# Would rap/hip hop/KL fans explain the Superbowl halftime show to me? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [February 10, 2025, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131 "2025-02-10T13:48:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/161 "2025-02-17T19:50:56Z")
I was really referring to the melody being repetitive. Let’s go with This Land Is Your Land, which is probably one of his more melodically complex songs. Just one two three up the chord hold for a bar then 321 down the chord hold for a bar. Rinse and repeat for like 12 verses. Come to think of it… It’s pretty close to the melody of Legend Has It. It’s just Legend has it is just doing the “This Land is your Land” part of the melody and then doing a variation. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/162 "2025-02-17T21:28:01Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Thank you for this banger! I’m loving it! You’re welcome! I put off listening to it for years because I have a thing about albums made by artists who know they are dying. It’s too existential for me to handle most of the time. But… It’s fantastic. Cathartic? I don’t always love Coltrane but I really like that one. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/163 "2025-02-17T22:04:02Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > Let’s go with This Land Is Your Land, which is probably one of his more melodically complex songs. Well, it is pretty much just 1/4/5 - like 85-90% of rock/blues/folk music. (Actually 5/1/4/1 - but who’s parsing.) The repetitive part is that the verse and chorus are the same melody. Yeah, that happens with quite a few folk/oldtime/bluegrass tunes. Often, tho, the chords remain the same, while the melody differs somewhat. I guess I didn’t realize you were talking about a simplistic/repetitive melody, since I perceive so little melody in what little rap I hear. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/164 "2025-02-18T00:00:18Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > You’re right. It’s a wheelhouse devoid of melody or music. A completely different form of entertainment. It’s sad that it’s often filled with misogyny and the “N” word. For reasons unknown the rapping industry seems to spawn violence from within it’s ranks. I don’t see the value it adds to a national passtime. To fully understand rap, we must first be fluent with its meter, rhyme and figures of speech, then ask two questions: 1) How artfully has the objective of the rap music been rendered and 2) How important is that objective? Question 1 rates the rap music’s perfection; question 2 rates its importance. And once these questions have been answered, determining the rap’s greatness becomes a relatively simple matter. If the rap’s score for perfection is plotted on the horizontal of a graph and its importance is plotted on the vertical, then calculating the total area of the rap yields the measure of its greatness. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/165 "2025-02-18T06:38:27Z")
(applause) ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/166 "2025-02-18T13:53:47Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I guess I didn’t realize you were talking about a simplistic/repetitive melody, since I perceive so little melody in what little rap I hear. I don’t think anybody listens to rap for melody. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/167 "2025-02-18T15:22:50Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > I don’t think anybody listens to rap for melody. [Check Out My Melody](https://youtu.be/6V7P9VbDMts?si=E5gHNrC1nFnNYaaz) But you might be right. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/168 "2025-02-18T15:37:31Z")
Check out Anderson .Paak. His music is R&B and soul as well as hip hop, but even his songs where he raps have a lot of melody. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-OqrcUvrbRY/maxresdefault.jpg "Anderson .Paak - Come Down (Official Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OqrcUvrbRY) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/MArfipoYBzU/maxresdefault.jpg "Chosen One (feat. Sonyae Elise)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MArfipoYBzU) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/169 "2025-02-19T00:28:42Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I’m not a huge folkie, nor a student of Woody, and I acknowledge that some fiddle/oldtime tunes are repetitive, but please explain/give examples of Woody Guthrie being “repetitive.” Maybe it’s just me, but listening to “Alice’s Restaurant” every Thanksgiving got pretty old… ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/170 "2025-02-19T00:31:58Z")
Wrong Guthrie. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/171 "2025-02-19T00:40:54Z")
Oh, fuck. And I was so happy with my joke, too. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/172 "2025-02-19T00:53:57Z")
I mean, I suppose you could blame the entirety of Arlo’s output on Woody. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/173 "2025-02-19T04:08:34Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Oh, fuck. And I was so happy with my joke, too. It’s not even repetition, it’s “coming around on the guitar.” ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/174 "2025-02-19T11:52:21Z")
