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

[danosaurus]

I wouldn`t say the entire genre sucks, just large amounts of it and even a metalhead like me can enjoy the odd bit of public enemy

Well if you won't, I will.

So the answer (to the thread title) is: Yes.
Next!

That's a very narrow-minded viewpoint you've got there, my good man.

You have to look hard for the good stuff nowadays.
I refuse to tolerate R'n'B and commercial rap//hip-hop but there are a few gems of albums out there with a plethora of lyrical and musical genius.

Don't ever shut off an entire genre just because the mainstream stuff is balls.

Few albums you might wanna try;

RJD2 - Deadringer
Eminem - Marshall Mathers LP
Dr Dre - 2001 (Won a whole bunch of awards)
General Patton & The Executioners (though that's more Industrial)
Anything involving DJ Shadow (Experimental - try get your hands on a copy of Psyence Ficiton, that's my favourite)

I'm essentially into metal but i listen to everything from Lynyrd Skynyrd to UNKLE up to Opeth.
This has never stopped me from listening to music that I like the sound of though, give everything a try I say

 

[Clashero]

I hate how they often steal beats and rhythms. Eminem's "Lose Yourself", I believe it's called, stole its guitar beat from Led Zeppelin's Kashmir, and one of his songs has the exact same chorus as Aerosmith's Dream On.
This applies to almost anyone. Speed up almost any rap drum beat to about 120 or 130 bpm and you'll get some pretty familiar tunes.
There must be one hip hop song in the universe which I can listen to without cringing, which is King of Rock by Run DMC, if only because of the decent guitar.

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

The stuff that the majority of people listen to is shit, yes.

 

[danosaurus]

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...

Rap is most certainly a genre.
Example 1 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_styles_of_music:_N-R]


Example 2 [http://i42.tinypic.com/5n3xip.jpg]

There's about a thousand more more but I'm sure you get the point.

 

[Gamine]

Jeez, this has got to be the 30th thread im seeing trying bash hip hop and rap.

A whole genre of music into the trashcan? what gives, doesnt make sense really.

@Poster, you think its horrid but you managed to listen to it, nawa o

 

[IxionIndustries]

The entire genre sucks. Majorly. They have even stooped so low as to rip parts from other songs, just because they "Like da beat".
I shudder at the thought of the whole "Crazy Train" remix.
God damned lazy rappers, can't make up their own rythym.

Heh heh..
They're like breadsticks, they aint got no rythym.

 

[NoNameMcgee]

Whether it sucks or not is just a matter of taste; personally I like some hip-hop songs but i'm not a big fan. I like R&B more... I don't like those that basically insult women or portray them as objects, though.

But people who say rappers are 'talentless' really grinds my gears. If they're so talentless, why don't we make the haters get up on stage and we'll see how good they are at rapping. I'm sure they'll be just great at it.

 

[McGee]

You can't say a whole genre sucks, except for country of course. Although the junk we hear a lot like Soulja Boy and that stuff is terrible, there is good Hip-Hop like Everlast. Although good hip-hop seems to be over with.

 

[Travdelosmuertos]

Listen to some J Dilla and then tell me making beats is not an art.
Listen to Public Enemy or Nas and tell me hip-hop isn't relevant.

And then, go out and get some MF Doom and Random (Mega Ran). It's nerd culture turned hip-hop. Simply genius.

Simply put, I don't think you have really dug deep enough into the genre to allow yourself to understand it. The genre is hip-hop. An emcee in hip-hop RAPS. "Rap" is more or less an outsider's term for the music, mostly due to the media dubbing hip-hop rap because of the popularity of things like Yo! MTV Raps! Some other stuff I would point you in the direction of is: Jurassic 5, Souls of Mischief/Hieroglyphics, Cool Kids and Lupe Fiasco.

 

[Lios]

I mainly just hate Rap and Hip hop, but RnB is okay to me.

 

[NeW SpEcTrUM]

Tasteless crap is my complete opinion on the matter. I think it's a travesty to even call it music.

 

[Shapsters]

How is R&B, Hip-Hop and Rap all the same thing? Rap is utter garbage, but hip-hop and R&B can have catchy songs.

 

[Mozared]

As I was just discussing with a pall over MSN, it depends on what your definition of 'good' music is. I like to think you can judge a band (or better, a song) on 3 different areas;
-The meaning of the song (Or: do the lyrics convey a deeper message?)
-The musical quality (Or: does it have awesome guitar solos)
-The originality (Or: isn't the song a straight copy from another band)
Then, apart from that, you can either like or dislike a band.

Following those rules, it gets pretty simple for me: Most R&B/Hip-Hop/Rap songs I know do not have any meaning (past "I want to have sex"), musical quality (a repeating baseline isn't quality) or originality (seeing as they all sound like shit), which technically leads me to say that Hip-Hop/R&B/Rap indeed sucks.

That's not to say that everything in the genre sucks though, like others have pointed out.

 

[YuheJi]

Following those rules, it gets pretty simple for me: Most R&B/Hip-Hop/Rap songs I know do not have any meaning (past "I want to have sex"), musical quality (a repeating baseline isn't quality) or originality (seeing as they all sound like shit), which technically leads me to say that Hip-Hop/R&B/Rap indeed sucks.

That's not to say that everything in the genre sucks though, like others have pointed out.

Then you obviously haven't listened to many different rap artists. There are always the select few that are always on the radio, that many people feel give hip hop a bad name for expressing bland, and worthless opinions. However, there are probably hundreds of decent rappers out there that are underground, that spend time and pour their soul into their lyrics. And that was what rap was supposed to be about.
I could say that most metal songs I know aren't very good. Does that mean metal sucks? Of course not, as I never listen to it outside of the radio or a friend or two that like it.

 

[danosaurus]

The entire genre sucks. Majorly. They have even stooped so low as to rip parts from other songs, just because they "Like da beat".
I shudder at the thought of the whole "Crazy Train" remix.
God damned lazy rappers, can't make up their own rythym.

Heh heh..
They're like breadsticks, they aint got no rythym.

Honestly, either constructively back up your intensely subjective opinion with a few intelligent points//facts or keep your sweeping and narrow-minded opinions to yourself.

p.s - If you're going to mount your high horse over misapplication of rhythm, at least learn to spell it correctly.

 

[Mozared]

Then you obviously haven't listened to many different rap artists.

True. That's why I posted a little disclaimer at the end of my post. I'd just say that if what I've heard is representative (and it's not just 50 cent), the majority of the stuff in the genres is bad. Whereas the majority of bands in genres like metal, punk or ska I've heard are good. In fact, I don't think I know any 'bad' skabands.

 

[stewart34]

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)

You seem to know what you are talking about on this subject. It is good to have some facts on the matter. And in the way you put it, then I hate gagsta rap, that stuff sucks so bad. I did like music; like MC Hammer, And others like that, but the genre seemed to take a turn for the worst, in the last decade.