Poll: What's your opinion on Rap and Hip Hop?

[Drummah]

I LOVE Canadian hip hop and rap--Classified, Abdominal, Choclair, D-Sisive, Sweatshop Union..

As long as it has a good hook, I'm usually in no matter how trashy it is (Even the the mainstream)--but I LOVE the stuff full of social commentary the most.

The song that inspired me to move and change my life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaGDqVKR44Y

 

[Apretentiousname]

I'm warming up to it surprisingly... Any recommendations?

What are you looking for? Good Production or lyrics?
Well there's always Eminem, his albums the Marshall Mathers LP, the Slim Shady LP, and The Eminem show are all almost universally liked. Get Rich or Die Tryin also had great production. The Black Album by Jay-Z also had some of the greatest.
Reasonable Doubt, Jay-Z's debbut album had loads of critical acclaim and is very lyrical. Nas' Illmatic is also considered one of the greatest albums of all time.
Go for 2pac. All Eyez on Me, Until the End of Time, almost all his albums have at least 2 or 3 songs that you will like.
I only named a few of the most mainstream GOOD rappers out there (excluding Drake and the like) but the genre is pretty extensive, despite being young. You'll have to grow into you're own musical tastes, but look up Atmosphere's I'm always coming back home to you and Prolyphic and Reanimator's Survive Another Winter.

My dad calls me racist but the only rap I like is Eminem. It wouldn't be so bad if my dad liked him too. I don't know what it is about him, but I love his music.

Eminem's rap has, as I said before almost universal listenability. I love his stuff too, a lot.

 

[Apretentiousname]

its not music, music should require atleast one instrument(besides vocals if you can even call what they are doing vocals) playing. All i hear is a beat box, usually done by a computer, and a untalented person talking.

Holy shit go back the first page and read my posts. I said in detail how rap lyrics are constructed and how they are rapped, and that it takes quite a lot of talent. That's NOT mentioning freestyles.

So a choir isn't music?

Rapping is a skill that requires both to be born with talent and also lots and lots of practice. Record yourself trying to rap and you'll see how horrible you sound. It takes practice to find your voice.

Hip hop I hate, it's just a terrible synthesized beat with niggers talking over it.

No talent involved

First of all, hip hop is the culture as I stated earlier, second of all the use of the "N" word wasn't cool.

 

[Mr. Mortiss]

Meh, it's just not my thing at least when it comes from the western world. Most American rap (or hip hop) I've heard just oozes arrogance, at least to me. Meanwhile I've had a friend translate Russian rap word for word and it was all about the downtrodden and being full of wishful thinking. And I've heard some Japanese rap here and there and the translated lyrics were mostly just about overcoming obsticles and tenacity.

Edit: and one quick thing, those of you who believe that rap is only vocals and beat box, there is some stuff out there with actual drums, guitar, etc. And those who believe beat box isn't produce music, it is. Beat box produces sound waves in rhythmic patterns, catagoized as music, while arrhythmic sound waves are classified as just noise. So beat box is music, at least if my memory about sound sciences is accuarate.

 

[Apretentiousname]

Meh, it's just not my thing at least when it comes from the western world. Most American rap I've heard just oozes arrogance, at least to me. Meanwhile I've had a friend translate Russian rap word for word and it was all about the downtrodden and being full of wishful thinking. And I've heard some Japanese rap here and there and the translated lyrics were mostly just about overcoming obsticles and tenacity.

2Pac - Changes/Keep Ya Head Up/Dear Momma/Until the End of Time/One Day at a Time. Listen to one of those, or maybe one of his other positive songs. He has a lot.

Russians are pretty cool, but I'm not into it so I can't tell.

Japanese people are some corny motherfuckers, no joke.

Also, for an inspirational listen, listen to Airplanes Part 2. Eminem's verse is very emotional but slightly profane. Ok just profane.

 

[TheTim]

well i believe Eminem is one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time.

 

[Atmos Duality]

The message? The message is just as real as one any other artists push. Most Metal bands and the like don't scream, rasp, etc, etc about anything at all? Rock is commonly about cheesy love stuff or drugs and it's only a diamond in the rough that has deep metaphors or some such things. You must think all genre's are obnoxious bleating about cliche'd hateful or stupiid stuff.

