Poll: The Escapist's perception of rap music

[Reboare]

I'm not really a fan of it. Lyrics are important no matter what type of music I listen to and for a large majority of rap songs, they don't appeal to me.

 

[EndlessSarcasm]

I'm glad so many people here seem to enjoy Rapper's Delight as I do.

 

[Aur0ra145]

Rap in my honest opinion is horrible music. But when used in the correct way, it will yield women in much greater quantities than any other music (except maybe for country depending on your regional location.)

So, do I like rap? No. Do I like getting with chicks to like rap? Yes. They're easy and cheap.

 

[johnjay]

Well, in general, rap is pure masturbation. Insecure homophobic misogynistic teenage power fantasy set to "phat beats."

You realize this after any amount of analysis.

So, the whole "geek + rap" thing is confusing. As geeks typically "like, read too far into things."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2ICdCJNaKI
And if there's crack in a basement
Crack heads stand adjacent
Anger displacement
Two step arangements
You were a still born baby
Mother didn't want you, but you were still born
Boy meets world, of course his pops is gone
What you figure?
That chalky outline on the ground is a father figure?
So he steps to the next stencil, that's a hustler
Infested with money and diamond cluster
Lets talk in laymen terms
Rotten apples and big worms
Early birds and poachers
New York is evil at it's core, so those who have more than them
Prepare to be victims.
Ate up by vultures, the politicians,
In a dog eat dog culture, that'll sick 'em.
Lack of mineral, we take it personal,
A pigeon can't drop shit if it never flew.
Every day is no frills, empty krills
Broken 40 bottles and MC's with skills.
I rest my head on 115
But miracles only happen on 34th, so I guess life is mean.
And death is the median.
And purgatory is the mode that we settle in.
"No doubt."
I've got that Eve's Bayou sense of touch
So I fought, to touch every hand of a fan to read their thoughts
Battered wives, molested children
Roaches on the floor, rats in the ceiling
Cats walk around New York with two fillin's
One is in their mouth the other, does the killin'
I'm Vast Air, Kramer, top billin'
- Cannibal Ox, "Iron Galaxy."
Please, don't loudly exclaim blind generalizations on subjects you know absolutely nothing about.

Backpackers, "underground", this is where REAL hip-hop thrives. These young cats are the ones changing the 'game'. most lyrics are meaningful and fun. I suggest Murs, atmosphere, Aesop Rock, vast aire and MF doom to name a few.

[http://img147.imageshack.us/i/166nrly.jpg/]

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Its lyrics can be meaningful and unique, but the main thing I hate our rap is how its sung. Its artist, its beat, its length, etc. I don't listen to any songs however.

Sort-of-Off-Topic Fact: Rap stands for Rythum and Poetry.

 

[Blaster395]

Its not even music, its a terrible poem about sex/drugs/prostitution/violence and money made from it mostly funds crime.

 

[DrDeath3191]

There's only one rapper I care about. Unfortunately he's a dog from a PlayStation game.

 

[Loves2spooge]

I abhor any rap that represents greed and misogyny, but rap of any other kind is totally fine by me.

To be honest though, rap was at its best in the 80's up until the mid-90's. Militant rap is the best though, like Edo G and The Coup, ESPECIALLY The Coup.

 

[Contun]

The Beasty Boys are the only rap group I care for.

 

[Madaxeman101]

i hate rap because most of the lyrics in almost every song are just variations on 'shoot dem niggaz' and 'fuck dem hos'

 

[BlindMessiah94]

Generally speaking most anything top 40 is not a true representation of the genre. I love artists like Mos Def, Run DMC, etc...
But rap is just not my style of music. I can respect the people who are talented at it though.

I don't like how most artists nowadays only sing about Gangbanging and drugs and money. I'd prefer it if they went back to rapping about life on the streets and political issues and black activism.

 

[TruthMan]

personally i love rap the only problem is i can rarely find anything in the dumpster that is the rap section its mostly ignorant people being ignant but when you find the good ones its (at least for me) some of the best music ive ever heard

BTW: Check this out http://musicthatmakesyoudumb.virgil.gr/
I love how Phish was higher then most.

 

[Veritas0323]

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

try that for lyricism

 

[bwaremypower]

Nowa days its mostly crap, but with some superb albums in the past, its occasionally brilliant.

Classices like NaS, N.W.A., Cypress Hill, Wu Tang Clan, Dr. Dre, Yupac and Eminem make Rap and are some of the best lyricists ever.

Whilst shit like Fiddy Cent, G unit, D12, Mc Hammer, Lloyd Banks, Lil' Wayne and late Eminem give rap a bad name.

I wholeheartedly agree. Cypress Hill is awesome

 

[RJ Dalton]

I don't think that there's anything about Rap as a music genre that's intrinsically bad, but I've never really come across any rap music that I thought was that good.

 

[AkJay]

Most rap music is awful. It's just speaking into a microphone to a soundtrack of a beat machine on repeat every 30 seconds. All of the lyrics consist of 3 things:
Money
Women
Sex

I repeat. Awful.

 

[loewen]

mostly rubbish.

cheesy joke time:music is like candy, you need to get rid of the wrappers.

 

[Kelbear]

I am a geek. I will get that out of the way first. Everybody I know knows I am a geek - I am not shy about it.

This for some reason makes it surprising when people learn my favourite type of music is Rap/Hip Hop/Urban. Apparently being a geek and liking rap doesn't happen. When I ask what they expected me to like, nobody has ever given me a straight answer.

I understand why many people think it is crass:

"Im soaking it all up, while your girls sucking me" - An Immortal line from Lloyd Banks
"I don't mean to be pushy pushy, I'm just in it for the p**** p****" - An awe-inspiring line from N-Dubz

But some urban songs have some quite deep lyrics

"Let's dance in style,Let's dance for a while,
Heaven can wait we're only watching the skies"

Jay-Z ft. Mr Hudson

So I wanted to know what your opinion is of rap music and why, and if you have shared any experiences like mine.

Rap music gets a bad "rap" (pun FULLY intended). There is a ton of lame crap getting pushed through the pipe. It's HARD to make clever or insightful lyrics, so I guess a lot of these guys never bother.

As a medium for artistry it has a ton of potential just like the other genres of music, but it'll take an artist to make it happen. And there are very few of them.

Rap isn't the only genre getting diluted out there. Maybe 40% of popular music even involves someone singing instead of getting auto-tuned.