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i dont know if this has been done yet, but i was wondering if any of you love rap muzik like i do. i dont listen to anything else except maybe some r&b here and there. my roommate loaths rap music with a passion so i try to play it loud to piss him off sometimes. it is after all the genre of muzik that is most criticized (for obvious reasons). if you dont like it, how so? the lyrics can be quite offensive most of the time, but is there anything else ppl dislike about it? if you do like, how so?

i like it cuz its poetry in motion (very violent poetry in motion at that, lol), and i just like the flow of the lyrics with a tight beat.

This post has been edited by baralai888 on 24th May 2005 01:50

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"The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved."
- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

A genre of music that is only good when played loud enough to knock the hub caps off the car next to you needs to get voted off the island.

How many people support the theory that this genre was invented for the sole purpose of being a way to steal hub caps?

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"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer

I agree with the flow of the lyrics and the tight beat. It's good sounding stuff, at least the stuff from the late 90's and early 00's. Last year I tried listening to the current radio hits, and it seemed like the actual music had all but vanished, with just a beat accompanied by some sound effects and a guy rapping. I came to the hypothesis that the new stuff isn't as good. I like songs like Big Pun - Still Not A Player, Destiny's Child - Say My Name, BG - Bling Bling, Donell Jones - You Know What's Up, TLC - No Scrubs, Kandi - Don't Think I'm Not and stuff like that. Even if the lyrics arn't always all that great, it's still fun stuff to listen to. I prefer other genres, but a little hip hop every now and then is cool.

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FFXI (Siren server)
Tauu the Windurstian Tarutaru!
White Mage & Paladin

Well you want to know why others do not like it well I guess I have the honor of starting off then.

It is hard to discuss such an issue but I will say this I have no respect for rap or this new crap called rap-rock that is popular. Now it may be because I grew up on stuff like Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Guns n' Roses, old Metallica, etc. but I will never like that crap.

I will not say it is not music, unfortuantly I have accepted it is a musical expression and I have to hear that crap for the majority of my students, but I will never like it and that it is that.

And if you want to ask me the purest music still is in classical...hell I would not have said it 4 years ago, but 4 years of education will do that. Besides where is your best "rappers" now? Doing kiddy movies like "Are We There Yet?" Just tells you the nature of the business it is all in money.

This post has been edited by BGrugby on 24th May 2005 04:13

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War is for the participants a test of character; it makes bad men worse and good men better. - Joshua Chamberlain

U sir R a n00b >:-( - Cactuar

i kinda know what you mean BGrugby. my roommate grew up listening to the type of music you listen to. the only difference with him tho is that he has no respect for the genre of hiphop at all. i personally have tried to listen to other types of music just to experiment you know?

for some odd reason, i just cant listen to a non rap record for more than 20 mins w/o putting some of my stuff on. i think that rock is great, but its just not my kinda thing.

i guess the essence of hiphop would be back with run-dmc and afrika bambataa. now that was some awesome shit. nowadays, i think that the level of respectability of rap has lowered substantially. i do listen to a few rappers that some believe are full of crap, but many artists write about different issues that reflect who they are i guess. 2pac was great for example; some of his work was very intriguing, and especially his poetry, which was some of the best ive ever read. but on the other hand he does have songs that talk about lots of nonsense.

This post has been edited by baralai888 on 24th May 2005 04:19

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"The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved."
- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

Hip Hop on its own is something I've never had much of a taste for. Save for Missy Elliot, Outkast, and the very little I've heard from Mos Def, I can only swallow that stuph down if it has some rock stylings going behind it. Rage Against the Machine for instance. And piss off all you haters, but I can't get enough of Kid Rock. Other than that, Gorillaz and Black Eyed Peas are about the closest I've come to really getting into hip hop.

