“Rap is based on a lifestyle that was not very well liked. To get a better idea of wut i mean watch the movie “Boyz in the Hood””
But…what about the Sugarhill Gang? Afrikaa Bambaata? Those were WAY the heck before “Boyz N The Hood”…and I don’t think “Let’s scream…let’s shout…let’s turn this function out” or “Rock, rock to the Planet Rock…don’t stop” particularly scream “This is a horrible lifestyle!”
From what I can tell (and no, I don’t have any sources so don’t bother), rap is not exclusively a “me n’ my homies gonna gank a muthafucka” proposition. A lot of rap in the late 70s and early 80s was basically friendly competition…who can keep the rhyme going with the beat for the longest and, occasionally, insult the person against whom you’re competing?
It is a form of artistry…though 10 years ago you’d never have heard me say that.
Will rap music ever go away? Nah. It’s like folk music. You don’t need much to get a rap going. You can rap about anything. There’s Navajo rap, Japanese rap, Mexican rap, French rap.
Up front: I’m a 41 year old, middle-class, conservative white guy who’s stuck on “classic rock.” I pretty much hate rap, with a handful of exceptions, here and there.
That said… will rap EVER go away? Sure. EVERY musical genre pretty much dies off at some point, and rap is no exception. Jazz pretty much died off after a few decades, and now has only a handul of die-hard fans who INSIST it’s still as popular and relevantr as ever. Rock and roll is heading for that status right now. Rock is beginning to fade and die (sorry, rock fans, but you KNOW in your heart it’s true), but hey, it’s had about 50 good years! That’s a nice, long run for a “fad.”
As for rap… well, it’s already been around and popular WAY too long to be just a fad. It’s been around about 25 years, which means… to a kid today, Grandmaster Flash might as well be Buddy Holly or Elvis (whose music was about 25 years old when I was in college, and who seemed like relics from another century).
Rap is currently the preferred music of youth, and rock aficionados who try to deny that are kidding themselves. Rock has been supplanted by rap as the music of youthful rebelion.
Rap WILL die some day, but it won’t be soon. I suspect it will take a decade or two, at which point it will be supplanted by something else.
(Hmm… won’t it ber interesting in a few decades when rap starts popping up on “oldies” radio stations?)
What’s interesting is that, during the 70’s, I was one of those who was of the opinion that “Disco Sucks”. Now though, every once in a while, I’ll admit, I put on the Bee Gees just to - Stay Alive.
You think rather highly of yourself don’t you? Maybe you should try questioning yourself as well, and try to figure out why you don’t like rap music. A whole genre of music can’t just survive without substance and only hype for 25 years. Maybe it’s because you don’t understand rap music, and dismissed it after listening to a few scattered songs on the radio?
So you have some sort of musical training i assume? Even if you do, it’s irrelevant. Even if you were a classically trained master violinist, hip hop is a completely different genre of music, and the only way you can learn to understand and enjoy it is by listening to it, learning about its intricacies and whatnot. I mean with movies, you wouldn’t judge a documentary with comedy movie standards, would you?
To be completely honest i used to hate rap and hip hop culture too. I thought it was stupid, i mean it’s some guy talking over a melody that was probably stolen off another song right? But i began to give it a chance, and i learned something very important in listening to hip hop: Most popular music these days are centered around the melody. In hip hop you have to focus on the rhythm, but not just the beat but also the rhythm of the rapping. Try bobbing your head to the rhythm. It actually helps appreciate hip hop a lot more.
Oh, and sampling? It’s not really stealing… It’s like borrowing and then giving new life to a melody that’s now dead. In the context of a hip hop song, it’s almost like a completely different melody, like looking at something from a different angle. But then again i don’t really approve of those artists that just rip off an old song completely (will smith, puff daddy (p diddy?) etc). Which brings me to another point. All rap ain’t great either. Like all other genres of music, there are lots and lots of duds, and for some godawful reason, the duds seem to the more popular then the good stuff or often then not.
