Why is there such snobbery towards Hip-Hop?

[Sangreal Gothcraft]

The new stuff is Rubbish, Give me N.W.A anytime over 50 Cent Kayne and Lil wayne.. Eminiem is alright as well, well his older stuff and SNoop dog other than that...yeah...what ever.

 

[zehydra]

It definitely is music, it's just music without some pretty important parts compared with most other music. Namely, Melody/Harmony.

To me, rap is little more than poetry to a beat. Music can be so much more than that.

Even the rhythms in most rap are fairly unimpressive.

 

[BX3]

Well, judging from some of these comments, the answer is simple. People are given a sample of hip-hop through means like radio, TV or word of mouth and conclude "Yeah, that's the extent. Well I don't want none-o' that." Not their fault. Good hip-hop doesn't sell well, so we really have no one to blame but the consumers for stating with their wallets that this is what we want in our hip-hop/rap.

You know what amuses me a little? The people that type "Yeah, I don't like rap, but this particular song is pretty awesome." They seem to think the song they're complimenting is the exception. Heh, heh... ahh....

 

[Treeinthewoods]

Hip Hop isn't done right anymore. You have to work really hard to make your Hip Hop song enjoyable, which apparently no one had trouble with in the 90's. Now it's just all about *cough* dark-skinned individuals performing drive-by's in pimped cars gunning down scantily clad prostitutes.

No, no it is not all about pimped cars, slapping bitches and murdering people.

Spoiler: Talib Kweli

Spoiler: Aesop Rock

Spoiler: El-P

Spoiler: Mr. Lif

Hip-hop is poetry, musical poetry on the level of Robert Frost when done well. Dismissing the entire genre because of 50 cent is like writing off metal as terrible because of Sepultura or... some other terrible metal band. Whoever.

 

[MaxwellEdison]

Because
a) Most mainstream artists *really* suck.
b) The stereotype of rap is really pervasive. Not commenting on the forums here, but I have seriously seen people just here a beat, nothing else, and comment on how rap is all about money and sex. It's kinda hilarious, actually.

 

[Jegsimmons]

i am a former listener of hip hop before i switched to heavy metal
the reason i stopped was because i got sick of the egotism, the misogyny, the poor lyrical skills, and the dreadful music and beats associated with it. I found it to be hollow and one not with few exceptions.

also, when new songs that use the word "ego" as a bad replacement for "dick", you tend to not get my respect as a musical artist. Also, club music is old already, get something new!

 

[AMMO Kid]

Rap/Hippity-Hop more rhythmic based with no music. That's why it takes so much stick in the butt for trying to call itself music. I don't mind rap being divided into songs or beats, as long as that fat kid at my college doesn't try to convince me that rap is music that speaks to his soul...

 

[Nouw]

Gorillaz got me into a bit of trip-hop and alternative but a certain mashup really got me into the Beastie Boys. I love them! Their attitude, enthusiasm and hooks are irresistible. Not your usual rappers.

Being a tad more on topic, Hip-Hop is picked on because it's easy to stereotype the genre using the mainstream music. It annoys me that people can't love all genres, just look at my avatar. It's Daft Punk!

 

[z121231211]

I don't like rap and hip-hop mostly because I don't like lyric heavy tracks and even then I get bored quickly with break-beats.

I'm not going to assume it's all the gangster/club/top 40 stuff I hear, but that's really all I heard.

one of my three favourite genres with ... and techno.

Love Techno, can't get enough of it. Do you listen to hardgroove? Because that's the only genre I could really identify other than hard techno (I mostly listen to house).

 

[TheVioletBandit]

For some reason I really want to like hip hop or rap. Still, even though I have tried out a great deal of artists I haven't found anything I like. The sexism, the arrogance, the materialism, and the glorification of all the baser desires ruins it for me. I haven't been able to find anything original, meaningful or thought-provoking in any of it, and I have listened to tons of recommendations where people claimed all these things were prevalent.

