What do you think of rap?

[OmniscientOstrich]

Does Gil Scott-Heron count?


No? Then no, I can't say I'm all that fond of it, or at least the vast majority of stuff that I've been introduced to and it's got nothing to do with the lyrics. Somebody brought Deltron 3030 to my attention relatively recently and I dig the songs I've heard from that, but by and large when it comes to hippety-hop I don't like how the best hook in the song is usually sampled from a better song I could be listening to instead, how unbelievably homogenized the drum beats are and how thinly spread the albums are (seriously, why do so many hip-hop albums need a minimum of like 16 tracks?). So no, I'm not really a hip-hop fan, but at the same time I don't have the fucking arrogance to assert that the genre in it's entirety is unworthy of being called music in the first place and I'm certainly open to suggestions that might give me cause for re-evaluation.

Captcha = white as snow

Captcha, why you gotta put a cracka down, man?

 

[JazzJack2]

An artists "tone" is what I'm referring too - in general rappers tones, to me, sound shite. Bland, lacklustre, generic and not in any way at all attention grabbing.

Listen to Axl Rose, Pavarotti, Freddy Mecury, Bruce Dickinson etc. and I've never heard a rapper ever do anything vocally which has wowed me as much as they have.

Do you honestly think a rapper could go on-stage with any of those and even compete vocally? Seriously?

In terms of the tone of their voice and the way the deliver it then yes definitely, in fact I know many rappers that better than all of them bar Pavarotti in terms of tone,(EDIT:But then again taste in tone and timbre is very subjective) in terms of their vocal quality in general they are incomparable because Singing is melodic and rapping is rhythmic.

 

[ThatHybridGuy]

I'm quite a big fan of rap (mostly stuff like Lupe Fiasco, Hopsin, Tech N9ne, Kendrick Lamar, Masta Artisan, probably a bunch of others)
I'm also big on nerdcore stuff (mostly Dr. Awkward and MC Frontalot).
But I do have quite a wide musical taste, though. So I'm into a lot more stuff than that.

 

[JazzJack2]

In terms of the tone of their voice and the way the deliver it then yes definitely, in fact I know many rappers that better than all of them bar Pavarotti in terms of tone, in terms of their vocal quality in general they are incomparable because Singing is melodic and rapping is rhythmic.

So, even though Bruce Dickinson's vox have a range of 4 octaves, you think that a rapper can deliver vocals better than someone who has trained his vocals and breathing to such a 1-in-a-million standard?

I didn't say a rapper could deliver better vocals (in fact I said they where incomparable) I said I know rappers with more interesting tones to their voice.

...but rap is just singing without melody.

HAHAHHAHAHA that has to be the most hilarious thing I have heard all day, your comparison between rap and singing is as silly as saying something like 'drums are just piano without melody'.

 

[JazzJack2]

Oh dear.

Erm, don't you understand how drums are/can be "piano without melody"?

Erm no? Drums and Piano are two entirely different things with different roles (although a grand piano can be turned into a percussive instrument if you mess around with the strings a bit but that's not really relevant) Your claim that singing is just inherently more complex than rapping is as stupid as saying playing piano will always be more complex than drums. (or any other example of x instrument is better than y.)

In fact do you know what musical phrasing actually is?

Yeah it's how you express a piece of music (E.g articulation and dynamics) but that has no relevance to what we're talking about

 

[Smeatza]

What do I think of rap?
What do you think of singing?

Now hip-hop, that I do like, old school and underground almost exclusively.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

I am more a fan of the lyrical than musical so if I like it I like it.

 

[DugMachine]

I don't really know artists by names but I discovered the Nujabes pandora station and it really opened up this new world of rap or hip hop to me.

I do enjoy some mainstream rap though. I like Eminem's work and Macklemore is actually quite pleasant to listen to aside from Thrift Shop.

 

[Marc Wyzomirski]

If more rap was optimistic and there were more mixed style songs then perhaps I would like it a lot more.

I actually enjoyed Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann's rap songs quite a bit.

 

[JazzJack2]

Oh dear.

Erm, don't you understand how drums are/can be "piano without melody"?

Erm no? Drums and Piano are two entirely different things with different roles (although a grand piano can be turned into a percussive instrument if you mess around with the strings a bit but that's not really relevant) Your claim that singing is just inherently more complex than rapping is as stupid as saying playing piano will always be more complex than drums. (or any other example of x instrument is better than y.)

In fact do you know what musical phrasing actually is?

Yeah it's how you express a piece of music (E.g articulation and dynamics) but that has no relevance to what we're talking about

Dude, I'm talking music basics here. I don't really know how to continue the debate if you can't grasp them??

I'll try again:

The line:
"the cat, sat on, the mat"

The phrasing:
"Ba bum, ba bum, ba bum"

Rapped:
"Ba bum, ba bum, ba bum"

Sang:
"Ba bum, ba bum, ba bum"
+
C C, G G, C C

You can play the exact same thing on a set of drums as you can a piano at a base-note level (so not a conglomeration of notes which would form a chord etc.)

It has every relevance to what we're talking about as rappers only express vocally via phrasing, singers express via both - hence why I find rap bland.

This is the most bafflingly moronic post I've ever seen, rap is not just the same phrase delivered without singing it's completely different in terms of rhythm and your comment that the drum phrase is the same as the piano phrase is also ludicrous, it may play the same rhythm but it is not the same phrase.
I'd reiterate that you're claim that rap is more simplistic than singing because it has no melody is as stupid as saying the drums are more simple than the piano because it can't play melody or the saxophone is more simple than the guitar because it can't play chords, any serious musician would bash you on the head for saying this. I'd suggest it's you who should get a basic grasp of music before you continue commenting.

 

[MasterMasamune]

Meh. Some of it's alright. As previously mentioned by other posters, most modern mainstream rap songs are the same "cash money hoes" anthem over and over, usually by members of Young Money (Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, etc.). The Beastie Boys, Eminem (before Encore, at least), Lupe Fiasco, B.o.B, Macklemore, and occasionally Kanye West are the only rap artists I can tolerate (that I know of; there are probably a lot of great artists that I don't know about).

 

[Goofguy]

I don't care at all for most rap, particularly gangster rap. Sure, there can be some clever wordplay and catchy rhythms but all in all, it's a culture and genre of music in which I have no interest.

 

[generals3]

Rap is annoying noise for me. I don't get what people like about it and I probably never will.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

Depends on the artist and the style.
I'm not overly fond of Gangsta Rap nor am I terribly keen on the self aggrandizement that a lot of modern rap tends to focus on.

That being said I like Disposable Heroes of Hiphopcracy, Del the Funky Homosapien and Reggie Watts quite a bit.
I can't say I've heard a lot of their stuff but what I've heard from Lupe Fiasco and Wiz Khalifa they're both good too.

 

[80sboy]

Being a teen in the 90s meant I fucking hated it. All the jerk offs that thought the were tough would listen to that crap, and fuck with people. Honestly, I found it as a bad influence, even though some of the music had some important message in it. It made insecure dumbass think they were G - or some shit - and it was fucking annoying dealing with those people. And there was nothing more annoying than some baggy pants wankster trying to get in your face to prove something to himself.

Dumbass Wanster: "Yo dawg? Want to go at it bro?"

Me. "Get the fuck away from me!"

Dumbass Wanster: "Yo G! You dissin' me fool? Don't be a pussy and come at me bro!"

Me: -_-

LoL

Now, I don't care. I still don't like it, but I don't hate it like I use to.