their hits Taylor Swift definitely
wasn’t talking about max when she’s
saying we are never ever ever getting
back together because they’ve gotten
back together for four hits since that
one including three number ones only
John Lennon and Paul McCartney have more
hits than this dude but the bizarre
thing is that could be max Martin right
there and we wouldn’t know thankfully
Martin’s pop songs aren’t so toxic but
meanwhile most of music’s mainstream is
the new opium of the masses
tranquilizing toxic a feeling of healing
as it does its harm and we’re blind to
it see during my years as a Wayne fan I
truly believed Wayne was just a positive
influence in my life fun inspiring when
he said things like money over bitches
and money over everything I rejected
those messages I was raised to respect
women and I was always mission over
money
this just entertainment what I grew to
realize popular musicians were shaping
me in self-destructive ways excessive
smoking hyper sexuality materialism
numbness to social inequality
this realization hurt and it came in
three waves wave one happened as an
English major in college my coursework
in hip-hop helped me learn that though
radios hip-hop was a mainstream it was
the minority because in communities
nationwide where struggle breeds
creativity positive hip-hop abounds in
wave two I taught 11th graders in
Clarksdale Mississippi and realized
positive hip hop may abound in urban
areas but rural America rarely benefits
from such diversity so for many of my
students toxic musicians weren’t mere
entertainers but real role models that
they followed and as I watched that a
mirror reflected back I saw a hypocrite
singing along two verses we committed to
heart yet finding my heart reversing its
commitments in wave three I got serious
about my music thanks to toxic
inspiration I was a song writing
Shakespeare on those topics but my
penwick inkless for positivity I turned
to those rare positive hits for help
like Royals by Lorde who spoke for
masses of fans when she’s saying jet
planes Islands Tigers on a gold leash
that kind of luxe just ain’t for us we
crave a different kind of buzz or happy’
by pharrell with a billion YouTube plays
and even more in renditions the whole
world was like clap along if you feel
like happiness is the truth because I’m
happy it was undeniable the whole world
felt more loved more connected more
happy hits like these helped me realize
that the toxic music I vibe to was
actually killing my vibe and I had to
let it all go at first I had withdrawals
but my mind cleared and I began finding
myself in the very places I once
neglected like the old school from Sam
Cooke to Stevie Wonder and the new
school I discovered amazing artists
making positive music that was just as a
easing to the ear for a while though I
resented Wayne and myself for once being
a fan but I was torn how can I blame
Wayne born into an oppressive maze a
community plagued by poverty racism poor
schooling trauma he escapes this maze
and then I I criticize him for his
escape route but where do you draw the
line he knows how he knows how harmful
this is how could he be so selfish for
years this was my unresolved stance
until I visited a bookstore in Seattle
this past February where I rekindled my
Wayne flame for the first time in years
this time it wasn’t his music but his
book gone til November a diary he kept
while incarcerated and one entry he
reflects on a letter he received from a
church criticizing him for not using his
platform more positively here’s a
snippet if I was rapping for the Lord I
would literally change the whole world
it would be way bigger than having a
million kids saying like
bling-bling I would have truly had the
power of having pop-culture turn to God
man I really got lost in those thoughts
listening to Lauryn Hill and dozed off
and that’s when God spoke to me in my
sleep and told me to stop trippin that’s
not my calling yeah that is because if
it was those thoughts would be popping
into my head instead of I will Merc you
and I’m gonna f that bitch it was a cool
thought though but it was just a thought
and that moment a burden lifted I
forgave Wayne and myself because I
realized that even powerful music Minds
underestimate the power of music on the
bind I’m an artist too working in
Hollywood
hanging with hitmakers I didn’t realize
it either that just cuz hitmakers know
how to shape it doesn’t mean they know
how hits shape us Wayne believes God
inspires his toxic music but in reality
the music decisions we each make daily
dictate whether we receive divine
inspiration or a distraction from it his
song science is proof in a songs pudding
and the proof of possibility we can
create hits that shape us into kind and
loving beings committed to serving one
another so artists don’t believe the lie
that you gotta dance with the devil to
do God’s work if you master the science
and business of hits your positivity
will circle the planet parents educators
policing your children’s media is a
short-term losing strategy the winning
strategy is helping them understand and
learn that what they let in year matters
a lot in her Pulitzer prize-winning book
the nurture assumption Judith Harris
shows us it’s not nature or parenting
really but peers that shape our
children’s identity the most in what
shapes our peers media especially music
so finally music fans your mind is so
sensitive
give it light and join me as I team with
hitmakers worldwide to trump the toxic
and transform the world one hit at a
time thank you
[Music]
you
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