I agree with part of that statement. I'm not a fan of most musical messages or cliche's in general. Though I think you cross a line when you assume that I think all GENRES are the same; there is music I like, and there are several songs I find that have significance to me.

I just haven't found anything of the sort in rap yet (I'd love to be proven wrong though; living just to hate things is just about the most miserable thing I can imagine).

And also, with rap there are just as many songs less about the message and more about the story. Let's take a couple of famous songs for example, Stan by Eminem and Today Was a Good Day by Ice Cube. Both are vivid image provoking songs about a in the case of Stan an obsessive fan and in the case of TWAGD it's just a chill rapping about a good day. If you find stories boring then you would be bored with everything, from books to TV shows to plots in games, to maybe even your own life.

I never once said I found stories boring, so please don't try to put words in my mouth; I'm quite capable of speaking for myself.

Well, here's my life-experiences with Rap.
Most (not all) of the rap I'm exposed to is played for one of these reasons:

1) It (allegedly) makes the person playing it "more badass". They usually blast the Bass and ignore the rest of the track, which seems silly to me, but then again I don't 'get' this stuff. I have a friend who was a music major, and the best explanation I managed to get out of him was "Bass is euphoric."
Personally, I find compositions to be euphoric. Different strokes? I dunno.

2) It's rebellious or self-glorifying "gangsta" stuff. Surviving the streets is one thing I can respect (I'm not street-material, and never claimed to be, but I have friends who are); bragging about being a criminal is something else. It's not something I would hope anyone to want to openly aspire to, and it's definitely nothing to be proud of.

3) It happens to be on a paid-to-play playlist on the radio. Most of this sounds like it was manufactured and is usually driven by the star power, not the message.

4) It's sexual innuendo. "Raunchy/shocking" stops being effective when one lives in a culture dedicated to implying double-meanings in virtually everything.

5) It's silly nonsense some companies use to try to look more "hip". You know the stuff (and if you don't, then I truly envy you).

So pardon my bias, but for the most part I only ever get to hear the obnoxious stuff (described above), and I have absolutely no idea where to start to look for the good stuff.
Said music major friend is a big fan of Rap, and even the best stuff he demoed for me falls primarily into categories 2 and 3.

 

[DragonChi]

For the most part, I hate rap. Now..granted, I will admit that a lot of rap is VERY clever with its wording/rhyming and ability to be catchy(Especially Eminem..so..props to him for that, i think his talent is phenomenal), that's not what i have a problem with. It's what they choose to sing about. Ive heard my fair share of rap and most of it is really immoral and promotes crime and hatred, amongst other things. So..i respect the skill/talent involved in how most of them create their lyrics, but as a genre..its at the bottom of the "music chain".

And I'm not the kind of person that WANTS to hate just because I can. I'm not like that, I live for music, I love a vast majority of it. If rap ever decided to be cleaner with its messages, I would be happy to listen to it. i don't hate for hate's sake.

In the meantime, I am content listening to endless tunes from the Electronica genre.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I'm warming up to it surprisingly... Any recommendations?

My personal recommendations would be:

Killah Priest
Immortal Technique
Jeru Tha Damaja
Jedi Mind Tricks
any of Kool Keith's aliases (Dr Octogon, Dr Dooom, Black Elvis, etc)
Public Enemy (because I'm a sucker for old school conscious rap)
Deltron 3030

there's a varied start for you

 

[Good morning blues]

There's a lot of really awesome rap out there. Some of it is really shitty, yes, but a lot is fantastic. You know, just like any other musical genre.

 

[TheLaofKazi]

Nobody is going to listen to this, right?

 

[Wodan]

I have to throw down some love for Lupe Fiasco. One of the freshest rap musicians of our time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge4BEdyZ8bM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI6iZJOntY8

Good stuff. I love good rap. I hate the mass produced crap. Just like any other genre.

 

[Lyri]

I love me some Rap.

I like to ball all over the show.

 

[Apretentiousname]

And also, with rap there are just as many songs less about the message and more about the story. Let's take a couple of famous songs for example, Stan by Eminem and Today Was a Good Day by Ice Cube. Both are vivid image provoking songs about a in the case of Stan an obsessive fan and in the case of TWAGD it's just a chill rapping about a good day. If you find stories boring then you would be bored with everything, from books to TV shows to plots in games, to maybe even your own life.

I never once said I found stories boring, so please don't try to put words in my mouth; I'm quite capable of speaking for myself.

