Rap

[stormtreader]

Oooookay, lets get this thing started.

I would like to put in a vote for a particular kind of rap/ghetto music being the worst music of all time. Specifically, its the songs which seems to go something like

"Bitch, wheres my money?
Youd better get that ass over here and show me some god-damned respect before i slap you good.
All you ho's better get on the floor and get freaky, cause im the man"
etc etc.

Its so hateful towards women, they dont seem to exist except to be stupid sex objects.
If anyone was to just say stuff like this, everyone would be appalled, but it seems like if you put some kind of beat behind it and have a video of a lot of women wearing very little, suddenly its fine.

When did this kind of thing become ok?

[Rapscallion]

It became OK when the guilty white liberals said "Oh, it's their culture and we cannot say anything bad about it..." or words to that effect. I'm fairly liberal, but there's no way I would deem that acceptable.

I cannot see why anyone would see it as being acceptable. The thing that really bothers me about rap music - at least the so-called hardcore stuff - is that it's supposed to represent life on the streets. I've never seen anything like that on the streets, save for occasional glimpses on Cops etc, and it certainly doesn't look glamorous. It never offers any hope for a better life - it seems that some people are more than happy to wallow in their misery and not try to better themselves.

Rapscallion

[ArenaBoy]

What bothers me about is not only the already listed reasons above, but the fact that there are folks who ARE white acting like this. Living in a nice area you'd expect these people to live a good fruitful life but when you see them dressing up and blasting their music in the car acting like they're tough you just lose faith in humanity. At basketball games, the wigger act is prevalant that we often mock them for it. These are kids driving BMWs, Mercedes, Caddilacs, and so on and they act like that they come from the streets. I had a teacher who once said that wiggers would not last a single second in the worst parts of California.

[Rapscallion]

Well, the colour of the person's skin is irrelevant. Idiocy knows no boundaries of race or culture. The youth of any era will try and define themselves.

The sixties saw many flower-print clothing and recreational chemicals - where do you see that now? Well, save when the fashion industry runs out of ideas...

The seventies saw glam rock.
The eighties saw big hair, one-shot wonders, and synthesizers.
The nineties saw ... crap, really.

Rap music will die out, though not soon enough for me. Sure, you've discovered rhyming couplets, but can we move onto something with a more complicated and interesting rhyming scheme, please? Besides, if you're constantly talking about how good you are, remember that the men who constantly talk about sex are either getting paid as doctors or aren't getting any.

Rapscallion

[MadMike]

Not sure this one should go under "music." I say that not just because I despise it, but because there usually isn't any kind of music. Just someone talking over a drum beat. My son could talk when he was two, but you didn't see him on eMpTyV.

And if they are doing it to actual music, usually it's music that was stolen from someone else. Maybe there are some rappers who actual write their own music to rap to, in which case they have my respect. I still don't care for it, but at least they're actually putting some work into it.

I can't really say much about the violent or controversial lyrics, because some of what I listen to goes into similar territory.

[DGoddess]

I think rap music started back in the early 1980's, which was around the time I first heard of it and then wasn't sure what it was about. But then, attending a historically ethnic high school really exposed me to quite a bit I had never heard of before.

I don't personally care for a lot of it, except for maybe a novelty song recorded by Dan Ackroyd and Tom Hanks for the "Dragnet" movie in the mid 80's "City of Crime" (quite cute actually) and "Pump Up The Volume" by MAARS, but most of what I heard in high school was quite graphic. I would have been mortally embarrassed to have anyone catch me listening to some of the crap that came out back then.

But everywhere I go now, that seems to be the prevailing type of music being played. Whatever happened to the classic pop/jazz stuff that used to be played?

Compared to rap and their related genres (hip hop/whatever) I'd rather hear Mel Torme or Rosemary Clooney. Better yet, some Barry Manilow.

And while we're still on that disucssion, what is with with some of these names? LLCoolJ, Ice-T, Ice Cube (I like all of them as actors, but I'm not wild about the music part) Doctor Dre (who my middle sister listened to in high school in the mid 90's) and Jay-Z? Why can't people have normal names anymore?

[Knightmare]

I agree; rap that degrades women (or anyone for that matter) is horrible. But rap in general? Rap is here to stay. It has, and will continue, to evolve. I like some of it. But not the stuff you hear on the radio. That's mostly crap.