 

[Axyun]

Not a fan of the braggadocio lifestyle typically associated with hip hop. It's hard for me to find hip hop songs with themes that resonate with me. I care little for gangsters, poverty, guns, bitches, or belittling others.

It's funny that I've lived a good chunk of my childhood in the types of neighborhoods and environments most of these faux-gangsters brag about yet I have absolutely no desire to be associated with or glorify them.

 

[Oilerfan92]

I just don't identify with it at all. Im an emotionally unstable white guy. I identify more with bands like Pearl Jam and System Of A Down then any sort of hip hop. It's entirely based on me enjoyingnthings that I can connect to. Yea, I do make cracks and all that at other genres, but deep down I don't really care, if that's what younlike then by all means enjoy it.

 

[Switchblade 327]

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

People are dismissive of hip-hop because it requires no actual talent or creativity, is AT IT'S BEST poetry (though, usually, it isn't), and because many of the people who like it are the same kind of people who don't have jobs, do drugs regularly, and live in Section-8 housing (or are upper-middle class, suburban white pricks, but that's just as big a pain as the aforementioned gang-bangers).

However, as with any genre of mu-... Of art, there is both good and bad rap. I don't particularly care for much of it, but I can tolerate some. Anything that gets played on the radio is garbage, though. Ten words and one fucking melody for three minutes is not a goddamn fucking song, it's a waste of public attention -.-

 

[cdstephens]

Same reason there's snobbery towards video games. It's new and seen as a menace to society.

 

[M-E-D The Poet]

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

 

[Radelaide]

Generally because it's pretty terrible. Unless it's Australian Hip-Hop, which is awesome on like... 19 levels.


If you don't like bad language, you're probably in the wrong thread and thus shouldn't press play.

 

[M-E-D The Poet]

why are people so dismissive of Hip-Hop?

People are dismissive of things that they don't understand. Rap music has musical rules that are not widely understood, even by many fans and educated musicians. It's the same reason why people are dismissive about pop music, opera, sumo wrestling, synchronised swimming, and so forth. To the casual observer who has no real interest, these things often look daft. To someone educated in that context, they take on a lot of meaning. Don't hold your breath waiting for rap to be understood. Metal is a lot older and is only just about to break that cultural barricade. When Ice Cube gets to retirement age you can probably expect some change around about then, but he's the same age as me and I'm not ready to retire yet.

Oh and to clarify the difference between "rap" and "hip-hop", because not many people in this thread know what they're talking about and are spreading incorrect information:

Rap = a vocal style. Also a musical style, where rapping is involved.

Hip-hop = a cultural movement that encompasses rap music AND breakdancing, beatboxing, DJing and certain grafitti styles.

The words are semi-interchangeable, but not completely. All rap is hip-hop, but not all hip-hop is rap. Make sense?

Further education:

No, I'm going to argue against this, this is the same as why some people confuse Rythm'n blues with rythm'n beats

Things both in rap alone but also in mainstream hiphop have flooded into the "gangbanger" Aesthetic way too much, Hiphop lives your video says, No hiphop died when artists like AIM got beat down in a generation switch to a true musical ear like mine, open to everything, I can see the beauty that hiphop can have, Army of pharaos,Jedi Mind tricks, these are the signs of some revival at the moment but they're feign and nobody but the alternative are looking at it

Hiphop as based of gangfighting is what people loathe, this is a subconscious loathing in it though

The entire "ho's and bitches" style if you want.

When rap means something, when hiphop means something.
When it represents values other than GANGS.
When the graffiti is artists working their best to do what they can to be original, not just to claim teritory, when the rap has some lyrical value, when breakdance battles don't get people killed
That's when hiphop is reborn

I posted AIM in another post of mine, I'll give you Jedi Mind Tricks
A taste of such a revival

an example for it would be Caparezza and artists assorted to his kind in the country of italy
In Italy the big mainstream hiphop artist is what he himself calls "the anti-hiphop"
Every rap is about the state of the country or the world

A taste of actual revival for you would be this :

These artists are what hiphop should be, the way it would speak for people to actually find it worth something artistically/culturally