Rap as Legitimate Music? Don’t make me laugh. Bob Dylan has been around for over 30 yrs, Neil Young, and Carlos Santana as long. They are still poignant, and still worth their weight in gold. You’re gonna try and compare the beautiful, poetic, prophetic lyrics and music of Bob Dylan to ANY Hip Hop or Rap around now? If Snoop Dog is around in 30 more years. I’ll issue the world an apology for my comments. (No, I won’t) By the way, I agree, don’t add Rickie Lee Jones in with those Pop Stars of the 70’s.
Agreed. The best rap ever first came out in the late 80s, peaked in the early 90s, and was dead by 1998.
Randy, I hope you’re aware that there are people who would scoff at the idea that Neil Young, Carlos Santana, and Bob Dylan are as wonderful as you claim.
Musical tastes are as individual as the people who possess them. No one expects you to like everything. When it comes to what defines “good” music, it’s all IMHO material.
For gosh sakes, if you hate rap and hip hop enough to start this thread, stop listening to it. Unless someone’s forcing you at gunpoint to listen to stuff you hate, kwitcherbitchen.
This strange man has broken into my apartment with a fistful of Dr. Dre CDs and he is MAKING me PLAY them OVER and OVER! No, please, sir – NOT “The Chronic”!!! Aaaagh … the horror, the HUMANITY!
**
How about to Rapper’s Delight. Came out in 79. 21 years. Pretty good stuff.
Current stuff? Spectre, Kool Keith, De La Soul, Del tha Funky Homosapien, half the groups on ninja tune, all are accomplished musicians. They may not be getting the airplay, but don’t use your ignorance to malign a whole musical genre.
Rappers Delight, pretty good stuff?..hahahahaha. Now it’s just getting silly. After you make a comment like that, no other statement you make can be taken seriously. That’s as good as AudreyK’s comment that some people “may scoff at the idea” that Bob Dylan is as wonderful as I say. Will I consider someone like AudreyK’s comments as valid? Don’t think so. I have a friend who is a KISS and Quiet Riot fan, he says that Dylan is a “rummy”. Whatever. As far as “ignorance”, I miss how that plays in here but if it makes you feel better to say, that’s cool. As for turning off the Rap if I don’t like it, believe me, I do. I was at a stop light the other day and a kid pulled up beside me with some kind of Hip-Hop blaring away, you know thumping bass, vulgar lyrics, all the components of that “genre” (ha), all I could do was keep the Horn of my car blaring, so I wouldn’t have to hear it. Funny scenario, but alot of people would agree that the blaring car-horn sounded better.
I guess you’d know a lot about not being taken seriously.
Not valid, eh? What dictionary are you using?
And wouldn’t it just whop your jaw if I told you I was a Santana, Young, and Dylan fan?
God, you are such a colossal asshole. You dumbass, you just made yourself as annoying as the kid with the hip hop. You think those people were happy you were blaring your horn? Please.
What about Public Enemy? They have the ability to address topics slightly more substantial than the size of their dicks, how many bitches they score with, busting caps in peoples’ asses and how many records they sell.
Actually, to be exact. Nothing has been taken seriously in here since your first post.
Oh man, I don’t wanna sound like some TRL lackey but Eminem could rap circles around of all of them. Young MC? as in “It’s off the the principal’s office I go”? :snort: “Bust a move” was just a cool base line with some amusing lyrics. I’m kind of partial to those guys too, but just for nostalgia’s sake. It was still when rap was coming into its own. So the rhythm of their raps were very fundamental and unchanging.
Depite its much-maligned reputation a lot of so-called “gansta rap” was very good. Snoop et al. There was also a lot of gratuitous violent sexist crap too, but god knows that doesn’t exist in rock music. :rolleyes:
I’m more into that phase two stuff. LL’s “Mama says knock you out” SnP’s “None of your business” and “Shoop”. Hell I’ll even throw in House of Pain’s “Jump around” and Foxxxy Brown’s “I’ll be good”.
I think Biggie and Tupac moved the genre forward artistically and are resposnible for a lot of its current popularity
But now that rap is becoming one of the most popular musical genres, it evovled tremendously since. There are a lot of very gifted rappers hacking away today: Busta Ryhmes, Missy Elliot, Arrested Development (well maybe just their first album), Common, Q-Tip and lately I can’t get enough of DMX. Sure the guy aint exactly rapping about how “parent’s just don’t understand” but he’s a seriously strong rapper. And damn funny too. In a “you’re wack, you’re twisted, your girl’s a ho, you’re broke, the kid ain’t yours and everybody know you’re old man thinks you’re stupid…” kind of way.
Most bars and clubs I frequent fucking go nuts when they hear DMX, which is more than can be said for Third Eye Blind’s latest or the latest K-Rock one hit wonder (Papa who?)
Anyway, I’m sure none of this means squat to people who will never consider rap to be an art form. But you gotta admit, rap is something to be reckoned with. Especially since rock album sales have been taking a serious downturn.
Oh and by the way, the first person in this thread who describes the Beastie Boys as good rappers gets smacked.
I am not a fan of rap but I definately see it as a legitimate art form - more spoken word and poetry with a beat box. Granted, I can’t relate to a lot of what they talk about but I’m one of those lucky white girls who grew up in the country with a family that loved her and wasn’t abused. I think I’m a minority in that respect, the more I talk with people and hear their stories! 