This post has been edited by Narratorway on 24th May 2005 05:08

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Arts

Farts

Twarts

I was into hip-hop off 'n' on in the 90's, then sorta lost interest completely. Rap, in particular, just began sounding all the same to me and got stale pretty quick. I really don't have anything against it, I just prefer my musical trinity - classic rock, classical, and some metal.

Oh yeah, Bach and Vivaldi tend to jam hard 'round here.

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Words of Wisdom:

If something can go wrong, it will.

If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. - Murphy’s Law

Boing! Zoom! - Mr. Saturn

You know guys...
I LIKE rap, ragga (reaggea and rap mixed, for all that per chance don't know), dancehall (if that's what's it called) and some other hip-hop sub-genres, that I can't remember how are named.

The Beastie Boys are great (This IS rap), the B.E.P. used to be really good before Fergie came along and they went mainstream...Missy Elliot is highly amusing, if not entertaining... there are also many rappers that I liked and never got to kno who they were.

And if anybody is into hip-hop and anime, I more than recommend watching "Samurai Champloo". (26 episodes, closed series. From the people who made "Cowboy Bebop" and "Wolf's Rain")

Mainstream kills everything (Like, Linkin Park is SUPPOSED to be metal...bleargh ) including rap. It's funny how it goes: street->rap->success->money and golden chains and stuff->shitty rap. You get the point?

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"I fell off the mountain of words at around the 10,000ft mark. Tell my family...they owe me money." -Narratorway

"If you retort against this, so help me God I'll shove any part of your anatomy I can find into some other part. Figuratively, of course." - Josh

"We have more, can deliver tuesday." - Del S

Good old CoN

Hip-hop has me somewhat torn. Sometimes I really like the beats in a rap song, but the lyrics are usually so inane that I have to tune them out. While I don't like any of the lyrics to any Sean Paul song, I have two of his songs on my playlist for catchiness alone. I almost always don't like more vocal hip-hop music, which is typically people spending an inordinate amount of time saying simple lyrics while changing pitches an unnecessary amount of times. My favorite genres are as follows: classic rock, alt rock, and band music (ie big band and drum corps), with dashes of classical, blues, jazz, zydeko, metal, and punk.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

I think I would listen to rap if the lyrics weren't for the most part virtually the same, or have the same themes in common with most other rap songs out there. Yep, we get it, you have a gun, you've thought about using it, you like that woman's body, you want to sleep with her. Cash money, playa. And some of the lyrics almost reminds me of emo music where people talk about how bad their life is (rap: I'm from the streets) yet they are making more money in a year than I will see in a lifetime.

Some of the beats are interesting and put together well. I don't mind some of the early 90's rap, I even have a song or two on my playlist. But that's as far as my taste for rap will go.

This post has been edited by TheEvilEye on 24th May 2005 13:47

Last night,when I first saw this post, I thought it'd be a mistake to make a post in this topic figuring I'd spend an entire night smashing the genre to which this topic is mentioned. But to say I don't like the genre isn't entire true.

My favorite band of all time, the highly volatile Rage Against the Machine, was highly influence by hip-hop. Zack de la Rocha is amazing with his flow over hip hop influenced guitarings of Tom Morello.
But not just influence, I enjoy old-school hip hop. Practically nothing passed 96. Eric B & Rakim, Cypress Hill, Public Enemy, Run DMC, older LL Cool J, etc. I also enjoy occasional Outkast, Black Eyed Peas, and Nappy Roots.

But I agre with Evil Eye 100%. I'd like hip hop a lot more if I could distinguish one song from the other 90 being played that week. There are 9,000 rappers releasing 9,000 songs about how much money they have, their "bling bling", how their "posse" has their back, how they came from "tha hood", how many times they were shot (being shot 9 times is a sign that God doesn't want you to live, 50), how they are a "pimp", big fat bootied black women, all put over an annoying back beat complete with some siren noise or something. It's not creative by any means. It's been down 9,000,000 times in the last 5 years.

