# Sweet Mother of God, Hip-Hop Sucks! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 16, 2022, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208 "2022-03-16T20:37:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/41 "2022-03-17T06:12:17Z")
Here’s some _old white guy_ hip hop for you: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/dtDAvJJ4Hw8/maxresdefault.jpg "LJ LOOPER - Beethoven (classical beat/classical hip hop instrumental) Für Elise Beat") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtDAvJJ4Hw8) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/42 "2022-03-17T10:42:34Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > So this thread is just cranky old farts screaming at clouds and reminiscing about onions on their belts. Cool. > > Nothing screams “rock ‘n’ roll” like complaining about today’s music! - We scream so we can be heard over your “music”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/43 "2022-03-17T11:04:48Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Country music though, is like listening to a cat being tortured. Piffle. Listen to some Johnny Cash or Emmylou Harris, not the Yup&Twang Toby Keith crowd. There’s great music everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/44 "2022-03-17T11:05:58Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > Wait, has there been a hip hop track less than 30 years old posted yet? How about a rap from 1968? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/NRS62nccwmw/maxresdefault.jpg "Here Comes The Judge - Pigmeat Markham (1968)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRS62nccwmw) ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/45 "2022-03-17T13:12:09Z")
I liked rap when I was 13 and it was new(ish). Novel, underground, often funny. Lyrically dense and narratively diverse. Had all the right ingredients. I tried to keep up with it for years. Every time _Rolling Stone_ published a review of an act that was “fresh, innovative, thought-provoking”, I would listen to it, and it was always the same: 1. You shouldn’t provoke me, because I’m armed and very comfortable with violence. 2. I like money. I own many expensive things. Here’s an abbreviated list. 3. I have a lot of sex. The women are kind of an afterthought, and quite candidly, a bit of a nuisance. 4. I am better than you. Frankly, I could best you in basically any area that you might contest. Same damn thing. Every time. And it’s still the same all these years later. How many fucking times am I supposed to listen to a different version of that same song? “what about pop and rock, isn’t that repetitive too” yes, I could write a few paragraphs about that. Songs about dancing. Songs that rhyme “honey” and “money”. Bands named after cities. But it’s easier to find works that depart from the formula. Creators and fans _value_ departure from the formula. By contrast, rap seems to value works mainly based on how recently they were released. The exceptions prove the rule here. Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Wu-Tang, Beastie Boys… these are not common ground with modern, mainstream rap fans. When I drop names like that, I get an eye-roll and a dismissal that it’s “white people rap”. But the even greater sin is the stuff is just _old_. Classic rap is mostly discarded if it’s not a mega-huge cultivated brand like Snoop. Anyway, yeah OP, I hear you. I suggest trying the “white people” rap I mentioned above. Good stuff in there. But if it’s not your thing, don’t sweat it. ---
**Author:** ![WalterBishop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/aeb1de/32.png) [@WalterBishop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WalterBishop)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/46 "2022-03-17T13:18:13Z")
You might like this. I’m not a great Hip-Hop fan either, but this is one of my favourite albums: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBhi0E0znzc) ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/47 "2022-03-17T13:24:02Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > > [@msmith537](#): > > > > Rap and hip hop have been around for over 40 years, so I find it strange the OP wouldn’t be familiar with at least a little bit of hip hop. > > Why is that strange? I’m another old white guy and am TOTALLY unfamiliar with any of it. It’s strange because rap and hip have been a major component of music sales since the late 80s. Currently around 30% of all sales, which I believe makes it the largest (depending on how you might define “pop”, which sort of overlaps everything). Hip hop and rap is played in mainstream movies, television shows, commercials, the radio, sporting events, pretty much everywhere. To not be familiar with any hip hop, I think you would need to be like my dad who literally has zero interest in music. And even that is a bit weird. I have very little interest in sports, but I’m still familiar with most major teams and can tell you who Tom Brady is. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/48 "2022-03-17T13:29:49Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > To not be familiar with any hip hop, I think you would need to be like my dad who literally has zero interest in music. No, you can be plenty interested in music and still not be familiar with hip hop. I have my favorites from rock, country, bluegrass, blues, soul, disco, classical, opera, ragtime, tin pan alley, and Mongolian throat singing. Yet I know next to nothing about hip hop because I’ve totally ignored it for forty years. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/49 "2022-03-17T13:34:27Z")
