Is Rap Music Really Music?

[Ashcrexl]

Dead Prez
Lil Wayne
Tech n9ne
Immortal Technique
Mos Def


FTW

that's not an argument at all. that's just listing a bunch of rappers. just thought i'd let you know.

 

[AvitaDeva]

I would say that I don't think so, but if I did about 5 people would say my opinion is invalid because I haven't bothered to listen to any rap outside of whatever is played on the radio and tv

...you know your right five people would say that your wrong because of fact that it fits every criteria for being qualified as music...so why do you think rap is not music i would luv to hear some more of this argument cause honestly its one of the things which just pisses me off.

are you one of the guys who does not like content?

are you ill informed and think that a song with out singing not music because that is stupid in itself

are you one of those guys who think that rapping can not fit into the definition of singing?

are you just an outsider whom thinks that every thing popular is trash?

or are you disillusioned with the world of hip-hop and have retreated away from the idea that rap can have multiple dimensions?

...you knew your comment was gonna get responded to didn't you?

 

[AvitaDeva]

A lot of people go clubbing and end up just fine but yes i have never been to a club which does not play electronica or rap so a rock club seems strange to me i would neve know how to dance to that

It's simple. You headbang, you mosh, and you do most of the other drunken wiggles people do in clubs. After 5 or 6 shots most people don't really care what music is playing.

...but that's besides the point...the point is if you read my previous statements i never asked you to change your mind and like rap...I simply asked that you frame your argument to fit the context of the author of this threads intentions.

He asked if we thought it was music. I do not. So I said so, and I said why I think it isn't music. It's nothing but mindless noise used to disassemble shitty American sedans on big rims, and if you can turn the bass down far enough you hear some rich guy yammering on about blastin' bitches, doin' hoes, and putting huge rims on shitty American cars.

There's no storytelling to it. It's just noise.

if you check this out it did not ask whether you like it simply asked is it music structurally.

List of materials to make music:

1. Musical instrument of some sort. Could be anything from a kazoo to a whole brass section.
2. A writer to compose said music.
3. Someone who knows which end of the tuba makes the loud noises to play it.
4. If lyrics are also written you need someone to sing them.


Materials required for rap:

1. Vocabulary of a 12th grader.
2. Gold chains, grilles, whatnot(These come in handy for the photo shoot and music video)
3. Auto-tune
4. The ability to molest words into rhyming while saying them so fast you need a cheat sheet to figure out wtf he's rapping about
5. A computer with which to generate an artificial bass line and throw in some random beeps.
6. A techno guru to mix all that shit together.


Rap isn't music from this angle, either.

is the fact that you don't like the content really enough to change it's status as a genre i mean i'm sure you don't like the content of other songs in other genres of music are they not music?

I don't like Country. It's nothing but QQing(More typical of 'classic' country) and/or making out with tractors(Modern stuff). I think I'd rather listen to rap if I'm honest. But it's still music. It's still made with real instruments, by writers, performed by people who can actually carry a tune, and it isn't blared with only about 200hz of the audible spectrum being reproduced solely to annihilate crappy cars.

your argument is a slippery slope...

I have traction control.

The point of going to a club is to have fun with friends,

Well shit I do that out of clubs all the time. Sometimes it's over my LAN in Garry's Mod, sometimes it's over my friend's shitty Mustang trying to get it to run on all six cylinders again, but I do that all the time.

meet new people, to dance,

I'd rather volunteer as a test dummy in a nuclear test than do either of these things.

Seriously, by the time most people I know including myself were old enough to get into clubs, we were over the "get blasted every time I drink" phase.

You guys are way more mature than anyone in my area then. Also your clubs must be better at sniffing out fake IDs. It seemed every Monday when I was in high school I overheard half the school talking about how blitzed they got at the club the night before.

I mean if you're just a huge introvert, that's cool.

Always have been, always will be. I don't see the point in going out to meet new people I'll never speak to again. I kept out of the social circles all throughout high school.

But the way you describe clubs, it sounds like your city's night life just sucks or you've just never really given it much of a chance.

I value my truck way too much to risk getting it impounded, vandalized, stolen, vomited on, torched, or run into while at or near clubs...

...you know your argument is not getting any better the content aspect of it is severely flawed case in point a lot o 80's rock was simply about parting and taking drugs...and into today if you listen to bands like Aiden and Evanescence the content can be disturbing...so i repeat content is not a strong part of your argument maybe you can just stick to structure for it is a stronger point to argue friend.

DiMono:
I say no. I define music very simply as something having a musical melody. Sung, played, strummed, doesn't matter, as long as it's present. Speaking quickly does not a melody make. Thus rap isn't music.

Which is not to say there's no rap out there worth listening to; on the contrary, some is both worthwhile and socially relevant. However, when the vast majority of it is about how cool it is to be a criminal, or to have hot bitches and big TVs, I think society as a whole can do without that.

