Why is there such snobbery towards Hip-Hop?

[Thespian]

TLDR; why are people so dismissive of Hip-Hop? It's a legitimate genre of music, and a legitimate art form.

Exactly. I personally don't consider it a favourite, nor do I listen to it all that often, but I can certainly see the value in both it's passionate lyrics and thumping beats as well as the more melancholic song. Rap is every bit as legitimate a form of music as classical, or jazz.

 

[Epic Fail 1977]

I must admit that, to my "uneducated" ears, rap and hip hop music sound like a right load of crap. I mean there are no notes, unless they're sampled from someone else's song, and WTF is with the lyrics? Most songs deal with universal things like love, loss, and so on. But hip hop? As far as I can tell, hip hop is a bunch of random rhyming words which, on the rare occasion that they make any sense at all, are mostly just about me me me me me (i.e. the person singing).

then you've never heard this kind of hiphop before.

then this is with an actual rapper attached to it

Quote me if you know what either song is about, I'll show you how prejudiced some people can be

OK, I forced myself to listen to the second one all the way through. A rather irritating and repetitive racket IMO, but I did it for science. There's no melody, and the words were hard for me to make out, but it sounded like he was rapping about nightclubs, parties, and being out late?

So... is this the part where you show me how prejudiced I am?

It's a song about drug abuse and suicide.

Are you scared? : hardly.. , new life next party
This refers to the way people view their life in such an aggraved negative context
just a simple out-take

Also punk rock and modern rock are almost always based around 4 simple chords

Okay, that does seem like something worth singing about.

As for the chords, 4 > 0.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Hip hop still exists!? I'll admit I am a little out of it. I haven't listened to any new music since like 2000. This comes as a surprise to me.

 

[The Diabolical Biz]

Question: Does that apply to modern usage, at all? You don't see Led Zeppelin or Steppenwolf on the list of early metal bands these days, even though Led Zeppelin was considered heavy metal at the time, and Steppenwolf actually named the genre with a line in their song "Born to be Wild."

Edit: I quoted the wrong person; this was supposed to be in response to the guy who said I was wrong about Rap and Hip Hop being interchangeable terms in modern parlance. I'd fix it, but since The Escapist wouldn't send him a notification anyway, my best bet is just to hope he notices it. Anyway, not only do I not disagree with the quoted post, it's pretty much re-stating what I said earlier, but in a better way and with more elaboration.

Oh right I was just gonna ask you to rephrase your question because I had no idea what you were talking about!

Glad we agree, I was somewhat baffled.

 

[Stu35]

Now I LOVE Hip-Hop, it's one of my favourite genres and I listen to it probably every day. So it frankly pisses me off when some people (and I must stress, SOME) start saying that rap isn't real music

It isn't.

or that it isn't worth their time,

It isn't.

thinking they're better than those that listen to it.

I am.


These are personal opinions, I'm entitled to them, so you can be as pissed off as you want, I don't care:

 

[Jonluw]

My personal opinion?
I don't care much about lyrics. I like music, and hip hop generally isn't pleasurable to listen to. There are some people who can do it well, like Gorillaz, but they're few and far between.

I also dislike the general attitude displayed in the lyrics. The whole self glorification thing and gender attitudes. And the whole "cool gangstas", "we're awesome because we are criminals" thing puts me off.
And then there's the fact that the fans of the genre generally act like twats. They take the messages in the music to heart and go around tagging. Ugh.

I wish to listen to skillful people doing skillful things on their instruments while making pleasing sounds. Not some asshole stuttering about how he has taken a bullet and likes to hit women.
<youtube=yI-1sq5dFD4>

 

[Mrmac23]

I don't find the style very appealing. All i hear is nonsensical lyrics spoken over a rather uninteresting beat. Not sung, spoken. I think that's my major problem with it, they're not really singing. They're just speaking in rhythm. I like my singers to actually sound like they're making music than just talking oddly. I think i've also been programmed a bit with the mainstream rappers; you know, the ones who just spew shit about bitches and hoes and gang life and such.

I'm a middle class, posh-sounding Brit. It's probably not my audience.

 

[DracoSuave]

Let X be a genre of music.

X has examples that are commercialized, and X has examples that are not mainstream.
X can be shit, X can be good.

The acid test I use is this: Is it being marketted to 14 year old boys or girls? If yes, probably should avoid.

 

[Gloomsta]

I hardly consider Hip Hop a form of Rap anymore.

Before you consider things.

You have to know that:

Rap is part of Hip Hop, not the other way round.

Rapping is done by the MC/Rapper/Vocalist.

The music is made by the producer and DJ.

Its not hard to learn.

