ABCAs the argument over the "death" of rock lumbers on, guitar music is being used more and more by the younger generation of hip-hop artists. Take 24kGoldn, for example, who crashed the alternative charts with his genre-mixing songs "Mood" and "City of Angels."
Speaking with ABC Audio, Goldn shares that he feels right at home as an "alternative" artist. "I never have been a regular person, so I feel comfortable in this alternative world," Goldn says.
"My goal wasn't to be the biggest rapper or the biggest pop star or the biggest rock star, it was to be the biggest artist," he continues. "I think to do that you have to open your mind, open up your horizons, and make music that's gonna resonate with more than just one group of people."
Goldn explains that the alternative influence likely stems from "watching early 2000s comedies and family movies," which seemed to always feature that type of music.
"While I never sought that music out as a middle schooler or a high schooler, it's still in my subconscious," Goldn says. "There's still something about those songs that's gonna resonate with me."
Goldn believes that a lot of hip-hop artists of his generation likely feel that way, too.
"We're used to looking at rappers and listening to rap music," he says. "But embedding those alternative and rock influences in there, it scratches an itch that you didn't know you could scratch."
All of that's to say: don't tell 24kGoldn that rock is dead.
"Rock is more alive than ever," he says.
By Josh Johnson
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