Music is like candy. It can be sweet, bitter, spicy, and usually gets messy quickly. But the worst part is always the rapper.
I keed I keed!
In all seriousness, in my opinion rap has more merits as poetry than as music, because that's what rap is to me. Well, it's poetry when it isn't about shooting hoes with marijuana and cocaine with the rapper's gigantic penis, which I find more and more of rap is about...
I never got how a man talking about you could be music. I do not think music should be founded on beat alone! But as poetry, it is a great medium.
I think that rap is mostly just swearing, guns, gun sounds, more swearing and detailed depictions of banging a hoe. However, there are some very good artists (Jay-Z, Eminem,)
Stunning how many people think that 50 Cent, Game and Lil Wayne make up "most" of rap. It is, I guess, in the same way that Paramore is most of metal. You know that's bollocks, I know that's bollocks, but that's the generalisation people make.
It is interesting to see people say that they dislike rap because of the glorified "Thug Lyfe", the misogyny and drug use, then name Eminem as one of the few that they'll actually listen to.
"In third grade
all I used to do
was sniff glue through a tube
and play rubix-cube,
seventeen years later?
I'm as rude as jude
scheming on the first chick
with the hugest boobs"
~Eminem, Drug Ballad
"On the outside looking in
Like an aquarium,
Spinning with the stars in the planetarium
Deliriously, Mysteriously,
I'm feeling curiously, marvelously
Super, Duper
Like Joss Stone
My heart melts like ice cream cones,
I'm grinning like a dog digging up dinosaur bones
I used to be fossilized
But now I'm out of my shell
And I'm happier than whores with chivalrous clientele"
~Just Jack, Glory Days
"No matter what I do to try and fit in
there's nothing I can do about this body I was given
I'm blond and I am skinny, with my mom's mochano skin
The Scotter side, and my father schnoz to go with it (nice nose!)
my hair, yeah I can try and dye it
And contacts could change the color of
my eyes but ...
That would only mean that I am lying
And openly denying it's not cool, who I am"
~Asher Roth, Y.O.U
Tell me, out of those three, which is the closest to the Escapist's general view of rap? I'd say it's the first one. The second one shows the lyrical talent through the use of vocabulary, the third shows message-driven rap, in the case of that song it's about people trying to change themselves to fit in with a crowd.
To those people who listen to American commercial rap (50 cent, Lil John etc) and believe that is all there is... allow me to introduce you to English and Australian rap. English rap tends to be more lyric-driven (particularly with the recent Grime/Crunk upsurge), whilst Aussie rap tends to center more around the hip-hop lifestyle (BMX's, graffiti and basketball instead of the 64 Impalas, gang warfare and jail that Gangsta has been perverted to).
Hilltop Hoods- Nosebleed Section Hilltop Hoods- Breathe Pegz- Burn City Funkoars - What's ya malfunction?
Akala- The Edge Just Jack - Glory Days V Double O (unsigned hype)- Ghosts
But even then, US rap is actually pretty good, once you get past the commercial gangsta crap. If anyone wants some recommendations for tracks etc to listen to, shout me, I'll see what I've got for you.
Can't stand it at all for the main part. I think Eminem, Cypryus Hill etc are good as music, I don't like them, but I respect thier music, but that's more Hip Hop and it's more...the old school stuff (I guess?).
However pretty much all rap TODAY is garbage, all of it, fuck I'm not even sure most people even listen to the lyrics because I'm not sure how anyone can if they do listen to them, I work at a club and I have to listen to the same stuff and I end up listening to the lyrics, and half the time they just say random things that have no relation to the song just to make it rhyme, or just say random crap that doesnt make sense,(and that's not even speaking Gangsta, it's just stuff that literally doesnt make sense).
Or when women do it is bollocks as well, when women are trying to be seductive, you do it with a coy sense of well...suductiveness, not just saying "Hey rude boy come screw me." (or something to that effect), it sort of ruins the whole allure and art of seduction thing you're supposed to have as a woman.
wordsmith said:
Stunning how many people think that 50 Cent, Game and Lil Wayne make up "most" of rap. It is, I guess, in the same way that Paramore is most of metal. You know that's bollocks, I know that's bollocks, but that's the generalisation people make.
