What do you think of rap?

[AliasBot]

Like any music genre, there is good rap and bad rap - it might not be your favorite genre, but if you don't like a song simply because it's rap, you're not giving it a fair chance.

My main issue is with "mainstream" rap...or rap that appears in pop music, at any rate. Very rarely are raps in pop songs beneficial in any way to the song itself, either musically or lyrically, and seem tacked on just for the sake of having a rap. There are exceptions, of course: perhaps my favorite rapping occurs in Gym Glass heroes' Stereo Hearts, where the rap (which actually forms the bulk of most stanzas, rather than just popping up for the bridge - the song is built around the rap, not the other way around, but it combines the rapping and the singing very well) is both aesthetically pleasing and lyrically clever ("The last girl that played me left a couple tracks/I used to- used to- used to- Now I'm over that").

As for pure rap songs...I'll admit, it isn't a genre I have explored particularly thoroughly. Whether it's a truly representative sample or not, the majority of pure rap I've heard is excessively lewd and crass for the sake of it (a big turn-off for me) without any of the more expansive wordplay that rap allows for. If anyone could suggest some good rap that doesn't have these faults, I'm all ears, but it's not something I'd actively go out of my way to look for.

And then there's guys like Dan Bull, who I don't know enough about rap to try to define, but are a bit different from the mainstream and can be very enjoyable to listen to because of some of those differences.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that there's enough variety in rap that ignoring it due to certain stereotypes about it is, well, ignorant. Rap isn't my favorite genre, but I respect the form, there's rap that I enjoy, and I like the potential for lyrical freedom that song can lack at times. I wish I could gather my thoughts a bit better, but it's 3 AM and my mind isn't exactly working at optimum capacity at the moment (whether that has something to do with the unnecessary amount of 'big' words I used or not, I'm not sure).

 

[SageRuffin]

Honestly, I think anyone in this thread that is generalizing hip hop as "gangsta" needs to listen to the following:

Atmostphere
MF DOOM
Chance The Rapper
Action Bronson
Danny Brown
Canibus
Count Bass D
El-P
Aesop Rock


The problem people seem to have is that they expect the radio/MTV to debut good music of any genre. Please stop making this mistike.

A few notes, if I may...

Atmosphere is atmos-awesome. I've been listening to them since I heard one of their songs in THUG2. Slug, the lyricist, has mellowed quite a bit since the days of "Overcast", but he still has his fits of rage about any and everything before essentially saying "fuck this shit" and slinking off to his home and "sits in the corner and drinks until he slurs and drools."

"God Loves Ugly" is definitely one of their best albums. Check it out.

MF Doom is... interesting, to say the least. For starters, he's a bit monotone, much like Guru from Gang Starr. But, he's a fair bit more "nerd-friendly" than most rappers. "The Mouse and the Mask" is a great album, if only for the classic [adult swim] references.

Canibus is kinda hit-or-miss due to his lyrics consisting of the usual "I'm a beast on the mic" combined with subject matter found in a collegiate Science textbook ("Arctic geography is conducive to astronomy/In the study of celestial bodies./Follow me."). It doesn't always make sense ("Systematic global geographic systemic neosynapses/Reload the graphics/Notice I spit it rappin'."), but somehow he makes it work. He's also one of a few rappers who can't seem to find a decent producer worth a damn.

I don't like El-P. He comes off as trying too hard to sound "smart" and so it comes out forced half the time. But that's just me. :/

Aesop Rock has a very unconventional rhyming style. He's a bit like Masta Killa of the Wu-Tang Clan, but even more off-beat, so to speak. He also tends to rap pretty fast; not quite the speed of Bone Thugs `n Harmony, but you may not get all of what he's saying on the first go. Still, like MF Doom he's a bit more "nerd-friendly" with his off-hand references to such things like Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Dragonball Z.

Again, this is all personal observation; as you can see, I've been around. Feel free to disregard this post if you'd like.

 

[RaikuFA]

Question, is The Left Rights considered rap? Or are they not? Just listen to "I'm on Crack" or "White".

 

[Amakusa]

Generally i don't like Rap. However i do like certain old groups from that Genre. Mainly Public Enemy, NWA and Run Dmc. Public Enemy especially because of their lyrics, they don't sing crappy music.

 

[chinangel]

is it epic rap battles of history? No? Then it's just noise too me.

 

[JazzJack2]

As someone realitvely ignorant of the genre I feel obliged to ask: If most wrap music is good, then why do the radio stations almost exclusively play the shallow bitches and hoes and shooting up shit songs?

The same can be said about any genre,

If most rock music is good, then why do the radio stations almost exclusively play the shallow love and heartbreak shit songs?

If most electronic music is good, then why do the radio stations almost exclusively play the shallow 'wub-wub' and 'sickdrop' shit songs?

etc

 

[Gmans uncle]

I used to absolutely despise it, especially in high school, I just couldn't stand it 'cause I thought it was all the same.

Then I started listening to Gorillaz, not a rap group by any stretch of the imagination, but a group that uses rap as a component of their music allot...