Clarification edit: I'm not saying rap is bad or not worth listening to, in fact I'm quite fond of quite a bit of it. All I'm saying is that it shouldn't be classified as music, it should be classified as something else that's similar but different.

Topical edit: The conversation seems to have evolved to a general "what makes music music?" discussion, picking up on page 6.

this is the maker of the posts argument he is not asking if you like it he was wondering is it was structurally music...so lets just stick with that its far less offensive than what your saying.


also


Materials required for rap:

1. Vocabulary of a 12th grader.

(most people read at about an eighth-grader so...something to think about)

2. Gold chains, grilles, whatnot(These come in handy for the photo shoot and music video)

(what does this have to do with rap being music? your argument is not clear nor concise)

3. Auto-tune

(this is a new thing in rap and not present in every song...it is also present in other genres ie check mylie cyrus)

4. The ability to molest words into rhyming while saying them so fast you need a cheat sheet to figure out wtf he's rapping about

(well you may not be mentally competent enough to listen and understand whats being said but other can friend...i ask again what does this have to do with the any thing listen comprehension is a basic skill work on it)

5. A computer with which to generate an artificial bass line and throw in some random beeps.

(i also don't see how this makes it less music...these components are seen every where listen to a lady gaga song)

6. A techno guru to mix all that shit together.

(I just don't think your well informed as to what is music here is a link to get you started, for all you have proved is you don't like rap and that's fine prove it is not music...)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music

 

[Psycho Cat Industries]

I really don't like rap but if it is noise,it can be music.Just look at Smosh

 

[Shoqiyqa]

Two answers:

One: if reading out a recipe constitutes poetry, twenty people standing still and ignoring their instruments count as music, a chair smeared with faeces counts as art, a blank sheet of paper counts as an essay, a rat with a ribbon around its neck counts as a wolf and twenty Spaniards, Portuguese, Cameroonians, Brazilians, Italians, Serbians and Russians kicking an artificial pig bladder around a patch of plastic grass count as a battle between England and France, then yes, rap is music and that hot dog is a sirloin steak.

Two: no.

Spoiler: music

(especially this one)
(after the first 2:10, anyway)
(see, it's not all pre-'95!)

Spoiler: NOT music

 

[inFAMOUSCowZ]

I very much think is music, as well as hip-hop. Which almost go hand in hand. Now I mainly listen to rock, but there are some rappers I listen to. Like my boy, Lupe Fiasco here.

 

[skitzo van]

If there is melodic content it is a song. Melodic can be described as one pitch after another, the human voice is made of pitches, yes rap is music.

 

[Shoqiyqa]

2. Gold chains, grilles, whatnot(These come in handy for the photo shoot and music video)

(what does this have to do with rap being music? your argument is not clear nor concise)

I don't know, but since I heard that some rappers who are apparently "real" rappers and qualified to speak on these matters because they're black said they respect Eminem "because he lives the rap lifestyle" it's been pretty obvious they don't think it's music either.

 

[fates_puppet13]

depends
most rap are rich people pretending to be poor and talking quickly
but some rap i.e eminem is music because he sometimes sings in his raps and it feature some pitch diffences
either way tho i dislike rap

 

[Knusper]

I used to have a stupid (albeit friendly) argument with a friend over what was better - Electro or Metal. I said all that Electro was was no real substance or talent, just some guys with a laptop and synthesizers. He said that Metal was just screaming.

When he showed me Daft Punk and I showed him Iron Maiden, we proved each other wrong by showing we both had very poor prejudices about the other genre.

And so the moral of the story is... justify and substantiate your prejudice before you make any accusation

 

[FortheLegion]

no it's poetry often about stupid topics such as "gangsterz" and "Ass" it also usually has a beat.
That is my biased opinion

 

[AwesomePeanutz]

Music is defined as not having a melody or harmony but just being organized sounds. Therefore rap is music.

(Though I don't think most rap is good music, being that 99% of it is just about sex, drugs, money, crime, etc.)

 

[Spectre39]

While it is technically music as been stated above, I don't typically regard rap as valuable music in the sense that it advances the society or culture. What I consider to be "true" music needs to use actual instruments in a creative way. Rap seems to exclusively use repetitive bells or whistles, and considering how many older songs it has consumed and reproduced as "new" I would hardly consider it creative either.

Though I suppose what I say should be taken with a huge grain of salt. For instance, I live in the "dirty south" and my rap experiences thus far have only been people insisting I hear it such as in commercials, other people's ringtones, or some ghetto car in a parking lot with the volume up to 11. I have never sought it out for myself. And as far as what I regularly listen to? There's that band Cake, some Sinatra, some Muse, some Jonathan Coulton, and couple of soundtracks from movies and Cowboy Bebop. So my opinion can easily be disregarded as my musical tastes are regrettably underdeveloped. I guess I didn't have many musical influences growing up.