A good rap song can be just as beautiful and elegant as a symphony. I grew up with rap. I remember Doug E Fresh, Slick Rick, Run DMC et al in the 80's. The 90's were about NWA, Eazy E, Ice Cube, Ice T, Public Enemy... that's when rap started turning to guns, violence, cop killing for it's material. I lost interest then. I started listening to De La Soul, and other artists who's names escape me right now (I'm getting old). But they had that groove going; jazzy, lyrical, tight vocals. A pleasure to listen to.

Some of the best rappers I have EVER heard have been on the street corners. Not some large stadium or club; just guys on the street, making it up as it comes to them. Totally amazing. I could never do that. Heck, I could know all the words to a rap song, and still mess it up.

[Rapscallion]

I can't really say much about the violent or controversial lyrics, because some of what I listen to goes into similar territory.

Oh, I don't know. The difference is that the violent lyrics in heavy metal are generally rooted in the fantasy genre, from what I understand. Rap is based in the 'real' world on the streets, where things such as they 'sing' about happen. For me, that's an important difference.

Rapscallion

[stormtreader]

Oh, I don't know. The difference is that the violent lyrics in heavy metal are generally rooted in the fantasy genre, from what I understand. Rap is based in the 'real' world on the streets, where things such as they 'sing' about happen. For me, that's an important difference.

Rapscallion

Id agree with that - heavy metal seems to be generally angry, which i think is perfectly ok. If youre angry with someone, at least youre seeing them as a person. Hate-rap doesnt even seem to see women as people, just objects. Thats what i cant stand.

[AFPheonix]

While there is definitely crappy songs out there, I would like to submit that there is also a few ok ones out there, too. Queen Latifah has made a name for herself combating the very kinds of songs mentioned here. Ice T these days is making songs that are more mature.

Not that I listen to any of this stuff, but I have heard some by those artists, so not all rap is created equal.

[Luna]

I did like the 80's stuff and even a bit of the 90's. Before it turned into guns, shootouts, how many hos you have, and how much bling you own.

One of the reasons I refuse to listen to the radio anymore. It's all "c"RAP.

[Spiffy McMoron]

I personally think that rap right now is right about where rock music was in about 1989. It's become more about the show than about the music, and record executives are mintly one-hit wonders as quickly as possible to make a buck-Chamillionnaire, Akon, D4L and Jibbs. However, one day something, someone will come out of nowhere and change the face of rap/urban/hip-hop/whatever the hell it's called, just like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains did to rock music at the start of the 90's.

I won't pretend to know who or when or where, but that's what I think.

[protege]

To me, rap all sounds the same. The same words over and over don't really do it for me. If I wanted my car to "thump" I'd stick a screwdriver into the exhaust.

I do though, enjoy some Young MC. "Bust-A-Move" and "Principal's Office" are amusing

[ArenaBoy]

I did like the 80's stuff and even a bit of the 90's. Before it turned into guns, shootouts, how many hos you have, and how much bling you own.

One of the reasons I refuse to listen to the radio anymore. It's all "c"RAP.

I love the 80s stuff also, at the moment I'm listening to 2 Live Crew. I appreciate the older stuff because it was more or less about having a good time and getting messages out. Give me the old stuff over the new crap anyday. What made the older stuff much better was that they didn't sample the same thing over and over and just talk to a rhythm. For a comparison listen to the message by Grandmaster Flash and then listen to Kurtis Blow's These are the Breaks. They sound completely different. As stated numerous times, it's the new stuff where it's the same bass and everyone sounds the same screaming something incomprehensible. Basically 80s rap>modern rap.

[rdp78]

I have to agreed some of these rap lyrics aren't very respectful towards women and seems like every other word is a cussed word of course, you have to listen closely because of the beats. Of course, there are the ones that talk about buying mansions, pimped out rides and bling-bling jewelry. Not there's anything wrong with that but I throught rap was suppose to talk about life on the streets and not about material things. Then again there are ones that talk about who killed whom and which gang they belonged too.

Anyway I thought I check my music collection that I finally put most on my computer and found out that I do have few rap CDs. Nothing really hard core but I also have some songs with rap in them but other type of music and I also have few rap songs that are really "Weird Al" Yankovic parodies.

Well, I grew up during the late 80's/early 90's so I'm quite familiar with some of the earlier artists and well, some of my favorites weren't mention. My personel favorite has to be DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (hmm, what ever happen to that guy) because of the song "Parents Just Don't Understand" and that it's still true today. I also remember MC Hammer and how big of celebrity he was before he went bankrupt (I'm thinking the same fate for some of these modern rappers). There are some others like Salt-n-Peppa, Vanilla Ice and Kriss Kross that I remember too.