A discussion at work today prompted this topic. There was an argument on how the kind of music you listen to and how your first 5 best artist (musical of course) immediately says what kind of person you are and shines a bright torch on your personality for all to see. Well, I was one of the active or should I say vocal members of the party that strongly stood for the argument. Just as the way you drive and your writing have been found to bespeak volumes about who you are deep within (another discussion for another day, really) music, your choice of it, to a very large extent, also tells a lot about you than what you say.

For someone like me, if I were to reel off the names of my top 5 musical artists, they would be:

1. Phil Collins (Another Day In Paradise, All Of My Life, I've Been Saying Sorry)
2. Michael Bolton (Said I Loved You, Soul Provider)
3. Bryan Adams (Everything I Do)
4 Tunde Baiyewu (Lighthouse Family; High, Lifted, Ocean Drive, Passing The Hours)
5. Sade Adu (Smooth Operator, Your Love Is King)

Those are just the first five and I guess they and their songs say a whole lot about the sort of person I am, well, to a large extent as I said.To some it will obviously show that I am far from my teenage years, to others it might appear boring and then again to some it depicts rich and soulful music. Deduce of that what you may .

I love Lagbaja with a burning passion and have every single one of his work from the days of Colours. Speaking of Tunde Baiyewu, does anyone know that he's gone solo, no more Paul Tucker and that he's recently, well last year really, released his first album? Check it out and listen to some of the songs on his site ww.tunde.co.uk. Tracy Chapman (Last night I heard a screaming, She's Got A Ticket)has my undivided vote any day, any time.

I guess it's time to move over and let you guys have your say as well. Feel free to agree or disagree as you see fit, but the fact is, I strongly believe that one's choice of music says a lot about their personality.

for me I listen to Hip Hop mainly. you know Rap and R&B. I also love me some rock, a little jazz, a little afro beat,a little clasical. infact I listen to all kinds/types of music, as far as it sounds nice to my ears. but Hip hop is still my first love. I can't really say I have a favourite artist, or best five. because there are a million and one artist out there and you like different things about each one and gain different ideas from each (if u're also into music).

I used to love classical music; used to play 'Beethoven's Fur Elise' over and over on my PC!

Now I prefer songs like 'I will Always Love You' by Whitney Houston, which can only be rendered by performers with a lot of vocal 'range'! Songs like Marvin Gaye's 'I Heard it through the Grapevine' which appear to be meaningful (even though they're really meaningless!)

When I was young, I used to listen to kids songs like "It doesn't matter what you look like ... the outside is what others see, but the best place to look is right inside!" (Colby's Missing Memory) and songs from Kids Sing Praise videos. Maybe that's why I'm such a softie today, if Ra's theory is correct ...

@Seun, please don't tell me you outgrew Bethoven....... I completely adore classical music and yes, it does say a lot about who you are, if you ask me. Pieces like 'Hallelujah Chorus' Handel - Messiah.... well, it all brings memories rushing back from the days I used to be a chorister. It's one of my dreams to attend an Opera where these songs will be rendered live one of these days.

Erm... that part about you beign a softy......... we can't very well tell, can we?

I am a Jazz lover. Jazz makes me happy and cool. My favourite seven artists are:
Yanni, Dave Koz, Kenny G, Najee, Spyrogyra, Earl Klugh and Grover Washington.

Of course I like other type of music also, so far the ryhthm is nice and it is not noisy.

I developed interests in Jazz music as a result of dissatisfaction with the rubbish some people churned out in the name of music.

Jazz and classical music is just too weak for my listening pleasure, I live for HIP HOP, RAP and HARDCORE

I only switch to R&B when chicks start to complain......

@Mamba, now that's my man . some peeps are just afraid or ashamed to say they like Hip hop. as if it's some strictly childish thing. anyway here is one of my best music quotes ever!

"Rock music can change things. I know that it changes our lives" says Bono. "Rock is really about the transcendent feeling. There’s life in the form. I still think that rock music is the only music that can still get you to that eternal place where you want to start a revolution, call your mother, change your job or change your mind. I think that’s what rock music can do".

BONO in "Time magazine" Dec 17th, 2001

@Trae, is rock the same thing as hip-hop?

Well, whatever, I do not like hip-hop. The only rapper I would voluntarily listen to is Eminem (though I liked the 'Fresh Prince of Bel Air' much better) And I don't like 95% of rock music either; the only rock musician I've ever enjoyed listening to is the young Avril Lavigne.

@seun. no it's not. I just like the quote. and somehow it's true. hip hop-/rap can really influence you, but somehow rock does it a much more instantaenously powerful way. I can remember many a times at home when I uped my CD volume and repeatedly played some rock songs like

U2's "beautiful day"
AeroSmith's "I Dont Want To Miss A Thing"
Bowling for soup's "girl all the bad guys want"...just to name a few.

it was like I was in a whole different world/realm. it felt like heaven.

...the fresh prince now goes by the rap name : Will Smith/Big Will

Hey Mamba and Trae I am feeling you guyz, cos i like Hip hop to the core, it makes me feel like the hulk, I like hardcore cos, it's raw. and my best rappers are Ludacris ( He is d bomb), 50 Cent (cos his muscle can make a niggah to hurstle), Eminem, Xzibit, Snoop Dogg, Ruggedman, Mode9, JayZ, Ice Cube etc.
I flow hip hop, cos it turns me on, and listen to R&B when my Chick is around, i actually had a group in Naija then, and we went for so many shows, both within and outside the campus. Trae Keep it up, cos hardcore is d best. Cheers

@traez, u should try nickleback, linkin park and van halen. U'll not regret listening to them

@delarontus i don't think i've heard of Van Halen. oh well i might have listened to his/her/their song without knowing.