And he still had time to invent boogie-woogie: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/uQMCfqFr4XA/hqdefault.jpg "Beethoven's Jazz") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQMCfqFr4XA) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/50 "2022-03-17T13:37:40Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > It’s strange because rap and hip have been a major component of music sales since the late 80s. Opera has been around since the mid-1600s. How much of it are you familiar with? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/51 "2022-03-17T13:43:11Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > I liked rap when I was 13 and it was new(ish). Novel, underground, often funny. Lyrically dense and narratively diverse. Had all the right ingredients. > > I tried to keep up with it for years. Every time _Rolling Stone_ published a review of an act that was “fresh, innovative, thought-provoking”, I would listen to it, and it was always the same: > > 1. You shouldn’t provoke me, because I’m armed and very comfortable with violence. > 2. I like money. I own many expensive things. Here’s an abbreviated list. > 3. I have a lot of sex. The women are kind of an afterthought, and quite candidly, a bit of a nuisance. > 4. I am better than you. Frankly, I could best you in basically any area that you might contest. > > Same damn thing. Every time. And it’s still the same all these years later. How many fucking times am I supposed to listen to a different version of that same song? > > “what about pop and rock, isn’t that repetitive too” yes, I could write a few paragraphs about that. Songs about dancing. Songs that rhyme “honey” and “money”. Bands named after cities. But it’s easier to find works that depart from the formula. Creators and fans _value_ departure from the formula. By contrast, rap seems to value works mainly based on how recently they were released. > > The exceptions prove the rule here. Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Wu-Tang, Beastie Boys… these are not common ground with modern, mainstream rap fans. When I drop names like that, I get an eye-roll and a dismissal that it’s “white people rap”. But the even greater sin is the stuff is just _old_. Classic rap is mostly discarded if it’s not a mega-huge cultivated brand like Snoop. > > Anyway, yeah OP, I hear you. I suggest trying the “white people” rap I mentioned above. Good stuff in there. But if it’s not your thing, don’t sweat it. Being old, I don’t really know what the kids find “cool” musically these days. And truth be told, I’m not really up to speed on current hip hop for most of the reasons you describe. I imagine it’s like alternative rock was in the early 90s. All of a sudden, 80s hair metal seemed extremely lame and uncool and everyone was listening to grunge and wearing flannel. Except it’s more like when grunge was replaced with “nu metal”. Lyrically dense and narratively diverse music by Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and so on was replaced by the likes of Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/52 "2022-03-17T13:43:15Z")
Let’s not forget trip hop. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9YdWqCcnqdI/hqdefault.jpg "Massive Attack - Karmacoma (UNKLE Situation Mix)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YdWqCcnqdI) ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/53 "2022-03-17T13:56:03Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > > [@msmith537](#): > > > > It’s strange because rap and hip have been a major component of music sales since the late 80s. > > Opera has been around since the mid-1600s. How much of it are you familiar with? The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro, Le Boheme, Don Giovanni, Carmina Burana (technically a “cantina” but close enough), Faust, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli… Which is my point. I don’t listen to opera and yet I have a passing familiarity with it from watching Looney Toons or mafia movies or just being on planet Earth for 49 years. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/54 "2022-03-17T13:59:32Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > I tried to keep up with it for years. Every time _Rolling Stone_ published a review of an act that was “fresh, innovative, thought-provoking”, I would listen to it, and it was always the same: > > 1. You shouldn’t provoke me, because I’m armed and very comfortable with violence. > 2. I like money. I own many expensive things. Here’s an abbreviated list. > 3. I have a lot of sex. The women are kind of an afterthought, and quite candidly, a bit of a nuisance. > 4. I am better than you. Frankly, I could best you in basically any area that you might contest. Speaking of lyrical content, that is the difference between some engineered and marketed product and some authentic rap composed by people who actually grew up in a dangerous, violent ghetto and were forced to be desperate gangsters to put food on the table all the while watching their friends and loved ones die or go to prison. All the lyrics about violence, money, and sex are dark and significant. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/m6_0V9iQPMs/hqdefault.jpg "Ten Wanted Men - Wanted Dead Or Alive") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6_0V9iQPMs) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/55 "2022-03-17T14:00:58Z")
You want something more recent and that’s not white people hip-hop and that’s not fitting into racist stereotypes about hip-hop, consider This is America: [Childish Gambino - This Is America (Official Video) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYOjWnS4cMY) ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/56 "2022-03-17T14:33:57Z")
Oh, I love that one. Seriously, there is good music in pretty much every genre and time frame under the sun. But it is rude to listen so loudly in the presence of a non appreciative roommate. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/57 "2022-03-17T14:41:11Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > You want something more recent and that’s not white people hip-hop and that’s not fitting into racist stereotypes about hip-hop, consider This is America: [Childish Gambino - This Is America (Official Video) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYOjWnS4cMY) I actually like the hell out of that one, but AFAICT it’s mainly popular with white people. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/58 "2022-03-17T14:47:49Z")
[![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_sTmie1IYD4/hqdefault.jpg "It takes two lyric") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sTmie1IYD4) ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/59 "2022-03-17T14:49:05Z")
Here’s a couple of old white guys: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/fxMNBYyfyk0/maxresdefault.jpg "Frank & Maury - “Sticky” (Official Music Video - WSHH Exclusive)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxMNBYyfyk0) ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208/60 "2022-03-17T14:49:45Z")
Here’s a British guy: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/FkF_XpA5P48/maxresdefault.jpg "Professor Elemental - I'm British (Dir: Moog Gravett)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkF_XpA5P48) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-mother-of-god-hip-hop-sucks/961208.md?page=4)