-snip-
But anyway, that's not my point so ignore it, your point on the eminem thing is skewed however, because you're deliberately taking that out of context to make your, we all know he raps about other stuff, but the rap people have a perception of that it's about "hoes bitches, guns, drugs and gangbanging" is because the "rappers" that sing about that stuff; that IS all they rap about, or they'll just sing about the fact that they amazing, they can take any chick they want and they're rich and awesome all the time.
Portrayed by "I got so many clothes that I keep some at mah aunts house". or "These bitches wannah come take me riiiiight?"
Although my favorite one at the moment is just some guy saying "Me plus you= better equations, let's go back and do some math me plus one and me plus you and you plus two and me plus you and etc etc", STOP SAYING THE SAME THING! The joke is supposed to be "Sex is alot like maths, add the bed, subtract the clothes, divide the legs and hope you don't have to multiply", not just saying X plus Y over and over again. SLIGHTLY OFF TRACK RAAAAAGE.
Actually its songs like that which make me loathe the majority of rap music. Those lyrics have were written nearly 30 years ago by Alphavile (to lazy to look up who got writer credit), Jay-Z just sampled the song. Which really would be fine if the writers oh his song and the point of the original weren't a couple light years away from each other. Forever Young (Alphavile's version not Jay-Z's or Dylan's) had a theme of the fear of aging and death and the old cold war fears of nuclear war. It's not really all the special a song as they go but its not bad. Jay-Z and Co kept that theme for the first third of the song then turned it into yet another "I AM AWESOME" ego wank fest.
It's very rare for any rap artist to create something profound and most times they do its based around a theme other artists have done far better before them. Music is really just a form of poetry and like any poetry some are inherently more beautiful then others. If you enjoy different types thats fine, just don't compare Ulysses to "There once was a man from Nantucket."
It's all rubbish. Its just untalented crap that can be sung by anyone, as long as they have some beat boxes in the background and talk about hoes and all that kind of crap.
Yes, I enjoy American "gangster rap", but also other types such as cited in the posts previous mine. Most songs i listen to because I enjoy the beat/rhythm, not necessarily because of the lyrical content.
It's alright. It's like swimming through garbage in the new pool and rarely finding a spot that's clean and meaningful. However you look at the old pool that closed down and everyone is remembering how awesome it was. I still listen to it now. I just don't get much of the new stuff but if I hear a meaningful lyric or a good beat I'll still get it. Won't by the CD though...Only if I really it.
I've never liked mainstream Rap. I've heard some very poetic underground Rap, and it sounded very good, interesting rhythms, beats with some consistent, and actually good Rappers. I can't stand all of the auto-tune crap or anything on the radio.
I have pretty much the same opinion as I do rock music today: I like a lot of the old stuff and the more recent music that isn't mainstream. I'm not trying to be the cool edgy guy who refuses to listen to mainstream (I do like Jay-Z and Mos Def), it just happens that the stuff that appeals to me will likely never make a top 40 list. I also don't like most of the rap/hip hop coming out of the South. I like it when the music flows, not spits.
I've been on a big Fugees kick lately.
One thing I've never gotten is the distinction between hip hop and rap.
Most of it is crap, but some of it does actually have deep and/or fun lyrics. It's my opinion that every genre has its exceptions. My most hated genre is country/western, but dammit Johnny Cash is the man.
It's all rubbish. Its just untalented crap that can be sung by anyone, as long as they have some beat boxes in the background and talk about hoes and all that kind of crap.
Here's the beat - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVj7bzJOf3w
Your challenge is to have a track uploaded in a week. It doesn't have to have a set amount of views or anything, but I'd love to see you prove how easy it is to write decent rap. I mean, really, I would, I'm looking for something new to listen to at the moment, and if you can save me the time with your lyrical ingenuity then please, feel free.
Or is it not quite so easy? If you want, I'll even respond with my own track. Fuck it, I'm ready to put my money where my mouth is, what about you?
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