Even if hip hop and rap were different, I still wouldn't listen to it that much. I'm a rocker at heart. I just prefer a kickass guitar line, an ass-kicking bass line, or a stomping drum line over anything.

This post has been edited by Sabin on 24th May 2005 15:48

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"When I turn the page
The corner bends into the perfect dog ear
As if the words knew I'd need them again
But at the time, I didn't see it."

~"This Ain't a Surfin' Movie" - Minus the Bear

I like hip-hop/rap, but since I haven't heard much of it really, I don't have the same discriminating taste that I do with rock. If I should some day come to know as much about rap as I do rock, I'll probably develop that discriminating taste for it, too.

Anyway, I prefer old-school to new-school. As for lyrical content it's not actually that much different from teenage pop/punk bands singing about how much they "hate their life" when they've got a cool million in the bank... it's equally as annoying. Currently I prefer chopped n' screwed over mainstream hip-hop, but since it's starting to get more popular I'm beginning to get a little sad and angry at the same time. :-/ That was supposed to be OUR style...

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~Status Report~

* Completed... Dragon's Head
* Completed... Soldiers of the Empire: Disciples (release pending)
* In Progress/Undecided... Of Love and Betrayal
* Planning/Assembly... Where it all Began

Without writing a dissertation on the subject, I feel the need, as always, to defend one of the major loves of my life.

When I was young, like most people, I just listened to whatever my parents did, which was a combination of classic rock from my dad and oldies from my mom. I liked it alright, but I'd never really choose to listen to music on my own. Then, in 1992 I believe (4th grade for me.) I was playing basketball with my friends when one of them came with a boombox and a new tape he had just bought, The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest. I was between games when he started it, so I had the chance to actually listen as the album starts, with a haunting bassline. Then Q-Tip comes in with:

Back in the days when I was a teenager
Before I had status and before I had a pager
You can find the Abstract, listening to hip-hop
My pops used to say, it reminded him of bebop
I said well daddy don't you know that things move in cycles
The way that Bobby Brown is just amping like Michael
It's all expected, things are for the looking
If you got the money, Quest is for the booking...

I was hooked before the beat came in. I remember saying to myself "THIS is what music is supposed to sound like." Not anything I'd heard on the radio or what other people played.

I began spending all the money I had on music. It wasn't easy, since my parents didn't approve of the language, it wasn't easy to buy albums with the parental advisory sticker on them. A lot of the time I had to give the money to one of my friends to have their parents buy it for them, then give it to me. It was worth it, though, to hear some of the great old school groups like Tribe, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B. and Rakim, etc.

It got even harder in the mid to late nineties, when Tupac and Biggie took over. More than anyone else those two have brought hip-hop to teh next level while splitting it in two as well. And I'm not talking about east coast/west coast, I mean that so many rappers nowadays are influenced by these two, but they missed the message behind the violence and profanity. Examples:

Things Done Changed (verse 3)- Biggie

If I wasn't in the rap game
I'd probably have a key knee deep in the crack game
Because the streets is a short stop
Either you're slingin crack rock or you got a wicked jumpshot
S***, it's hard being young from the slums
eatin five cent gums, not knowin where your meals comin from
And now the s***'s gettin crazier and major
Kids younger than me, they got the Sky Grand Pagers
Goin outta town, blowin up
Six months later all the dead bodies showin up
It make me wanna grab the nine and the shottie
But I gotta go identify the body
Damn, what happened to the summertime cookouts?
Everytime I turn around a n**** gettin took out
S***, my momma got cancer in her breast
Don't ask me why I'm m*****f***** stressed, things done changed

