RAP MUSIC [let the ignorance stop. discover. learn.], don't click if your too lazy to read the whole thing Options

[JerzDevil]

“Rap only takes an egotistical guy who thinks he can get with anyone… You can’t even understand their words. They’re like ‘Ahhhrr!’ and are completely incomprehensible.” responded Laura A. when asked what she felt rappers had to do in order to write rhymes. The issue over how much talent it takes to be a rap artist has been disputed since its dawn. Junior Preston “Mish” D. had a completely juxtaposing view, “It takes a main idea, [it] has to be catchy… clever and original… you have to use multi-syllabic rhyme schemes and complex metaphors, while in other genres its simple rhyming.” As Preston has explained, writing rap lyrics isn’t as simple as many people may think. It has many of the same characteristics of other genres except in rap music, they’re balanced differently.

How different from other genres? When asked what where the biggest factors in country music, Meghan C. said, “It’s… about the words. The songs actually have a message and meaning… It has to have a good message; it [also] has to be upbeat and fun to listen to.” Another common favorite, Pop music is designed for anyone to be able to enjoy, with ‘happy’ lyrics and instrumentals. While the ultimate balance of all genres, traditional rock music involves all of the above, and then some depending on the song. Besides the vocalizing that all genres have in common, the stand out characteristics of rock music would have to be the guitars and drums. The musical talent it takes to perform and produce many rock songs are unparalleled by any other genre. You wouldn’t expect Jay-Z to play a mean solo on his Les Paul to be followed by Nas playing an even more complex two-minute drum solo. Don’t let that convince you that rappers don’t have their own redeeming factor. Because rapping is based on speaking to a rhythm instead of harmonizing to a melody it has a much larger range of freedom of lyrics. This causes the capacity of rap lyrics to also have more potential than that of any other genre. Just look at this excerpt from Jay-Z’s song “Renegade” featuring Eminem in which the capacity for rap is clearly demonstrated,

“Since I'm in a position to talk to these kids and they listen
I ain't no politician but I'll kick it with 'em a minute
Cause see they call me a menace; and if the shoe fits I'll wear it
But if it don't, then y'all'll swallow the truth grin and bear it
Now who's the king of these rude ludicrous lucrative lyrics
Who could inherit the title, put the youth in hysterics
Usin his music to steer it, sharin his views and his merits
But there's a huge interference - they're sayin you shouldn't hear it
Maybe it's hatred I spew, maybe it's food for the spirit
Maybe it's beautiful music I made for you to just cherish”


In less than a minute, Eminem has displayed alliterations (underlined), assonance and complex rhyme-schemes (bold), usage of an idiom, personification, while still conveying his words as if it’s an active conversation. Even with such strong examples of an intricate poetic background, there is still a ‘Pop’ element to many rap songs.

In the summer of 2007, the biggest breakthrough hit of any genre was undoubtedly Soulja Boy’s addicting dance-along Rap song, “Crank That (Soulja Boy)”. Double major in English and African and African-American studies, John Collins described the song as being “…just dance music, which is about repetitive comical things. There is no message, just ‘dance, dance, dance.’” Songs such as this distort the image of ‘good’ Rap Music, and because of the popularity of them on the radio, they distort the distribution and publicity of ‘good’ Rap all the same. Yet, this may not necessarily be a bad thing. This ‘dance, dance, dance’ element is just another plane on the nine-sided die of Rap music. When John was asked what drew him in to becoming a fan of Rap, he responded with, “Rap captures me because of the vivid imagery. Rap music is based on a struggle… It’s based in blues music which has serious undertones. There’s political, social, and economic commentary involved…Real Rap touches your soul, plus it sounds good… [The] topics are so varied. There’s booty shaking all the way to the American political system.”

An advantage that Rap music has over other genres is the freedom to write about anything, covering a wide range of songs and topics, and ways to display them. In Nas’s song “Rewind” He takes the listener from an active murder scene backwards until the time that the murder is planned out, demonstrating his creative strength. In Papoose’s “Alphabetical Manslaughter” (which took him three years to write), lyrical alliterations are taken to another level, demonstrating a powerful vocabulary and intellect which is shown in this excerpt,

[EddieV]

[dustbunny]

^ AHAHAHAHAHAH


* will respond later if when betty finishes eating her fingers

[brooklyneast05]

f**k soulja boy. there's a lot of well written rap, it's too bad people don't get to hear it. i'm listening to a mos def song right now, and the my favorite part in it is

Yes, I am the inescapable, the irresistable,
The unnegotiable, the unchallenged
I am time
I scroll in measurements, control the elements,
I hold the evidence, I tell the story
I am time
I know no prejudice, I bare no sentiments
For wealth or settlement, I move forward
I am time
You can't recover me, conceal or smuggle me,
Retreat or run from me, crawl up or under me,
You can't do much for me besides serve
Me well and have good dividends returned to you
Or attempt to kill me off and have me murder you
Many have wasted me but now they are facing me,
Treated me unfaithfully and now endure me painfully
Plaintively, I wait to see what history will shape to be,
Whos hearts will never die inside the sake of me
Angel's scribe the page for me,
Keep a full account of all the names for me
And make a special mark for Hurricane who waited patiently

it sucks that we have to listen to people like soulja boy on the radio

[DoubleJ]

Talib, Mos, Common, Lupe, Jay, Eminem are my boys.