Dopers always do this. They find the outliers to refute a point. I was pointing out that Dinsdale’s dislike of rap’s lack of melody was an issue that didn’t matter to its listeners. Oops, did I have to qualify that statement to the nth degree to satisfy all rhetorical conditions? Insert “generally” between “that” and “matter” so no more goalposts get moved. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/175 "2025-02-19T14:10:16Z")
Relax a bit. I think maybe you are missing the context of your statement coming on the heels of Magiver saying Hip Hop is a “wheelhouse devoid of melody or music” Its not. It’s obviously not. And this is an old stick used to beat on the genre and claim it isn’t music. But, vocal melody is also not the primary feature in most of hip hop through the years. This is also true. (I would say lots and lots of people listen to hip hop for the beats. More so now than ever and those beats are often quite melodic, but why split hairs.) Mostly, like, touch grass as the kids say. This isn’t that important. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/176 "2025-02-19T14:29:18Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > Dopers always do this. They find the outliers to refute a point. Well, not _always,_ because — hey, wait a minute. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/177 "2025-02-19T14:45:35Z")
Does anybody quote Bart during the half-time shows? [https://y.yarn.co/b2ae0978-ecbb-48f5-ae19-ed76901dbe1d.mp4](https://y.yarn.co/b2ae0978-ecbb-48f5-ae19-ed76901dbe1d.mp4) ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/178 "2025-02-19T15:26:23Z")
I got here late so, I’m probably repeating others but I still want my 2c 🙂 > [@Dinsdale](#): > > A couple of years back when with a group of musicians I was suggesting my ignorance about rap was a shortcoming on my part. Another musician said, “You are allowed to ‘not like’ stuff.” Yep, absolutely. No-one should feel bad about liking or not liking anything. Rap and hip hop though are somewhat unique in the degree of snobbishness and contempt levelled at them. I’ve seen it a bit on the dope, but much more elsewhere. That it’s not real music, that the world would be better without it etc. I’m glad that the OP is very much _not_ in that style, and is just honest inquisitiveness. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > -I tend not to be hugely into lyrics, but I couldn’t understand 99% of what he said/sang It’s something like a dialect; they use a lot of slang and being able to flow with the rhythm is more important than being very clear to the listener. Most people who frequently listen to hip hop can indeed understand what is being said, though they may not be able to _rap along_ with it, because rapping takes a degree of skill. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > One of my personal biases is that I appreciate skill in playing instruments Generally-speaking this is not where the skill lies in rap music. It is more in writing lyrics that both make sense and flow, being able to perform that verse, and the music production side of creating catchy rhythms and fresh sounds etc. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > -Closely related - so much of it seemed lip-synched. I think hip hop doesn’t suit live performance as well as some other genres. Crucially, people often expect a high energy performance, with dancing, which is almost impossible to do while rapping and it’s hard to get the volume mix right live too. I mean, I’ve been to some great shows, but you typically either have live rapping, or a very visual performance, but often not both at the same time, and for the superbowl they went with the latter. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > -Was there some message in the dancing/staging? It depends. It’s become a bit of a meme that rap doesn’t have a message, but actually there are a higher proportion of rap songs covering social issues than other genres IMO. However, it’s _also_ true that a lot of rap is about bragging, or just “keeping it real” i.e. admitting to a desire for money, sex, whatever, instead of pretending to be above all that. And it’s a performance thing…it’s equally likely to be self-parody these days. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/179 "2025-02-20T11:57:55Z")
I wasn’t bemoaning rap/hip-hop’s lack of melody. It’s still a musical experience, and it definitely resonates to widespread degrees. There’s some hip-hop that I consider mesmerizing, but other folks might like it for different reasons. I don’t see lack of melody as a valid reason for disliking the genre. A jeep doesn’t have the amenities of a Cadillac, but I’d rather drive a jeep down more potentially hazardous roads. I never liked hearing punk, but seeing it performed was an entirely different experience. Same goes for opera. Seeing the dedication of the performers and the production setting can be a true adventure. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131/180 "2025-02-20T13:31:24Z")
I didn’t think you were. But your comment was timed to come right on the end of someone who was. I think the responses had a lot less to do with you than with that larger conversation [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-rap-hip-hop-kl-fans-explain-the-superbowl-halftime-show-to-me/1014131.md?page=8)