 

[The Diabolical Biz]

Because everyone thinks hiphop=tough gangstas yo. Which is on par with comparing Justin Bieber to Frank Sinatra.


What about Jurassic 5? They rap about loving women (not dumb bitches suckin on ther D) and rap about how well they rap. Pharcyde, Beastie Boys, Run-DMC, House of Pain...there's lots of it.

I don't get why people don't like that kind of self-glorification, but are ok when a metalsinger sings about him being a viking lord killing gargoyles.

Plus a lot of it is so tongue-in-cheek it's painful when people don't get it.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Why do I dislike Hip-Hop? Here are my reasons:

1. Most of it honestly sounds the same to me. There's only so much you can do with a beat when it has little to no instrumental accompaniment.

2. The lyrics usually glorify adolescent power fantasies of inner city life and drug culture as well as objectifying women. It's hard to take a genre seriously when it seems to have a fetish for tokin' up, cappin' cops and bangin' ho's.

3. There's an underlying hypocrisy of it all when I stop and think about it. After all, I don't think successful Hip-Hop artists are "keeping it real in the 'hood" anymore. They're probably too busy buying their fourth yacht to park in their multi-story mansion in the suburbs for that.

4. Back when I was in school most of the students who listened to Hip-Hop were total douchebags. They were a bunch of spoiled white kids that would tease anyone outside their douchebag clique with shit-eating grins on their smug faces. I soon developed a correlation between the two and tried to avoid both them and their music whenever possible. Yes it's dumb and petty to hold a grudge like that against an entire music genre, but old habits are hard to break.

In spite of all this, I try my best to reserve judgement. Some Hip-Hop songs I've listened to have actually been pretty decent, and I don't automatically hate someone just because they like the genre.

 

[-KC-]

I totally accept that rap and hip-hop are music. It seems stupid to me to suggest otherwise. But it's very niche on the grand scale of things. And while it is a tad successful, it still has masses of very unlikable points that make it impossible for it to be a much bigger hit than it already is.

Basically the culture behind it, and popular subject matters turn off a lot of would be fans... I mean I like a lot of rap, but I'd never ever find myself a die-hard fan of it. I hate the culture behind rap and hip-hop...

So don't get me wrong by thinking that I hate rap and hip-hop, because I don't... Rap has been douchey pretty much since it began, hip-hop started off cool, but is definitely more douchey... And this rapper culture is spreading to other genre's of black music as well. R&B seems to be going down the same path.

Let me explain something to you, ppl like you will never understand because you can't differ Rap from Hip-hop. Hip-Hip is a musical culture which involves rap in it, Hip-hop ain't music, thats culture which consists of graffiti, DJing, MCing (aka rap-ing), breakdancing and Beatbox-ing.

Peace out.

 

[Methe]

Most of the most popular stuff in hip-hop (also contemporary R&B) is also some of the worst stuff - that's why a lot of people don't like it. Of course, there's a whole world of hip-hop out there and a hell of a lot of it is utterly fantastic, it's not as diverse as rock or electronic music but I think that is more to do with its relatively young age than anything else.

For those of you can't get into hip-hop then there are plenty of ways to do so. 1) You could look for one or two mainstream rappers that catch your attention - I generally don't like the mainstream of hip-hop but I enjoy a lot of Kanye West's stuff, and some people I know hate all hip-hop but Eminem. Some people I know also like only individual UK rappers (eg Plan B, before he stopped rapping).

If the lyrical content of mainstream bugs you then just find a rapper who raps in a different language, it'll illustrate the importance of flow, rapping style and the beats without burdening you with the actual lyrical content! I think French hip-hop is a burgeoning scene, though I've not really checked it out myself.

2) Look to the past. There's a clean but kitschy feeling about 80s hip-hop which is quite enjoyable (though completely lacking in any edge whatsoever!) and the early 90s stuff before rap really hit the mainstream is a bit more hard edged, with some of the gangland themes of the tedious 50 Cent BS that followed. The difference is that it's not self-conscious, it's less faked and it's, quite frankly, musically a lot better. Lots of people like the Wu Tang Clan, why not look there?

3) Go underground. This is what I did. Just look around for something, maybe start off with rappers that are popular in some circles but not part of the hip-hop mainstream (MF Doom, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien etc etc) and then delve deeper into obscure rappers no-one's ever heard of - quite often they're still better than most of the mainstream.

Christ, you even start with some subgenres of comedy rap, like nerdcore or chap-hop, they may be completely lacking in street cred but

There's a lot to hip-hop, it's not one of my main things, but you sure as hell can't dismiss it all - it's not one of my "main things" (at least yet) but it's clear that there's a hell of a lot there. In a genre as large as hip-hop there WILL be something you like in it. No genre is bad, even if you generally don't like it, there will be something there that will catch your interest if you look long enough.