Me Against the World (first verse) by Tupac

Can you picture my prophecy?
Stress in the city, the cops is hot for me
The projects is full of bullets, the bodies is droppin
There ain't no stoppin me
Constantly movin while makin millions
Witnessin killings, leavin dead bodies in abandoned buildings
Carries to children cause they're illin
Addicted to killin and the appeal from the cap peelin
Without feelin, but will they last or be blasted?
Hard headed bastard
Maybe he'll listen in his casket -- the aftermath
More bodies being buried -- I'm losing my homies in a hurry
They're relocating to the cemetary
Got me worried, stressin, my vision's blurried
The question is will I live? No one in the world loves me
I'm headed for danger, don't trust strangers
Put one in the chamber whenever I'm feelin this anger
Don't wanna make excuses, cause this is how it is
What's the use unless we're shootin no one notices the youth
It's just me against the world baby

Songs like that made you understand where the ghetto was coming from, but it also brought hip-hop into the mainstream, and now rappers think the more they scare America, the more money they'll get. Case in point is Eminem, who before anyone knew who he was was one of the most gifted lyricists in hip-hop, but found his success by making records with more shock value than lyrical content.

There are plenty of hip-hop artists making intelligent albums full of thoughtful,relevant lyrics. The problem is that it's not what sells albums or what they play on the radio. A great book to read if you are into hip-hop is A Hip-Hop Story by Heru Ptah. It's fiction, but clearly based on Tupac and Biggie, and is a really good insight into the way the hip-hop recording industry works (Ptah is close with dead prez, who have VERY good knowledge of the shadiness of the industry.)

Anyways, hip-hop is one of the most important things in my life, and a very misunderstood musical genre, mostly because you can't hear the best parts of it on the radio anymore. I wish everyone, before they judged the genre, could listen to a Black Star song, or Common, or Jurrasic 5, of J-Live, or any of a large number of other hip-hop artists and groups that make intelligent music over great beats and only survive because they've gained enough street cred to sell records with little to no radio airplay.

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Hip-Hop QOTW:

"Yeah, where I'ma start it at, look I'ma part of that
Downtown Philly where it's realer than a heart attack
It wasn't really that ill until the start of crack
Now it's a body caught every night on the Almanac"

"Game Theory"
The Roots

I dont like rap because of the lyrics, rappers tend to focus on themselves only and that bugs me because i really couldnt care less how many homies you got that'll "ruff me up" if i "step to you". Hey I respect that you make your own lyrics up and all that good stuff but i'll point out that it takes much more talent to learn how to play an actual instrument then to just sing about slapping hoes and what-not. This is just my opinion though.

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Peace sells... but Whos buyin? -Megadeth


You wont be saying that when you get a
lead pipe across the head -James (Darkness Illusions II)

ah yes, that me against the world by 2pac is awesome, gears. a tribe called quest was a classic group indeed. im glad theres someone that enjoys rap as much as i do, cept you gears prolly like it more than i do!

i see what you mean divineknight. rap gets criticized greatly for some of the reasons you mentioned. however, not all rappers fit those guidelines. there are many out there who use beats and lyrics to express their opinions on issues whether theyre politcal, social, etc. i admit, there are some that talk lots of shit that is prolly better left insaid. but, there are just as many rappers who are real out there as well.

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"The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved."
- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

allow me to jump in the fray

rap is my all time favorite form of music. and it's still going strong today. though, recently, it has lost it's way. about 80% of the rappers that have come out since 2001 have been the same guy re-hashed over and over.

allow me to point out my all time most hated rapper, Youg Jeezy. this man has gained so much fame and street cred in the little time he's been out that it's unbelievable. his lyrics are lazy, thoughtless, and all around weak.