Well, here's my life-experiences with Rap.
Most (not all) of the rap I'm exposed to is played for one of these reasons:

1) It (allegedly) makes the person playing it "more badass". They usually blast the Bass and ignore the rest of the track, which seems silly to me, but then again I don't 'get' this stuff. I have a friend who was a music major, and the best explanation I managed to get out of him was "Bass is euphoric."
Personally, I find compositions to be euphoric. Different strokes? I dunno.

2) It's rebellious or self-glorifying "gangsta" stuff. Surviving the streets is one thing I can respect (I'm not street-material, and never claimed to be, but I have friends who are); bragging about being a criminal is something else. It's not something I would hope anyone to want to openly aspire to, and it's definitely nothing to be proud of.

3) It happens to be on a paid-to-play playlist on the radio. Most of this sounds like it was manufactured and is usually driven by the star power, not the message.

4) It's sexual innuendo. "Raunchy/shocking" stops being effective when one lives in a culture dedicated to implying double-meanings in virtually everything.

5) It's silly nonsense some companies use to try to look more "hip". You know the stuff (and if you don't, then I truly envy you).

So pardon my bias, but for the most part I only ever get to hear the obnoxious stuff (described above), and I have absolutely no idea where to start to look for the good stuff.
Said music major friend is a big fan of Rap, and even the best stuff he demoed for me falls primarily into categories 2 and 3.

1. Sure I get ya. I think it's a little too alleged there though, I know people who just like rap music. They don't wear baggy sweats or yada ya its just the music they like.

2. This is a generalization. Rap is known for its gangsta aspects but it is not completely ganagsta. There's alternative rap, and there's everyone's favorite, 2pac. Listen to Changes (2pac) and it might change your opinion. He has many songs like that.

3. This is just about the stuff that plays on the radio. There's a lot of good rap that isn't.

4. There's a lot of stuff that's sexual, but once again there's plenty that isn't. Pac has a bunch of songs that aren't as well as Eminem, Nas, and most rappers do. Once again, it's about finding a diamond in the rough. There are plenty of diamonds though, you just have to find them.

5. Its true, some of it is bullshit, but there are some real thugs out there, which isn't necessarily a plus. The Notorious B.I.G. was selling drugs before he got out and entered the music business. Same with Eazy-E.

Try listening to the aforementioned song Stan, or Mockingbird by Eminem. They are both very good stories and you may or may not enjoy their musical aspects, but I think you can appreciate them for what they are.

 

[TheLaofKazi]

For the most part, I hate rap. Now..granted, I will admit that a lot of rap is VERY clever with its wording/rhyming and ability to be catchy(Especially Eminem..so..props to him for that, i think his talent is phenomenal), that's not what i have a problem with. It's what they choose to sing about. Ive heard my fair share of rap and most of it is really immoral and promotes crime and hatred, amongst other things. So..i respect the skill/talent involved in how most of them create their lyrics, but as a genre..its at the bottom of the "music chain".

And I'm not the kind of person that WANTS to hate just because I can. I'm not like that, I live for music, I love a vast majority of it. If rap ever decided to be cleaner with its messages, I would be happy to listen to it. i don't hate for hate's sake.

In the meantime, I am content listening to endless tunes from the Electronica genre.

There is a ton of hip hop and rap out there that has much more intellectual lyrics. And even with hip hop that instead talks about less "proper" things, so what? Violence, sex, crime and drugs are common subjects in music, movies, video games, books, and every other kind of media out there. Art allows us to explore these more primal emotions in more healthy ways. I love killing people in video games, listening to some guy scream his guts out about how much he wants to kill everybody in metal, and watching people get blown up in action movies. Yet all of a sudden, when the same thing is done in hip hop, it has no value or is even considered immoral or a plague on society.


The lyrics in this song are anything but deep. But the song is fun, it's exciting, it's sexual, it's funky, it makes you bob your head. The same feeling is expressed in nearly every other genre of music, be it rock, funk, jazz, electronic, or pretty much anything else. I mean, why is it that so many fucking classic rock bands are hailed as "great music," yet music like this is viewed as crap? A lot of it is the same general idea. Bands like Led Zeppelin fucking rocked! Energetic songs, guitar riffs, kicking drums. And it's not like all of their lyrics were "clean." This song and tons of other hip hop are doing a very similar thing, just with a different style, and a different culture. And that's not all there is to it, hip hop, just like every other genre of music, has it's more abstract side. Stuff like this is great:

 

[TheLaofKazi]

1) It (allegedly) makes the person playing it "more badass". They usually blast the Bass and ignore the rest of the track, which seems silly to me, but then again I don't 'get' this stuff. I have a friend who was a music major, and the best explanation I managed to get out of him was "Bass is euphoric."
Personally, I find compositions to be euphoric. Different strokes? I dunno.

