"Artist"

Looking at the billboard charts today you will see such people as Kesha,Katy Perry,Justin Bieber,Flo Rida Etc...

And it seems like the term artist is thrown around alot in the music industry.Now here is how the Dictionary defines the term "Artist".

1:A person whose work shows exceptional creative ability or skill.

2:One, such as an actor or singer, who works in the performing arts.

Considering number one,to my knowledge most of these people and many more that I didn't mention don't write there own lyrics or music,so they show no creative ability or skill in this area.Instead you have payed writers and audio engineers programming all those repetitive looped beats into a computer.

Now looking at number two.Rappers don't sing,they rap so they wouldn't fall in to number two,but i will give credit were credit is due.There are a small number of rappers that write very good lyrics that are thought provoking and pure works of art but like I said,it is rare because for the most part what is talked about is murder,drugs,rape,abuse,or just partying and it is also how they talk about it.

Now the only way pop singers could fall into either of these definitions is by there singing which most of them can't do.There voices are auto tuned to the correct pitch Which is what they would sound like if they could sing,but like I did earlier I will give credit were credit is due.There are some pop stars who can actually sing decent if not really good.One that I can think of off hand is Lady GaGa .

In all genre's of music there are those who have no business calling themselves or being referred to as artists.The only reason I focused on pop and rap is because that is what is at the top of the charts the most and most if not all of these people have talent they just don't use it for whatever reason,but the fact remains that the so called "artist" and "musician" are setting a new standard of low in what is acceptable.So in my closing words; "Even though Pablo Picasso was considered a great Artist,If he were to wipe mud on a piece of canvas with no thought at all would that too be considered art"?