"betta act like ya know man. in the hood they call me Jeezy the Snowman." okay, this would be great if he had stopped there, but no, he continues "ya get it, get it, Jeezy the Snowman. io'm iced out, plus i got snow man." i think you'll agree with me when i say these are the some of the worst lyrics ever. Young Jeezy proves that you can become famous and never know what talent is.

there are great rappers out there as well. G-Unit, yes they catch alot of flak, but their lyrics(except maybe 50) are actually very well thought out. Eminem, yes i know, this one's pretty much standard. TI, the all-round "street nigga" style rapper. but, unlike all the others, he can ACTUALLY RAP. i'd site some lyrics, but you can look em up yourself. Lil Wyte, the down-south gangsta style with a little redneck thrown in for flavor. my favorite rapper right now, and i highly suggest him. there are more, but it'd take me too long to name them all.

rap will never be what it once was. the days of Tupac, Biggie, Dre, Slick Rick, Warren G, Ice Cube, etc are gone forever. the game lost the greatest rapper to ever live when Pac "died".

today, few rappers have respect for the game itself. it's more about getting the money, hos, and fame rather than just being happy that your music is being heard and enjoyed. one of the biggest examples of this is 50 Cent. in almost all of his songs all he talks about is how much money he's got and what he's done with it. case in point-
They say I'm no good
Cuz I'm so hood
Rich folks do not want me around
Cuz s**t might pop off, and if s**t pop off
Somebody gon' get laid the f**k out
They call me new money, say I have no class
I'm from the bottom, I came up too fast
The hell if I care, I'm just here to get my cash
Bougie a** b***hes, you can kiss my a**

rap is one of the most thoughtful forms of music i've ever listened to. i'm not gonna knock other forms of music, but i will ask to find me a rock star that can make up a song off the top of his head to music while being recorded.

This post has been edited by Malevolence on 25th May 2005 19:24

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moé in the streets, senpai in the sheets

No offense, but I can't stand the stuff. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I don't respect the efforts of the people who do it (well, atleast the ones that do it well) or the opinions of people who listen to it, but to me, in my limited experiences, the themes are kinda repetitive and pretentious, while the music itself is samey and boring. As I've said, my only experience with music like this is when I occassionally turn on the radio. To be honest, what I hear, I don't get, simple as that. I don't get the music, the culture or the style. It may be because I don't know the genre at all, but to me, atleast the rap I hear, doesn't seem to push the boundaries of it's genre, it all sticks to the same formula. I guess this formula is the formula that gets airplay, though, and thus is it all I hear. That said, I did once listen to a group called J5, or Jurassic 5. They kept me amused, and I don't mean laugh-at amused. Anything with a different timing/structure, I won't instantly turn off, but it'll happen eventually.

This post has been edited by Mimic on 25th May 2005 20:52

I'm sorry, but I'm with Mimic on this one...

Hip-hop has tight beats and stuff like that, but I personally think of it as a fad. (Yeah, I know, jaws dropping) Eventually, all of the "good" hip-hop artists are going to fade, just like the Backstreet Boys and InSync (spelling? ). If you want a good, solid, non-fad music genre, listen to Metallica, AC/DC, System of a Down, that kind of rock stuff.

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"There is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and latino America and asian America - there's the United States of America."
~Barack Obama

Quote (ArcKnight5000 @ 25th May 2005 15:36)

InSync (spelling? )

I can help with that. N*Sync.

And on the subject of N*Sync and the Backstreet Boys, they suck. They were only popular with the girls because they were cute (I would know... )

Back on Topic: Actually, I like rap a lot. Looks like I'm alone again--- I'm the only person who likes the NA version of Yu-Gi-Oh!, and I'm the only one who likes Eminem. God, I'm a loner.

About 89.9% of the music I listen to is rap, though I'll also kick back with a few other genres, like maybe heavy metal, and my favorite non-English genre of all time------- J-Pop and J-Rock!!! (Well, those are actually two genres, but who cares?)

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"No matter what happens, I will always be with you... forever." ---- Pocahontas, Pocahontas

"Only those who are already at the top are rewarded without trying."----- Delita Hyral, Final Fantasy Tactics

http://www.ffshrine.org/fft/fft-midi/1-42-back_fire01.mid ---- My favorite FFT battle song

Kilkandra: like most things, as I said even, Eminem went from being good to being popular.
I still like his old stuff, bt the last likeable bits he did were on "8. Mile"...plus, he's a gods damned windbag.

