Is rap crap?

[Raijer]

Originally posted by Pontiuth Pilate
Pre-recording synth chords, bass licks, and drumbeats and looping them over and over again ad nauseam [literally] is NOT a sign that some innovative kids have discovered a great new way to utilize technology to make "music". It's a sign that the dropouts never got past page 7 in their guitar chordbook and don't know any other way to write music.

People have been mistaking inept plagiarism for imagination since the beginning of time!

Your anti-rap rant shows more a talent for bias rather than a firm grasp of music making. To discount one type of music, simply because the composer is using loop technology rather than playing the riff over and over manually on a more "traditional" instrument strikes me as a bit odd, if not hypocritical. A vast majority of music is based on repetiton of themes and ideas, especially Blues, which forms the foundation on which almost all pop, rock, R&B, and rap owe allegiance. Here, the riff has always been king, and the means to get there have been largely expanded due to technology.

Frankly, this unstudied, easy dismissal of rap based on a loathing of the samplers and computers largely used to create it is nothing more than muscial amishism. The list of the creative use of samples, loops and such in the creation and/or arrangemnent of music is long and distinguished, whether or not this fact is recognized by you. Open your mind. There's plenty of good music out there, including a lot of hip-hop and rap.

 

[Karl Lenin]

@Pontiuth Pilate.

Bah.

Skills are for a musician what handwriting is for a writer. Knowing chords has nothing to do with how good music you can write. Complicated or simplistic use of instruments isn't what makes the music goog or bad. Rap artists have "crews" nowadays. Your taste in music does probably suck.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

Well a lot of music that young people have embraced has been dismissed as not being music or for moral reasons making it all the even more apealing to some. Rock n Roll was once considered sinfull noise so its ironic that a metal fan would dismiss rap for those reasons when artist from both genres tend to use non civilized means to express their emotions in their lyrics. Of course the old fogey attitude towards music will be past down or people will just have no respect for somthing they are not into.

 

[aaminion00]

Say what you will Pontiuth Pilate, but I still find it funny that you, the 70's rock fan that you are, dislike rap because of the drugs involved.

 

[The Person]

Originally posted by Pontiuth Pilate
Oh... techno is music, but it's marginal sometimes...

Funny that techno has barely been mentioned in this thread. I like techno better than rock, with rap lowest down on the list. Though there are some good rap songs. It all depends on the song, not the genre.

 

[Sims2789]

it has good rythem, but the constant rascist, sexist, homophobic, anti-intellectual and pro-gang statements made by these "musicians" is intolerable. it doesn;t have to be nice and happy, but quit saying fag, whitie, n*****, b****, as well as many other things. i actually listen to Eminems good songs, but that's about it. people say he's a homophobe, but the songs i have heard of them aren't like that. most rap "songs" include at least part of this basic message: "whities suck, white people are rascist, women are whores, i'm tough because i was to afraid to fight with my fists so i pulled out a gun on some n*****, gays suck, it's white people's fault that my family was poor, it's there fault for everything." so basically 99% of rap "music" is in my mind unlistenable, but i do not support sensoring it as some conservative nuts support doing. as my grandfather said, "Rap music is an oxymoron."

 

[Eklektikos]

Most rap is godawful drek, as is most rock, jazz, blues, dance, electronica, country, etc. I'm willing to bet that most of the music composed during the eras of the legendary figures of classical music was dire too, but that those no-marks have largely been forgotten by this point in time. All styles of music do contain a minority of interesting and worthwhile artists, however; it's just a matter of getting to hear them.

 

[thestonesfan]

I used to feel bad about slapping my hoes, but rap made me realize that it's okay.

 

[Eklektikos]

Should I even ask what it is that you have against innocent garden implements?

 

[Aggie]

Originally posted by Eklektikos
Most rap is godawful drek, as is most rock, jazz, blues, dance, electronica, country, etc. I'm willing to bet that most of the music composed during the eras of the legendary figures of classical music was dire too, but that those no-marks have largely been forgotten by this point in time. All styles of music do contain a minority of interesting and worthwhile artists, however; it's just a matter of getting to hear them.

You are so right!!

I'm a bit of an oldie here, but I vividly can remember the first time In heard a true rap number. The Message of Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five was nothing less than a revolution. For myself I can only compare it with the first time I heard Blue Monday of New Order. It was something totally new and refreshing.

I followed the populair music scene very closely until 4 years ago and own about a 1000 CD's containing a lot of genres. For me the early ninetees were a great time music-wise. There were refreshing streams in the music scene that I liked a lot: rap, house and grunge. All of them had examples of acts that were 'only in it for the money', but dozens and dozens of great acts. It took a bit more effort to find them, but the reward was high.

There are a enough examples of well-known rap acts that I like a lot, for example: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Beasty Boys, Public Enemy, De La Soul, Gangstarr, A Tribe Called Quest, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Urban Dance Squad, Rage Against the Machine, Massive Attack, Tricky, Spearhead.

I hate most of what you hear and see on MTV these days. But they even managed to show garbage in the golden days 10 years ago Saying that a certain type of music is crap and than refer to the bulk of the music stations or video channels is.... way too easy.