Question about Rap.

[RMgX]

Lots of the rap that is played on radio etc at least here in Sweden is like most other radio music here mediocre or worse most of the time. A real talanted rapper can be very good listening to though taste usually differ a lot between individuals.
I like MC Solar and rappers that don't always try sounding dangerous or agressive.
My favourite part about hiphop music is when you get to hear good scratching which is all to seldom. The beats are like drum and base which I love by itself, with the scratching added it gets so much groovier though. It's not hard to "understand" or anything, it hits you directly. Why this kind of stuff dosn't outsell all the boring "it's just nice to have in the background you don't really notice it is there" is beyond me.
For a famous bunch of scratchers check out Invisble Skratch Piklz
and if you get a chance to see it watch Wave Twisters. A 45 min nonstop scratching movie

[Lucificate]

I can completely understand what you guys say about the lyrics being taken as an intrument, I like death metal/black metal stuff and thats how the vocals need to be viewed there as well, and i left open the use of rap as dance music...

...but there is zero redeeming quality to thugged up rappers or their "tough guy trying to make it in the world" lyrics.

[Spankmonkey]

...that country/western is the wide open, hemmorhoid-covered ass of music?

[Xenox]

I consider myself a student of music. That said, there's a kind of rap I love and uphold, and a kind I think ruins it for the actual talent in the industry.

Money rap makes me want to put bleach on my genitals. I absolutely hate it, and think the people who create it are talentless frauds. "Let me grab my ho, here I go, I'll cap you with my fo-fo, my nigger-o". Wow, you fucking talented person. No one wants to hear about how many "bitches" you get, the size of your rims, or what kind of cars you drive.

However, what I do like, is rap with a message. I consider Tupac a poet in the truest sense of the word. Never have I seen someone (rap or rock) with such lyrical talent as him. He combines the tales of his life, with the hardships of his world, and has some excellent commentary on the solutions. He obviosly was no saint, but he was definitely a prophet. He knew the life his was living and he knew the repercussions. He predicted his own death and prayed God would forgive him for his life. I take his deaths as one of the greatest tragedies of the 90's.

[Fender]

I hate rap.

Not on a musical standpoint, but because it has created millions of punk ass, pimply faced white boys who think theyre "hard" and "down with the hood". Every time I see some jackass in a "sooped up" Honda Civic doing the gangsta lean...it makes me want to vomit rather violently.

[Prodigious]

well before you diss rap please go diss all the gay repetitive MTV pop by people who can't sing nor play instruments nor write their own songs....../rant off

[ShamusChad]

Hell no, Country music is fuckin sick sometimes...

If you like rap, you'll notice there is a whole genre of rap that is heavily influenced by southern musical styles including country..

The other night on "Showtime in Harlem" a white guy singing country took home first place over guys doing freestyle rap.

Rap and country have a lot in common although they may sound different.

[Jadaki]

Originally posted by JerleMinara
Why do you like it? The themes, in my opinion, are nothing short of horrible. It's a bunch of cussing, violent, idiotic words thrown together with something that might be called a beat. I don't understand how anyone could like it, so please enlighten me

That is to say, tell me *why* you like rap.

My question is what have you listened to for you to be able to brand a whole form a music as one thing. Stereotyping is idiotic, get over it...

Now, to anwser your question it really comes down to personal taste. My example would be that at least once a week, a guy I work with and I get in a discussion about new rap/hip-hop thats out and if we like it or not. The reason he seems to like any song is because of the beat, lyrics do not matter to him whatsoever.

Myself on the other hand, I listen to the lyrics first. If the song is all about gangbanging and pimping ho's, more than likely I will not listen to it ever again. I don't want to hear a bunch of bragging about cars, gold teeth, 20+ inch rims and women (see Cash Money Records) as I don't find it interesting at all. I like a good beat as much as anyone, but shitty lyrics ruin a song for me.

The one thing I dislike about rap/hip-hop now is the wanna-be's that have popped up everywhere, the people who sterotype the music/culture, and basically anyone who can't be there own person and have to emulate everything they see (i.e. white suburban kids with do rags and tilted hats acting like they have shot someone before) and really can't gain acceptance being who they are, thats just sad.

Hip-hop music is not for everyone, neither is country, rock, alternative or anything else. Just listen to what you like and quit giving a shit about everyone else, you will enjoy things more.

[somecleric]

To say all hip hop/rap is thugged up crap is stupid and stereotyping. There's some rap/hip hop groups out there that are far, far more literate than the vast majority of rock or metal or pop or whatever-genre-you-want artists. I'm not going to cut/paste lyrics, because no one will read them, but track down the Dead Prez album Let's Get Free to start. Listen close to We Want Freedom, Animal in Man (a chilling retelling of Orwell's Animal Farm), They Schools or It's Bigger Than Hip Hop (which features the brilliant lyric 'sick of the same old thing, it's bigger than bling bling').

Once you've absorbed that album (and it'll probably take a while), move on to the demented genius of Kool Keith on his Doctor Octagon album. You think Radiohead and Tool have intelligent concept albums? Doctor Octagon is a concept album about a futuristic gynecologyst. It's just as crude and offensive as you'd think, but it's also got some of the most brilliant lyrics ever. It's right up there with Deltron 3030, another wonderful hip hop/rap album. Listen to Virus or Upgrade.

Then there's The Roots, Talib Kweli, The Fugees, De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, Mos Def and a million other hip hop acts that don't rap about pimping hoez. You just need to look harder to find them.

[Jadaki]

He pwns, listen to him

kkthxbyebye

[Digo]

I'd go so far as to say that almost ALL of the "rock-genre" music you like today would not exist with Black musicians. African musical influences led to the creation of jazz, which in turn led to the creation of rock and roll, which in turn led to all the "white" bands we have today.

[Tabbran]

I felt that I had to chime in, though much of what needed to be said has already been said. I've been a hip hop/rap fan since I was little, I guess it's just something you like or you don't, since so many people just straight up say they hate it.

That said, at about 1996 or '97 I grew to loathe the rap scene, just hate it, and I completely turned away cause I couldn't stand the trend of "bling bling" rap. It's terrible, but not as terrible as those retards who make every line rhyme by adding the same sound on the end of it (See: Juvenile's "Ha"). Anyway, I've been steering clear of the Hip Pop trash music, cause it's the same bling bling crap that got old six years ago, but slowly hip hop is re-emerging to how it used to be.

Jurassic 5 is a testament to that, Blackalicious, Jedi Mind Tricks, and countless others are surfacing with fresh talent, intelligent lyrics, and phat beats with the REAL rhymes that I crave. Jurassic 5 is my favorite at the moment, Power in Numbers is simply a brilliant CD.

However, the Neptunes (as N.E.R.D.) are making things happen. Showing that they're more than just beatmakers and producers, "In Search Of..." has been in my car's changer since I bought it, and there's really no telling when I'll take it out, cause I love the CD that much. It's really hard to categorize, it's like hip hop mixed with funk and some rockish stuff, but it's really really good stuff.