Poll: Hip-Hop/R&B/Rap Music. Does it Suck?

[Neesa]

Not all of it sucks. It really depends on the artist and how overdone it is. There's only a certain amount of auto tuner can take in one sitting. It's okay in general. But then again, the same can be said about any genre.

 

[ae86gamer]

I think I might be the only one to say this but...I love it. I like the beat and rapping and everything. Though I will say some songs do suck but its probably the music I grew up listening to the most and still listen to.

 

[Sneakist]

Does it suck? Based on my personal experiences, yes it does.

 

[Neonbob]

I only hate the more recent stuff. All the rappers seem to be using that crap auto-tune program, which sucks, and when they don't their voices are nasally, which also sucks. The only rapper I still like right now is T.I. And I just don't like R&B because it's too slow.

 

[kawligia]

I only like Trip-Hop.

 

[stewart34]

I just want to know what some people's views are personally, I cannot stand that music i think it is horrid no originality. It is a bunch of repeted lyrics and bass. But some might like it.

Ok, you just slighted two whole genre's, and an urban subculture. This is bad for two reasons: 1) R&B and the Hip-Hop culture inspired whole generations of music and art and 2)there is no way you can possibly lay the whole "horrid" and "no originality" claims on a genre that spans so many labels and artists. The idea that you have any REAL opinion on the vast majority of two genres and a subculture is laughable. The fact that you lack specificity, in my eyes, means you lack any real knowledge of either, and are going to by stupid shit songs like "Get Silly" and "Yeah", which is more a variation on Pop than true R&B and Hip-Hop.

Do I care that you do not like any of the things you name? No. Not in the least. It takes different strokes to move the world. But by calling these genre's "horrid no originality", it makes you seem like an ass. An ass who is making an argument that you seem to know nothing about.

I didn't make this perfecltly clear when I introduced this topic. I should have said that the curennt genre sucks, such as the current rappers and such, the "old school" stuff I love. I listen to that all the time. But it turned into crud

 

[-Orgasmatron-]

ITT: Ignorance.

Do all you saying you hate hip-hop think mainstream rock is particularly good? No. Then why do you except mainstream hip-hop to be? Maybe if you actually listened to some of it you wouldn't be so quick to judge.

This is coming from a hardcore rock fan by the way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qggxTtnKTMo

 

[megalomania]

I think pigeon-holing all three genres together is the mistake of somebody who hasn't listened to enough of any of them to be able to appreciate the difference between them.

I'm sure if I made a thread saying 'Is Rock Awesome?' I would have a million angry responses saying that Rock is too general. This is the exact opposite.

R&B stands for Rhythm And Blues...
That's not what I'm hearing today.
Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke and even bands like The Who and The Beatles are true Rhythm & Blues.

Are we talking about the same people?

Bob Dylan who can only be described as folk.
Elvis Presley 'the father of rock'.
Sam Cooke (I'll have to admit I have no idea who he is so you are probably right!)
The Who are only connected to R&B through their very early days and a tenuous link between The Mods and R&B.
The Beatles, really?

 

[megapenguinx]

Unless anyone here can give me a rap (")song(") that I want to listen to over and over again, I'm going to label it all as 'Utter Suck'.

Simple Man, by the Living Legends.
Also any song if you listen to it enough will get on your nerves and make you hate it forever.

 

[Donbett1974]

R&B have always been a mix bag.Hip Hop is fun but has no real substance.Rap was good but now its mostly pure crap.

 

[Undeed]

It is immensely difficult for an entire genre to suck, and in most cases even the songs from one group can vary between fail and win. Furthermore, the sheer breadth of those catagories makes it foolish to lump them all together. It's an immensley subjective question, dependent on the listener, their tastes, and their access to the media, as well as the prevailing style in the area. I'm certain that european hip hop is different from American hip hop.

Short version: Your question is broken.

 

[magnus gallant]

i listen to some

every genre has its greats, you just gotta search with an open mind

 

[this_was_a_mistake]

Not all rap suck, but the one we have today does. Rap now days are just plain stupid.

 

[ShameSpear]

I must say everyone who hates rap is quite vehement about it. It's really quite stunning. I've read everything from hatred with no explanation to no with very little explanation. Some people say that it's really easy, yet trying to get together a rhyme that goes along with the beat is impressive to me. Hell, I had one party where a random bunch of people showed up, put instrumentals on the stereo and just had a freestyle battle. The rhymes and the words they came up with off the top of their heads while sticking to the beat was nothing short of fantastic. I'll be the first to admit that some rap sucks. But there are different genres of rap just as there are different genres of rock. People who like southern rap aren't automatically going to love west coast rap, just like people who like pop rap are automatically idiots. It's all in the hands of the artist.

 

[Worr Monger]

Is Rap even still around?

I CAN'T STAND R&B or Hip Hop.... it's everywhere, TV shows, events... anywhere you go.. and it all sounds so similar... I'm sick of hearing it, and I don't like the "artists" who perform it.

I can honestly say I miss Rap... I'm talking late 80's early 90's rap. I hated it back in the day... but now I miss it, I prefer it over Hip-Hop and R&B. Enough of that Justin Timberlate, Kanye West, etc. crap.