2) It's rebellious or self-glorifying "gangsta" stuff. Surviving the streets is one thing I can respect (I'm not street-material, and never claimed to be, but I have friends who are); bragging about being a criminal is something else. It's not something I would hope anyone to want to openly aspire to, and it's definitely nothing to be proud of.

3) It happens to be on a paid-to-play playlist on the radio. Most of this sounds like it was manufactured and is usually driven by the star power, not the message.

4) It's sexual innuendo. "Raunchy/shocking" stops being effective when one lives in a culture dedicated to implying double-meanings in virtually everything.

5) It's silly nonsense some companies use to try to look more "hip". You know the stuff (and if you don't, then I truly envy you).

So pardon my bias, but for the most part I only ever get to hear the obnoxious stuff (described above), and I have absolutely no idea where to start to look for the good stuff.
Said music major friend is a big fan of Rap, and even the best stuff he demoed for me falls primarily into categories 2 and 3.

All of those things you stated are very prominent in one form or another in nearly every other type of music out there.

What we're seeing with hip hop music is not a phenomenon isolated just to that genre, all of those subjects and attitudes are something that is very, well... Human. Humans love sex, drugs and violence. Anybody that says they don't is lying. Sure, not all people actively do all those things in harmful ways, because fortunately, many of us have higher aspirations then that, but we all still love those finer things in life. We love listening to music, watching films, reading books, and playing video games about those things.

 

[Levitas1234]

its not music, music should require atleast one instrument(besides vocals if you can even call what they are doing vocals) playing. All i hear is a beat box, usually done by a computer, and a untalented person talking.

Holy shit go back the first page and read my posts. I said in detail how rap lyrics are constructed and how they are rapped, and that it takes quite a lot of talent. That's NOT mentioning freestyles.

So a choir isn't music?

Rapping is a skill that requires both to be born with talent and also lots and lots of practice. Record yourself trying to rap and you'll see how horrible you sound. It takes practice to find your voice.

Hip hop I hate, it's just a terrible synthesized beat with niggers talking over it.

No talent involved

First of all, hip hop is the culture as I stated earlier, second of all the use of the "N" word wasn't cool.

Fine, change hiphop to the shit that's been on the radio for the last 10 years and the "N" word to ignorant black person(s)

(and give a bit more to your reply than political correctness.)

 

[ParadiseOnceLost]

Is there a meh option? To be perfectly serious I am very neutral towards rap. I have a sister who listens to all the mainstream sludge that above posters have said have been a bad representation of rap (or at least I assume she does I try to exit an area where she is playing music as quickly as possible), and I have been told that there are hidden gems, but I decided a long time ago that wading through the rivers of shit just to find a couple of good songs is not worth the effort. I stick to metal which has constantly been churning out amazing songs that don't require me to dig through pounds of shit, and I let rap do its thing understanding that there are good songs buried in the mainstream shit.

 

[Cazza]

It's the worst kind of music. I don't really want to count it as music.

It's just terrible.

 

[Polock]

I think it was a genre with a lot of meaning, that is now polluted with crap.

EDIT: Read some of the pages previous to this...

I dont know.. I just can't get into it. The fact that most people I know who listen to it aren't the most aspiring people, and the ones that are aspiring are usually older folks trying to fit in with the generation. Its just annoying. To me. I understand its an art form. I understand I'm not exposed to the good stuff because mainstream puts the crap towards me. But when I see that the biggest rapper out there is a guy like Lil' Wayne; well no offense, I'm not going to give the genre that much of a shot.

That being said, I like tupac, and I like Eminem's meaningful songs. Not his curse I-hate-this-guy fests. I don't care if he can rhyme words. Its annoying if theres over-swearing to try and pose a point.

I like Ska Music. A mix of rap roots (reggae) and old school rock (now-a-days, mixed with punk rock). Its a genre I appreciate more.

rant/drabble/typing done.