Well, at least the verses.
This extremely important topic came to me earlier today when, upon listening to it, I asked myself “holy shit, how is it 2019 and you’re finally figuring he is rapping on this song?”
But, is he? Poll to follow, public as always.
Rhythm. Rhyme. Yeah, I think it’s rap. Never really occurred to me either.
It was certainly their intention - link.
and its not the only song they did it in ……… because early in their career neil wasn’t sure he could sing for a whole song …… so he would do what they call “speed rapping” these days through some of the song… at some point they phased it out as he was more confident about his singing
Ditto.
It took me a long time to realize it, probably because I was about 9 when it came out and didn’t really care about defining things then, but when I listened to it as an adult, it became obvious to me.
No, it’s no more rap than Bill Shatner covering Lucy In The Sky, or Telly Savalas doing If. Choosing to use a more spoken style rather than pure signing is not sufficient to be rap.
I disagree. This is clearly imitating the rhythm and cadence of early 80s rap. It’s not just freeform spoken word. Definitely rap.
Yep, that’s rap. It’s a sentence or more*, spoken in rhythm. There’s even an accented syllable on ever snare hit. If I wrote it down, I would have to have notes for each syllable.
What Shatner does isn’t rap because it’s not in rhythm. And I agree this sounds like early 80s rap. Maybe those who disagree are used to the increased use syncopation found in more modern rap?
*I don’t tend to think it counts as rape when a song that just have a few spoken words, or use speak-singing for parts. For example, Be Prepared from the Lion King is not rap, even though Scar will speak some words in rhythm, particularly near the beginning.
And, per zombywoof’s link, specifically copying Melle Mel, one of the more influential early rappers. So, not exactly groundbreaking rap, but rap, nonetheless.
If Blonde’s Rapture is to be considered a seminal rap song (and believe me, I’ve tried to talk reason into my white friends about this) then West End Girls fits very comfortably in that tradition.
Also, to add to zombywolf’s cite and further corroborate it:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/west-end-girls-202378/
And the key quote from zombywolf’s link:
So we have both Chris Lowe and Neil Tenant saying it was clearly intended to be a rap; it sounds like an early 80s style rap; ergo, it is rap.
I thought it was just because of the rhythm. You know, rap-rap, rappity-tap.
I always liked the GWAR version of West End Girls. Warning: Vulvatron quite possibly NSFW, unless you work in a sex shop.
I had never thought of it as such, but here, seeing/hearing/reading the evidence for, then I have to agree that yes, it is rap.
Huh.
so is “what did I do to deserve this” have a rap in it too?
blinks
Wow, it is a rap!
/mindblown
Pet Shop Boys are a highly underrated band.
Wiki describes it as a synthpop song influenced by hip-hop and I would say that is more accurate than calling it a straight rap song.
BTW did anyone else call on Amazon Echo (or something similar) to play the song after clicking on this thread ? Such amazing technology we live with …
Yes it depends how we parse the OP question. There’s definitely rapping in WEG, so I voted “yes”, but you’re right: to call the whole song a rap is a stretch.
I still say it’s rap. Plenty of rap has sung lyrics for the chorus.