Anyway, I don’t like Eminem but what he says and how he says it is a reflection of the culture we live in and I think he does it well.
Also, how about Rage Against the Machine? Not “true” rap, per se, but a spin-off of that genre and they definately have something to say.
Randy, how do you know that alot of people though that the car horn sounded better? Did they all put their bags, pets or children on the ground, gather around your car and start dancing to it? was it like “Hey thats got a good beat!” or was it more a kind of Maharishi vibe, with people dancing like trees in the wind and hippies having Acid flashbacks?
I can’t wait for the album, “Randy plays the mystical sound of the Car horn, volume 1” $19.95
Alphagene said:
Actually, Common (previously Common Sense) has been around for almost ten years. His/Their first album came out back in…1992 (?).
DAMNED RIGHT!!! But I think she got the Grammy for “Chuck E’s in Love”. What worse insult could you receive than to be rewarded, recognized and remembered for the BIGGEST FUCKING MISTAKE you ever made in your career??? djf750, she didn’t play the song live, did she? Please tell me she didn’t!!!
Re. the OP: I agree. Get rid of this modern crap. Rap isn’t music; CDs will never replace vinyl; electric guitars aren’t real guitars; a song isn’t any good if you can’t whistle the tune; jazz is just noise and that damn Mozart puts too many notes on the page. Hell, let’s just go back to banging rocks on logs.
Since I posted my opinion here on the downfall of music in the last few decades, I’ve been surprised at the number of people attacking me personnaly for my opinion. See if you think someone is an a-hole for having an opinion that differs from yours, doesn’t that kinda make you the same kind of a-hole? (AudreyK, I know I spelled “kind of” wrong back there, so don’t jump me for that one. If you didn’t understand my use of the word valid back there, read it a few more times and it will come to you, even if it may not be perfect English) And I thought the purpose of this Forum was disussion. Anyway, I guess I fell right into it myself after being ridiculed, and called ignorant etc…Well whatever, I’ll watch what I say from now on. Maybe. P.S. that “Mystical Horn” CD is a pretty good idea. Maybe Rhino Records would sign me.
Get over it and move on.
No, actually this forum is for testing asbestos underwear.
Hey! Watch where you point that flamethrower, will ya?
Oh, come on…Eminem??? No way. DMX, maybe, but come on. Eminem is just nowhere near the pinnacle of rap today. The best thing he’s done for music is giving Dido the boost she needed to make it to the big time. (Thank you is an AMAZING song, btw).
Point taken, but I’d take issue with “a lot of” and replace it with “some.” Some “gangsta rap” was very good, among it much of Tupac’s work. A lot of it, however, was nothing more than obscene drivel.
Woohoo! House of Pain gets huge points from the Flymaster.
Agreed, although I don’t know if they moved the genre forward so much as they just moved the genre. I think Grandmaster Flash and the Sugarhill Gang were much better than either of those two, but that’s just my opinion.
Well, I’m not much of a modern rap fan, so I’m not gonna bring my judgement into this. Suffice it to say that you’re entitled to your opinion, and I’m entitled to mine. (ooh, right, Pit…) Ahem. Your DAMNED opinion 
(much better).
Ugg…TEB…I got dragged to one of their shows this summer. I want that 2 hours of my life back, that’s for sure.
Just for the record, and to give you an informed opinion of where I’m coming from, my playlist just switched from Deep Purple’s Space Truckin’ to The Rolling Stones’ Jumpin’ Jack Flash.
Good rappers? No. Entertaining, fun rock artists who could kinda rap a little bit? Definetly.
Cool. Intelligent rap discussion on the SDMB. BTW, good call Necros… Common Sense’s Can I Borrow a Dollar? did in fact come out in '92. You win a gold tooth
Hmm… Dido’s pretty good. But in esseence, she’s really just Sinead O’Connor Lite[sup]tm[/sup]. I dunno, I just think Eminem weaves his lyrics really well, shifting the ryhmes around his sentences. He’s definitely got his own sound, too. But like you said, we’re free to disagree. Plus I’m not exactly hip deep in Mr. Mathers’ music.
True. I guess I was trying to communicate “a lot more than most people (especially here) think”. I swear some people think the entire rap genre begins and ends with Ice-T’s Cop Killer…
You can never go wrong with HoP. Although Everlast really has evolved artisically from “If your girl steps up I’m smackin’ the ho” to “What it’s like”. I’m guessing a heart attack in your twenties will do that to ya.
No argument there. They essentially gave birth to the genre. There’s no better way to move a genre forward than to create it de novo.
[chick]omigod, but he’s soooooo hot though![/chick]
Heh. In the last month I started with the Propellerheads and Cirrus only to end up back at L7 with a brief Patsy Cline intermission.
Bingo.
Let’s get one thing straight, dude: I did not call you an asshole for having an opinion. I called you an asshole for blaring your horn in public, and doing so with a thoroughly lame excuse and with zero consideration for the people around you.
Look at my first post. See where I said that when it comes to musical tastes, it’s all IMHO? There you go. Show me where I trashed you for expressing your opinion. You can’t, because I didn’t.
Oh, and one other thing-- Why did you assume that I was going to play spelling/grammar cop to you? Honestly, if you’re old enough to form your own opinions on music, you’re old enough to police yourself.
Uhh… no, I didn’t mention that. You may be confused between Christopher Cross, who sucked ass, and Chris De Burgh, who did “Lady in Red” and was (and is) talented.