@shillout thanks Man. i'll keep it up, u just keep it positive.

Van Halen is a rock group but sometimes they have some slow kinda rock music. Good. Meatloaf is also good.

listen to all kinds of music, depend on the mood. but man'i'm a mostly a hipop personage, followed by the raps, then the r&b, then the jazzes,then rocks(soft rock though), heavy metal drives me up the walls

I like gospels , old blues and country music. All these keeps ur spirit, soul & bodyalive. Hip Hop and Rap are not my kind of music

i luv every kind of music...rap, r 'n b, rock, pop, blues, alternative, oldies...african music...u name it!

I love romantic music. If you're a guy, looking for a good music for your lady, get Lenny le blanc's ALL MY DREAMS. It would take her off her feet. I promise. But make sure you get really familiar with the lyrics and sing to her over and again.

Reggae- Buju Banton, Bob Marley,Barryngton Levy,Eek A Mouse etc
Jazz- George Benson, George Howard, Najee, Fela,Lagbaja,Sade etc
Hip-Hop-2Pac,Eminem etc
R&B-Teddy P, Luther, Freddy Jackson,Anita Baker etc
Traditional- Sunny Ade, Manu Dibango

Never sat down to listen to classical music @ Ra & Seun, I doff my hat to you both. Just dont have the patience to listen to it.

I am game for any kind of music, hip-hop, soul, jazz, RnB, classic. odies. rock, gosple, Genre, anything even native songs from different tribes from around the world but it is my mood for them that differs. i have got to be in certain mood to listen to certain music. I could in one hour or two jump from one classification of music to another....

i do like Rock but not heavy metal, i do like linking park sort of rock or nickleback, good charlotte aint bad so it green day, blink 182 anything rock tht is not heavily metallic!!!

It depends on my mood but i love hip-hop and raps and sometimes switch to RnB whenever i'm in high spirit and need to cool my head down.But i prefer hip-hop and rap cos they keep my spirit high anytime i'm low

A friend of mine just introduced me to Latino music (Spanish), my goodness.......... even though I still don't understand most of the songs; it's really lovely listening to the rhythm.

I'm an Afrobeat junkie and good music does something to me that I can't explain...especially the sound of the Sax.

Music is my passion so I feel it's an injustice to name 5 of my favorite artists but for the sake of it - Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Sade are two artists that will always make my list regardless of my mood. While artists like Anita Baker, Kayode Fashola, Sunny Ade, Tracy Chapman, Bob Marley, Lagbaja, Luther Vandross, Femi Kuti (live), Jay-Z, Buju....oooh Buju, Dr. Dre, KWAM1, Obey and others I can't remember will float in and out of my list of favorite artists.

@ Ra - So in your opinion, what does my choice of music say about my personality? I'm curious.

A friend lent me Morgan Heritage's cd. I think its rasta music, or something like that, but i love it. I like Jill Scott, Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill. I'm not sure if they all fall into the same type of music.

Y'all need to start listening to some real Hip hop ,Mos def is definately hot and the new Common Album (BE) is an instant classic (props to kanye), I think Nigerian are a lil' soft with the kinda music y'all listen to ,catch myself catching the soft vibe sometime's .Anyway I listen to all sorts of sounds ,Josh Groban is nice to listen to and also b4 I go ,go get the Coldplay album also ,now that's real. Holla at ur boi.

I listen to any good music depending on the mood I am.But an artist like Bryan Mcknight will always keep me going.I can as well mention Ronan Keating,Whitney Houston,R kelly....and lots of them.
When it comes to rege I go for Bob Marley...what of Afro musicI go for Abami Eda(Fela Anikulapo).
We have so many artists out there and their music passes across diffenrent messages so it really depends on my mood at that moment..but I love music so much,it lifts my soul up when I'm down!

@babadudu, your choice of music does tell me a great deal about you and your person.

You're passionate and deep. You're not the racy type, you enjoy life and are quite mature....... right?

I love Gospel Music. I also love RnB. I love artistes like Whitney Houston, CeCe Winans, MaryMary, Kurt Carr, Celine Dion, Nicole Mullen, Kirk Frankiln, R.Kelly, Jaci Velasquez, Yolanda Adams, Alicia Keys...anything inspiring. I love hearing choirs sing and I tend to buy any album by any choir.
And I love some Yoruba gospel musicians too..Tope Alabi, Bola Are.

@Ra: Spanish music is fantastic! You know music is a universal language so sometimes it really doesn't matter when one does not understand the lyrics. I love the rythm, instruments especially the guitar and most of all the dance steps.

@yomidipset4eva: I love Mos Def's raps and his cool attitude in movies. Didn't know about the Common and Coldplay albums but i'll surely listen to them. Its been a while since i listened to new songs. Never heard of Josh Groban! I wonder!!

I'm surprised that we have people who love forms of music outside pop, rock and rap!

Related topic: What are you listening to right now?

R n B. Hip hop and rap

hot-angel:

R n B. Hip hop and rap

Ur my kinda girl clap! CLAP!! CLAP!!!

Soft rock for me.....U2, Coldplay, Cranberries, Maroon5 ,Linkin Park etc..they do it for me always..especially U2....I have a huge crush on Bono....!

On the Nigerian scene, Age Beeka,Stylplus, Ochanya, Asha....ok these Nigerian musicians (with the exception of Stylplus) are mostly recognised in the nation's capital so I guess ya'all never heard of them before but believe me they are good!