 

[capper42]

<youtube=ZikWfrGG9kU>

Although not their best song, I think this does quite a good job of explaining what's wrong with a lot of hiphop at the moment.

 

[edgecult]

Ok to be honest at least for me is I can't stand it's fans. That's it's biggest drop for me. The hordes of obnoxious little white kids cursing the pigment of the skin I went through school with.. ugh... flashbacks are still jarring.. I had to see far to many peoples boxers and ass than I'm comfortable with before noon 5 days a week. anyway.. yeah the fans are the biggest blow to this genre for me.

I have no real issues with at least some of it. It's got it's good and bads as with any genre of music. I'm a metal head at heart but doesn't stop me from enjoying my Gorrilaz cd's (which has been getting more rap than rock as they keep going)Though that's about it. It's just not my taste in the end.

Otherwise hmm.. the videos might also be sort of jarring to people. Coming across as some juivinile fantasy life that some would find sorta meh I guess. Otherwise you touched enough on the other issues I think people have with it. -shrug- It's a legit style of music in the end. Just not everyone's flavor in music.

 

[VladG]

Now I know some rap has its problems, like Lil Wayne and 50 Cent being derogatory to women and the sheer idiocy of the Insane Clown Posse, but how can you lump that nonsense with the golden age rap of Public Enemy, Grandmaster Flash and the like or the more alternative stuff of Tyler The Creator or Immortal Technique? Hip-hop is a valid art form just like other genres of music.

Immortal Technique? Really? You call that the "golden age of rap"? Have you heard the song Dance with the Devil by Immortal Technique? It's about rape/incest. smh

Yes, but it's not glorifying it, quite the contrary. Immortal Technique's work is generally strong on social commentary and the delivery is appropriately gritty.

Guess my thoughts on the matter were best summarized by Chris Rock: I love hip hop, but I'm tired of defending it


Actually, what the heck, gonna post this in anyway: I'm an avid hip-hop fan. Like, I very rarely listen to anything else. Not because I dislike it, simply because I love hip hop so much that there's little time for me to listen to anything else.

That being said, I hate exactly what most people who dislike rap hate about it too: lyrics usually glorify adolescent power fantasies of inner city life and drug culture as well as objectifying women, underlying hypocrisy of it all, the "ghetto" culture, etc.

That is not what this music is about. It's only it's latest "public" face. I fucking hate 50 Cent, I consider most of his work garbage. He's just one example. And yet I still love hip hop with a burning passion, because for every 50 Cent out there, there are 3 less known Killah Priests (don't let the name fool you, listen for example to "From Then Till Now" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm-jkqwz2HM, a song that's against all that crap above), Aesop Rocks and Sage Francis... eeer... 'es

Basically what I'm saying is don't judge the whole genre based on a few examples. I understand why you don't like it. But try to understand why we DO like it before judging.

 

[FernandoV]

It's the same reason people hate on metal (and within the metal community, the hate on the various sub-genres), drone, noise, pop, etc. Because they don't like it and often don't listen to a lot of it so they decide it's all the same and terrible and awful.

Not quite. You can't comment on the musical skill needed to make metal. Neither can you call the surrounding culture low.

Rap and hiphop however, don't take a lot of musical skill to make. You don't need to play any instruments let alone master them, you don't have to understand how multiple melodies and themes combine, you don't need to be able to understand consonant and dissonant tones, etc etc.

And the culture surrounding it is just plain stupid. It is aimed at people who can not succeed in life, and thus exhaust the sparce resources they have on shallow things. And over time it's actually grown to take that for granted.

And quite frankly there's no dismissing those objections either, all men having to act all evil, stupid and tough even though you could probably lay them on their back in five minutes, and all women having to behave like cheap whores.

I cannot find one point in here that isn't born of ignorance.

 

[FernandoV]

I've noticed on here that people are saying 'I don't like it because o~f what they rap about, they all rap about the same thing', but this is incredibly naive. People are generalising hip-hop and ignoring all the truly great stuff out there. You wouldn't say all rock lyrics are the same so I don't know why its OK to do so for hip-hop.

Because behind every stereotype is an unconfortable truth... 90% of the hip-hop or rap music considered popular, is usually shallow and unintelligible. Sure hip-hop has produced a few diamonds in the past... You can't say as a genre it plays on its strengths all that well.

I can actually. There's so much to appreciate, even in the mainstream stuff. You're harping on some outdated hipster sentiment on a genre that you obviously don't understand.