Anywhoo, some other great hip hop artists yet to be mentioned are…
Dead Prez
Spearhead
Del the funky homosapien (in his various collaboration projects; Hieroglyphics, handsome boy modelling school, deltron 3030, gorillaz etc)
Mos Def
Talib Kweli
Common
…and many more.
Excuse me, but I think I’ve been whooshed; are you suggesting in all seriousness that listening to a broad range of music adversely affects one’s music taste? Or that actually listening to a genre makes your opinion of it biased? What, in fact, is your point here?
“All I want is peace and love on this planet - ain’t that how God planned it?” - Chuck D, noted “bitches and homies” gun-totin’ motherfucker.
How exactly would the world benefit from the obliteration of a music genre?
Do you people miss Lawrence Welk that much?
Anyone can tell me their favorite musical genre and I’ll make a nice sweeping generalization and use that as a basis for arguing its annihilation.
Shall I start with classic rock with its belabored twelve-minute tracks, misogynistic leanings, drug-indiced-ramblings-passing-for-poetry and the gratuitous “oh-we’re-sooooo-deep” sitar track? Off with its head!
Music? Naw, and not poetry either. Rap is to poetry what the kazoo is to music. And when you get right down to it, the kazoo has little to do with music.
Will it ever go away? Not in my lifetime. Does it bother me? Only when some jerk with a boom box or car speakers that make your chest vibrate when you’re three cars back with the windows up thinks everybody within a city block wants to share what he’s listening to. :rolleyes:
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Dead Badger *
**
Excuse me, but I think I’ve been whooshed; are you suggesting in all seriousness that listening to a broad range of music adversely affects one’s music taste? Or that actually listening to a genre makes your opinion of it biased? What, in fact, is your point here?
I’m not suggesting that at all. On the contrary, I’m wondering how much classic rock is listened to by Hip Hoppers? Contradiction?
I’m really trying not to make broad generalizations but, I was thinking that people with any type of music training might take hip hop and rap as almost as insult to their study of music. I mean, for the most part, it’s just rhyming. No one’s performing any musical instrument, no one is really even singing. Just speaking rhyms. Green eggs and ham, sam I am.
Ok, I’m waiting…
Does it ever bother the rap-lovers here when those cheesy Work-While-You-Listen radio stations always advertise themselves by saying they don’t play rap? They never say, “We don’t play country music” or “We don’t play metal.” It’s always rap music they villify. It peeves me. Why pick on rap? Rap surely isn’t the only stuff out there that’s potentially offensive to the ears.
Monstro, you’re right. Obviously I’m not saying rap sucks and EVERYTHING else is great. No.
But, as you mentioned about those radio stations that advertise that “they don’t play rap”, why is it that they feel the need to distance themselves from it. Somehow rap brings it on itself to be picked on. By posting this thread, I’m trying to find out why.
Blah… I already somewhat explained this in my last post, but i’ll say it again. Last time though. Listen closely this time.
Tarkus! rap is a differently genre of music. You cannot judge it by the same standards you judge rock/classical/country/whatever music with. Rap focuses on the rhythm which often takes the back seat in most other music genres. Also, it’s more of an acquired taste, intially unappealing, but ultimately satisfying.
Just because you don’t understand it, don’t say it sucks and should be eliminated. Hell, you don’t have to try like it either. Just say you don’t like it and/or get it and leave it at that.
Also, can i ask you what genre of music you listen to and are so informed in?
I see the need for rap. I like Outkast (I know, I’m a poser;)), and rap directly influence The Greatest Band Of All Time, Rage Against The Machine. I like Cypress Hill. But I don’t like a lot of rap. Why? Many times, it is set against the same style of pounding bass beats. I don’t like most of the radio rap these days because they all seem to be the same kind of song. They seem to follow Cube with “ain’t nothin in life 'cept bitches and money.” A hell of a lot of rap music seems to be about the same thing: ghetto lifestyles of the rich and gangsterous.
Then again, I don’t like pop because it’s all the same love song, and country is all the same “got drunk, lost my wife, ran over my dog then found God at the bottom of a beer bottle” song. tongue firmly planted in cheek