 

[razer17]

i dont really think you can declare and entire genre to suck. im no fan of rap/hip-hop, eexcept eminem who is great for some reason. but soemof the music must take a while to write.
just because you,or i, dont like it doesnt mean it all sucks. its just not to our tastes.

actually that said, bass music (i.e basshunter all sounds the same) although bass music is to be differentiated from drum and bass, which happens to be one of my favourite genres. but bass music sucks because it's just a looped bassline, with some synth chucked in, its boring and repetitive.
edit - then again i guess it doesnt matter when these people are off their face on ecstasy at a rave.

 

[YuheJi]

I certainly enjoy the older stuff, but I have to agree that a lot of the new hip hop and rap is quite bad. Considering the fact that people are buying from poor rappers such as Lil' Wayne, Ludacris, Soulja Boy, etc. I can see why some people would think that it sucks. There are still lots of good rappers out there, but most of them just don't get that big record deal. It is quite sad what has happened to that form of music, as it initially started out as a form of rebellion and now has become absorbed by corporations as a way to make money.

 

[wordsmith]

Ok then... where to start...

First off, I'm a rap fan. I can instantly see a problem with the question- why lump RnB with Rap? RnB hasn't been any good since Kells hung his mic up. Anyway, without further ado, let's get educating people!

I just want to know what some people's views are personally, I cannot stand that music i think it is horrid no originality. It is a bunch of repeted lyrics and bass. But some might like it.

It's a bunch of repeated lyrics and bass? The repeated lyrics are what's known as a "Hook", or what's known to the wider world as a "chorus". The idea is to give a song a catchy or memorable hook, that way the listener finds themselves familiar with the track the first time they hear it. The repeated bass is what's known as a "beat" (which can mean the combination of percussion, bassline, keys and any other components of that particular beat), and makes sure that the song flows well. Suprisingly, both of these are present in almost any music (presuming that it has both vocals and an instrumental), so to say that rap is unoriginal because of this is to say that all music is unoriginal.

DJ's take a hell of a lot of slack here- "Hey, you're not doing anything yourself, you're taking someone else's work and messing with it". Yeah, that's true, but to be able to "mess with it" and make it into a piece of music that makes sense to the ear, it takes a lot of talent. On to the next student...

Yes. All 3 of those genres in the title are complete and utter garbage. It is just a bunch of "ghetto" black people who grew up, probably in suburbs, claiming they grew up on the streets and making raps about the following:

- their dicks
- their cars
- their "bitches" "sluts" "hoes"
- their TV's
- their "homies"
- their houses
- their money
- their airplanes
- their shoes, shoelaces, soles of their shoes
- sex
- killing
- killing police officers

Anything I missed? Now, if you think that talking to a computer generated beat with the concept of rhyme is music, I encourage you to find the nearest skyscraper, and jump off.

In my honest opinion, ANYONE, who is given time, can write down words that rhyme.

Now, there is a fair bit there that I disagree with, but I'm going to go from the top down. The genre of music that you have discribed there is not "rap", it is not "hip-hop", it is not "RnB". It's Gangsta Rap. Believe it or not, the "rap" that the mainstream media present is not all there is to the genre, and if you want some extra listening try Akala or Lupe Fiasco (basically anything by him). I won't give you any other names, because I know how unlikely you are to even bother youtubing those two, let alone a list of other names.

Whilst we're on the subject of youtube, if anyone can write decent rap (ANYONE can write rubbish lyrics, in the same way that I can flail at a guitar string- it doesn't mean what I play is good), go ahead. Record it and put it on youtube, show everyone how easy it is. If you want, I can even write a beat for you (or you can use a standard beat from a current song. Handlebars from FloBots is quite a nice slow one, shall we try with that?)

you can't spell crap, without rap!

music is like candy: you throw away the rapper!

i hate the whole thing. mostly because it's just about nothing at all. it's a loud of guys with thick thuggish accents saying they're going out to kill someone, slap up dere ***** and make cash, and complain about not having a cadillac

Again, one small section of rap. Go grab some OPM or some Funkoars from youtube, come back when you're not feeling so stereotypical.

Basically, stop hearing "Rap" and thinking "Gangsta rap". Gangsta rap nowdays is rubbish, I know that. Gangsta should have died with Biggie and 'Pac, when the east/west coast war was stopped. 50 Cent is crap, Soulja Boi is crap, The Game is crap. But Rap is not just those people. Rap is such a wide group of styles, it's unfair to judge it on a minority of the genre.


EDIT: Also- Kanye has taken a serious dive in my estimation since Graduation came out last summer. "Heartless"? WTF? You're a rapper, get back to rapping...

If anyone's interested in some upcoming rapper in the UK, give him a look. VDoubleO, he's touting himself as the fastest rapper in the UK (and he's proven that he can outspit Twista, both speed-wise and content wise)

 

[Slash Dementia]

I won't say that it sucks, but I don't like it. Maybe a few songs here and there, but to each their own really.

 

[-Orgasmatron-]

Is Rap even still around?

I CAN'T STAND R&B or Hip Hop.... it's everywhere, TV shows, events... anywhere you go.. and it all sounds so similar... I'm sick of hearing it, and I don't like the "artists" who perform it.

I can honestly say I miss Rap... I'm talking late 80's early 90's rap. I hated it back in the day... but now I miss it, I prefer it over Hip-Hop and R&B. Enough of that Justin Timberlate, Kanye West, etc. crap.

Rap isn't a genre, it's a technique used in hip-hop...