Spoiler: Suddenly rap was awesome

That first exposure lead to a much more open mind when it comes to rap and the use in music thereof, in addition to introducing me to quite a few artists themselves through their various collaborations.
That being said, my attitude towards rap today is similar to that of country: there's allot of terrible stuff out there, but the genera itself is ripe with possibilities and talent if you're willing to take the time and look.

 

[JazzJack2]

The general lack of melody and tonality means that it is not only mundane and overly-repetitive, but it also means millions of artists have a very similar sound too (much like scremo metal).

A)Melody and tonality are overrated

B)In what way does rap lack tonality or melody? unless you're listening to noise rap or hip-hop that is very stripped back (I.E just drum beats and rapping) you will most likely find rap does have tonality and melody.

 

[JazzJack2]

90% of the time rap is just rap - talking or shouting - and vocally there's often very little melody underneath the vocal.

That's because rap isn't supposed to be melodic, it's about rhythm, the melody usually comes from a backing instrument.

Tonality is very similar, vocally a lot of rappers sound exactly the same. Play me Mick Jagger, Axl Rose, Ozzy Osbourne, Liam Gallagher, Kurt Cobain, Robert Plant, Micheal Jackson, James Brown, Freddy Mercury, Johnny Rotten, Meat Loaf, even pop dross like Robbie Williams and from the tone their voices have because they are singing I can instantly recognize who it is. With the majority of rap artists it's far harder to define.

Not sure what that has to with tonality though, but anyway if you where to listen to rap on a regular basis you would see that Rappers sound very different from each other and in my opinion they are far more vocally diverse than rock singers.

 

[JazzJack2]

Aye that may be so, but that's why I don't like it - for me to enjoy something a lead melody is key, otherwise it feels like an action move without a plot. Some people enjoy that type of stuff, but I can't stick it.

Well that's a depressingly narrow view of music.

They sound far, far more similar to each other than melodic singers and scientifically that's a fact as singers are use more muscles in their body to contort their sound. It's like having a graphics pallet of 16 colours for rappers, 1000 colours for singers.

Just look at the exercises the likes of Luciano Pavarotti does compared to P Diddy, there's no wonder Pavarotti's sound is so unique because it's a sound developed over 10-15 years of training and performing. Rappers will never reach that level of uniqueness.

But that's not how variation in people's voices develop, it comes from regional accents, how they inflect their words and how their vocal chords develop. It's stupid to suggest singers somehow have a monopoly on unique vocal qualities, I mean are you going to tell me someone like Churchill has a samey sounding voice because he did not sing? that would be absurd.

 

[JazzJack2]

True, and I'm not saying that they can't be recognizable. But the point I am making is that they sound far similar to each other on the whole than most singers. Nearly every single singer has a unique sound, whereas loads of rappers just sound the same.

You admit you don't like rap so how can you have listened to enough to judge they sound samey? And perhaps most second rate rappers DO sound samey but the same can be said about most second rate singers. There are plenty of generic carbon copy singers out there and while you could argue that most truly great singers will all have their own unique style the same can be said about most great rappers, please tell me how MC Ride, TuPac and Eminem all sound the same because I'd love to hear it.

The thing is you can't be an average singer (without being modded in the mix) and have your voice appear on the radio, whereas with rap you can (and often do) because it's about lyrics and not melody.

I hear generic average singers on the radio everyday, and I don't see your point anyway, are you saying most rappers get away with worse singing than most singers could do? well no shit Sherlock they're not singers they're rappers.

 

[piinyouri]

I can see that you don't see my point, let me try explaining it another way. The "art" of rapping does not require a person to train their body to the extent that it does for a singer to sing well.

If you've heard this, then ignore this post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpP-8tJ-9Js

That's some pretty impressive breath control yeah? He's not necessarily utilizing it the same way a traditional singer might, but isn't it difficult to argue that it's not there?

I'm getting loopy, prolly need to head to bed. T_T

 

[JazzJack2]

Not once have I ever heard MC Ride, TuPac and Eminem and they have rapped something in a way which would make them stand out if they rapped it in a foreign language. However I've heard many singers sing something in a way which would make them stand out if they had.

In what way do they not stand out? it would be near impossible to mistake any of those artists for anyone else or to mistake anyone else for them.

I can see that you don't see my point, let me try explaining it another way. The "art" of rapping does not require a person to train their body to the extent that it does for a singer to sing well. That's not saying there aren't poor singers out there, that's saying that there's no rappers with a mind-blowing tone due to the very nature of rap, whereas there are singers which have.

Again people do not typically need to train themselves to have a unique tone to their voice and it is something they develop from a very young age. Singing has nothing to with the tone of your voice (again I refer to people that have famous voices that never sung in their life, eg Churchill) and there plenty of rappers out there with amazing and interesting qualities to there voice and the way they deliver it.

Hence why I originally said rapping tonality puts me off the music.

Erm you seem to be confused as to what tonality means, tonality in music does not refer to the tone in the sense of how something is delivered (the linguistic sense) but in sense of pitch relationships.