Hip-Hop and Rap: What are your thoughts?

[Boar1]

Im not on here to argue with anybody because hip hop has always been a "props if you like what im doin, fuck you if you dont" typa thing, im just tryin to clear a couple things up, and maybe expand a few peoples views on it... Hip Hop is a culture that was started in the 70s by broke kids in the ghetto that needed a different way to express themselves... Now it's turned into another way for rich corporations to assfuck you... It seems that in this thread the only two types of people that are posting are people that hate rap because all they hear is the bullshit on Mtv or underground heads that are into social-political type shit, when theres so much more out there... There are literally hundreds of different styles of rap, and before making some dumbass, ignorant comment you should look into a few... Personally, I hate mainstream rap, but I don't really like stupid shit like Aesop Rock where everything he sais is either a non-sequiter or a metaphor, plus I could give a fuck about politics... Ill include a few videos for people to check out of shit that I really like...
Heres some "Intelligent Rap" that sounds good to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r0KpWMNxnM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdJgVf4l1A0
This is for people that think all rap beats are either Kid Cudi techno shit, or Lil Jon strictly bass and drums
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiOcVWQY2bc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvHJQQyRmjI
This is just some real vibin shit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ztw0u_VWGUI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mnyBp4FzzI
This gives me goose bumps every time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJdydiwkiUg
One of the biggest elements of rapping is lyricism, (something most hip hop artists lack nowadays) so here are some songs that are just dope fuckin punchlines
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5ILMQOyvPc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0UsdW91IN0
Heres some good ol' story tellin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylJtS7MLMI8
Pac gets his own section, no doubt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cz_nOpxgCU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAMgSUgtAAw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8Y9-JlSRXw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNcloTmvTeA
Course Big does to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YodzjpvrtJQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rogvlB2SP4k&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq8mGJc5xQE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLj1fHfWjUc
A few classics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhr5UBZh1rY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEwSfbE9IXc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chMYvAdy1_A
And finally, some street shit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHtIt--aUmU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU13FS5Lrmw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOkFZZFhwIE
PS Sorry about the long post, im a passionate dude

 

[JordanXlord]

Hip-Hop is okay in my book. I can at least see the artistic value in it.

Rap, on the other hand, is just the profanity-laced drivel of a whole bunch of rich, entitled gangsta posers (I'm looking at you, Lil Wayne and Soulja Boy). I literally begin to feel physically ill when I hear it. It's just so...disgusting. Nothing about it sounds good. The music is awful. The vocals are sickening. Put them together and it makes me just want to puke.

this 100 times

 

[Nouw]

I'll just leave this here.

I love some parts of Hip-Hop because I genuinely like it. Gorillaz introduced me to rapping in songs and I love them for that, however I stumbled upon a mashup of Daft Punk and the B-Boys which gave birth to my love of the genre. Depends on the musician and song really, but on a whole I wouldn't call it terrible. The kind of rap that plays on the radio/t.v. isn't necessarily the best.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Canibus -Poet Laureate II
<youtube=8iUWGhnqBxM>

I see your Poet Laureate 2 and raise you Poet Laureate Infinity (v004).


The game is Beat Hazard where the song itself actually powers your weapon. Though seizure-inducing, it's one of the few indie games that's actually worth shit.

Canibus is so terribly underrated.

WHAT HAS SCIENCE DONE?!

Wow another Canibus fan on the escapist? I'm surprised. I've pre-ordered Lyrical Law. I can't name another emcee who deserves to have an album named Lyrical Law.

Also gotta give props to Shad K:
<youtube/watch?v=q-mAMH5S6VA>

and Will C.:
<youtube/watch?v=4xaefhSoYjM>

 

[onewheeled]

My problem with Canibus and Tupac and all the other artists that are so renowned is that their music is just so damn hard to listen to. I don't care how deep the lyrics are if the music isn't fun to listen to. That's why I like artists like Eminem and The Roots, not only do they write good music, they understand that they're making music, so they make it interesting.

Though, to be honest, I haven't had much experience at all the the genre, so I can't talk too much.

 

[Jegsimmons]

the best rap is either parody/comedy. The actual stuff is painful and just shit.

oh and when a metal band like Anthrax does it, it usually ends up cool.

its just not a very talented genre of music, any person with a camera and a youtube account can do it so i see very little value in it.

 

[bigwon]

I'm refraining from comparing a computer sampler program to a group of musicians because i honestly don't think that's relevant to the product of the music, and it's ability to make me feel good.

usually when i think of this thesethings come to mind:

accessibility/saturation: when i think of the roots of most other genre's i think they just weren't around while technology was delivering all of the tools for you to use on a silver platter. When you wanted to start making music it was a serious investment. You had to factor the cost, the time it'd take to learn the instrument, performance techniques, etc. it was a real investment...you weren't going to just load up a loop you made in a cracked version of fl studio, and show it to all of your peers through your mp3 player.

now the whole family from granny to little Jefferey are making music. It's just so easy to aquire the tools to begin with. does it take some time to feel out the program and really start developing your technique? sure as hell does! but there just isn't that same initial cost, that only someone that breathes,eats,dreams,shits music would actually pay, it's mainly these people that really do something amazing with the artform, because that's what it is to them. I'm imagining it'd make it a hell of lot easier for your pre-madonnas to persevere and succeed if you were to factor out all of that damn hay that you had to pick through to find them.

Now hiphop coming so close to the rocketing of technology, i feel would naturally take the biggest hit out of most of the genres (hell it started on more modern technology itself) It's the most accessible kind of music out there, a microphone? check! a pre-amp? check! and you already have a flipping pc with your cracked mixing studio, and all of the guidance you'd ever need from youtube v-loggers and there tutorials..now were does everything go wrong...the lack of inspiration? lack of character building? heheheh.....ahhhhh i think i'm done on this one. There's so much flipping potential with the genre (triphop, neo soul, jazz hop,etc.) but there's not enough inspiration to tap it.

think, someone who held a guitar back in the day was almost like a superhero....what are they nowadays? people generally like to feel appreciated for what they do....ah buggers that's a whole discussion of it's own. lol this whole post is pretty incoherent, but i'll leave it up in case it helps at all...hehe

 

[AgentNein]

The other day I was in the mood for a mashup or something with the Ramones, and I found this. Veeeery cool Ramones Vs Jay-z thing.


Not the BEST thing ever, but I dug it.

 

[chuckman1]

I love it.
Tupac is my favorite musician of all time.

 

[Flamingpenguin]

I used to think it was all rubbish, but then I listened to Girl Talk's "All Day", and I realized the potential. (It's free, you should download it. Now. Really.) There is a certain quality to the flow of the words, just as in Shakespeare's works. Obviously no rapper is in the same league as Shakespeare, (God, no) but the concept is the same. The message is usually bad, but there is art in the execution.

I am white as fuck and I can enjoy it; Give it a chance.

Also, Kid Cudi is pretty sweet.

The truth resists simplicity. - John Green