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"I fell off the mountain of words at around the 10,000ft mark. Tell my family...they owe me money." -Narratorway

"If you retort against this, so help me God I'll shove any part of your anatomy I can find into some other part. Figuratively, of course." - Josh

"We have more, can deliver tuesday." - Del S

Good old CoN

im with you on eminem kilakandra. although not my fave, hes one of the best out there right now with his producing and his albums. ak5k, im not sure if rap music is just a "fad." youre gonna have to tell me your definition of "fad" so i can understand what your trying to say better. rap has been around for quite awhile startin with dj kool herc and afrika b. ive gotta say a defining piece was dr.dre's "nuthin but a g thang," which eventually led to the luniz worldwide hit "i got 5 on it." i absolutely LOVE the beat of 5 on it, and g thang is a catch song as well, but it think rap is only going to grow stronger as time progresses.

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"The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved."
- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

Eminem is actually a very talented artist. at first, i thought he was kinda whack. his rhymes didn't have any meaning and they were all pretty much the same thing. but nowadays, he eclipses even some of the best. not many rappers today can paint a vivid picture with their lyrics.

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moé in the streets, senpai in the sheets

I have to agree about Enimen. He's one of the best rappers out today because on any given day, even a really bad one, he can still outrap nearly anyone else on the face of the Earth.

50 Cent's got talent, but he's just a straight up punk. I mean, really... grow up, Fitty.

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~Status Report~

* Completed... Dragon's Head
* Completed... Soldiers of the Empire: Disciples (release pending)
* In Progress/Undecided... Of Love and Betrayal
* Planning/Assembly... Where it all Began

It's fiddy, Zeph, not fitty. Geez!

I hate hip hop. Like, literally can NOT stand the stuff.

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

Well with as many fits as he throws it might as well be Fitty.

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~Status Report~

* Completed... Dragon's Head
* Completed... Soldiers of the Empire: Disciples (release pending)
* In Progress/Undecided... Of Love and Betrayal
* Planning/Assembly... Where it all Began

Quote (Mimic @ 25th May 2005 20:28)

No offense, but I can't stand the stuff. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I don't respect the efforts of the people who do it (well, atleast the ones that do it well) or the opinions of people who listen to it, but to me, in my limited experiences, the themes are kinda repetitive and pretentious, while the music itself is samey and boring. To be honest, what I hear, I don't get, simple as that. I don't get the music, the culture or the style. It may be because I don't know the genre at all, but to me, atleast the rap I hear, doesn't seem to push the boundaries of it's genre, it all sticks to the same formula.

You take your favourite type of music, and playing it really loudly is great! But if someone does this and it's not music your fond of, it's terrible! Basically I agree with what I've quoted of Mimic on hip hop. Diversity is great but having to listen to music you can't stand is quite unbearable!

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'Let that be a lesson to all oppressive vegetable sellers.'

No offense, but that stuff makes me want to vomit. I am a Rock/Jazz/Classical kinda guy. Faithful to Metallica and listens to John Coaltrain

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Lets see, connect the blue wire to the ...wait, why is it tick*boom*

yes, this genre has received much criticism thru the years. so to those of you who do enjoy the music, what are youre favorite groups or artists? heres a short list of mine:

2pac, kurupt, yukmouth (and the luniz for that matter), the regime! yeah!, and daz dillinger

thats only a few of em. what about you guys and why do you like those rappers?

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"The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved."
- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

I don't mind hip-hop, but it isn't my favorite.

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JAPAN AND EGYPT ROOOL!

lemme see...Pac, Dre, Snoop, Cube, Ice T, Eazy-E, Xzibit, D12, G-Unit, TI, DTP, YDC(i'm actually really close with these guys), some local groups that you've never heard of, and my favorite, Lil Wyte.

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moé in the streets, senpai in the sheets