[EddieV]

“Rap only takes an egotistical guy who thinks he can get with anyone… You can’t even understand their words. They’re like ‘Ahhhrr!’ and are completely incomprehensible.” responded Laura A. when asked what she felt rappers had to do in order to write rhymes. The issue over how much talent it takes to be a rap artist has been disputed since its dawn. Junior Preston “Mish” D. had a completely juxtaposing view, “It takes a main idea, [it] has to be catchy… clever and original… you have to use multi-syllabic rhyme schemes and complex metaphors, while in other genres its simple rhyming.” As Preston has explained, writing rap lyrics isn’t as simple as many people may think. It has many of the same characteristics of other genres except in rap music, they’re balanced differently.

How different from other genres? When asked what where the biggest factors in country music, Meghan C. said, “It’s… about the words. The songs actually have a message and meaning… It has to have a good message; it [also] has to be upbeat and fun to listen to.” Another common favorite, Pop music is designed for anyone to be able to enjoy, with ‘happy’ lyrics and instrumentals. While the ultimate balance of all genres, traditional rock music involves all of the above, and then some depending on the song. Besides the vocalizing that all genres have in common, the stand out characteristics of rock music would have to be the guitars and drums. The musical talent it takes to perform and produce many rock songs are unparalleled by any other genre. You wouldn’t expect Jay-Z to play a mean solo on his Les Paul to be followed by Nas playing an even more complex two-minute drum solo. Don’t let that convince you that rappers don’t have their own redeeming factor. Because rapping is based on speaking to a rhythm instead of harmonizing to a melody it has a much larger range of freedom of lyrics. This causes the capacity of rap lyrics to also have more potential than that of any other genre. Just look at this excerpt from Jay-Z’s song “Renegade” featuring Eminem in which the capacity for rap is clearly demonstrated,

“Since I'm in a position to talk to these kids and they listen
I ain't no politician but I'll kick it with 'em a minute
Cause see they call me a menace; and if the shoe fits I'll wear it
But if it don't, then y'all'll swallow the truth grin and bear it
Now who's the king of these rude ludicrous lucrative lyrics
Who could inherit the title, put the youth in hysterics
Usin his music to steer it, sharin his views and his merits
But there's a huge interference - they're sayin you shouldn't hear it
Maybe it's hatred I spew, maybe it's food for the spirit
Maybe it's beautiful music I made for you to just cherish”
In less than a minute, Eminem has displayed alliterations (underlined), assonance and complex rhyme-schemes (bold), usage of an idiom, personification, while still conveying his words as if it’s an active conversation. Even with such strong examples of an intricate poetic background, there is still a ‘Pop’ element to many rap songs.

In the summer of 2007, the biggest breakthrough hit of any genre was undoubtedly Soulja Boy’s addicting dance-along Rap song, “Crank That (Soulja Boy)”. Double major in English and African and African-American studies, John Collins described the song as being “…just dance music, which is about repetitive comical things. There is no message, just ‘dance, dance, dance.’” Songs such as this distort the image of ‘good’ Rap Music, and because of the popularity of them on the radio, they distort the distribution and publicity of ‘good’ Rap all the same. Yet, this may not necessarily be a bad thing. This ‘dance, dance, dance’ element is just another plane on the nine-sided die of Rap music. When John was asked what drew him in to becoming a fan of Rap, he responded with, “Rap captures me because of the vivid imagery. Rap music is based on a struggle… It’s based in blues music which has serious undertones. There’s political, social, and economic commentary involved…Real Rap touches your soul, plus it sounds good… [The] topics are so varied. There’s booty shaking all the way to the American political system.”

An advantage that Rap music has over other genres is the freedom to write about anything, covering a wide range of songs and topics, and ways to display them. In Nas’s song “Rewind” He takes the listener from an active murder scene backwards until the time that the murder is planned out, demonstrating his creative strength. In Papoose’s “Alphabetical Manslaughter” (which took him three years to write), lyrical alliterations are taken to another level, demonstrating a powerful vocabulary and intellect which is shown in this excerpt,

That's long.

[superstitious]

Would I sound terribly white if I said that Debbie Harry's rap in the song "Rapture" gets me going?

And you get in your car and you drive real far
And you drive all night and then you see a light
And it comes right down and lands on the ground
And out comes a man from Mars
And you try to run but he's got a gun
And he shoots you dead and he eats your head
And then you're in the man from Mars


I am a simple girl. Sometimes it's nice to just enjoy music instead of dissecting it all.

[S-Majere]

It might have a message, but the genre's still crap.

[ReggieM]

fcuk you! the genre you listen to is crap! nice topic i strongly dislike when people stereotype rap, just because of the MAINSTREAM artists. Jedi mind tricks and nujabes are some other artist that hold thier own with the intellectual stand point.

[S-Majere]

I don't limit myself to a genre. That's not intellectual.

But in all seriousness, it's just music. You chill to it, you understand some of it. I wouldn't live my life by it.

[EddieV]

[S-Majere]

Eddie, honestly. That rifle's gonna go places only Customs men dare to probe.

[austinoutloud]

Mainstream rap music, I hate but I haven't been very well exposed to some of this other stuff. Hmmm. Maybe I should open my eyes to some of it; I've never really liked rap at all, but I should be more open-minded.

[Jennifer]

It might have a message, but the genre's still crap.

Yeaaaah I must say I agree. Everyone has their opinions, we're not all going to like the same things..
Even if it has a message, I can't listen to rap.. I guess it's because for most of the songs, I can't really classify the singer as actually singing, just reciting poetry to a couple beats
Just what I think.

[brooklyneast05]

yeah but that kinda makes no sense to me. i mean it isn't singing, so why compare it to singing? it's like saying the drums suck because they don't sound like a good flute, to me.

[ReggieM]

to each his own, but still wheres the respect.

[fameONE]

Most of you know that I'm one of the resident advocators of HipHop and I proudly stand behind the genre, its origins, the future and the movements to come. The thread hit key points and was well written. It could've explored the sub-genres of HipHop a bit more, in order to 'dumb it down' to those who are completely ignorant to HipHop.

Not everyone is going to like HipHop, nor will everyone be able to relate to it, but to say that its crap based on what the oblivious masses enjoy. I can't stand the Soulja Boy song and dance but I don't write off an entire genre as being completely useless. Freedom of speech is supported, but ignorance is not.

Broaden your horizons.

[dustbunny]

Jedi mind tricks and nujabes are some other artist that hold thier own with the intellectual stand point.

mmm nujabes

[fameONE]

mmm nujabes

Modal Soul is tight, but I'm a Samurai Champloo freak, so I can't get enough of Arurian Dance.

[S-Majere]

Freedom of speech is supported, but ignorance is not.

Cute, but don't assume everyone who dislikes rap to be ignorant of it!

[fameONE]

Cute, but don't assume everyone who dislikes rap to be ignorant of it!

Its not a matter of someone disliking it. I love hiphop and dislike a lot of what I hear these days. But to disrespect the entire genre and say its crap because of some garbage mainstream artist is pretty ignorant.

[S-Majere]

I'm not dismissing rap on the basis of mainstream artists - that could be ignorant, aye. (Though TBH, mainstream and more underground rap should be separate genres. It would save on the classification of crapness!)

I had to do a project on Jedi Mind Tricks for an English assessment - my lecturer was into them, no comment - whereby we pulled apart songs and delved into the meaning behind the lyrics. I found it pretentious rather than insightful. But hey, different people, different tastes.

[fameONE]

I'm not dismissing rap on the basis of mainstream artists - that could be ignorant, aye. (Though TBH, mainstream and more underground rap should be separate genres. It would save on the classification of crapness!)

I had to do a project on Jedi Mind Tricks for an English assessment - my lecturer was into them, no comment - whereby we pulled apart songs and delved into the meaning behind the lyrics. I found it pretentious rather than insightful. But hey, different people, different tastes.

Thats the beauty of HipHop; diversity.

Soulja Boy is not in the same category as Jedi Mind Tricks, and neither are on the same plateau as Common. Each of the three has a different target audience but its still HipHop. I'm not convincing you to like HipHop, I could care less if anyone does for that matter. I just don't understand, nor appreciate when people that don't love HipHop hate on it based on their lack of understanding.

[HoodNigga]

The funny thing is the same people who say rap is crap can name more rappers than I can artists from their favorite genre. I wonder why? Its because I don't give a fuck what people listen too and its because I just don't give a shit about that genre. Or maybe its the fact that Rap is so dominant its become an eminent part of today's culture.

Like it or not, Rap must be doing something right. After all it has your attention, and as long as it has that, it wont be going nowhere for quite sometime.


*goes back to listening to the number 1 song in the U.S.A.*
Flo Rida ft. Tpain - Low

[fameONE]

The funny thing is the same people who say rap is crap can name more rappers than I can artists from their favorite genre. I wonder why? Its because I don't give a fuck what people listen too and its because I just don't give a shit about that genre. Or maybe its the fact that Rap is so dominant its become an eminent part of today's culture.

Like it or not, Rap must be doing something right. After all it has your attention, and as long as it has that, it wont be going nowhere for quite sometime.
*goes back to listening to the number 1 song in the U.S.A.*
Flo Rida ft. Tpain - Low

CHUUUUCH!

I went to sleep to Nujabes and woke up to Gorilla Zoe.