Is rap music really music?

[Sikander]

Rap as opposed to Hip Hop is so minimal that it bores me to death, like some blues and reggae does. There is some that is musical enough to engage my interest, but very little. I prefer much more complicated music like Jazz, which has the capability of being listened to many times without getting dull. I get bored with Rap before the first time I hear it because I already know the excruciatingly simple music which is being rapped over. Hip Hop in part is an attempt to broaden the melodies and methods of rap, but IMO it came too late to to save the genre for me. I get a rash whenever those rap style vocals start very similar to the one I get when I hear anything by the Grateful Dead.

[Sava]

I used to like rap, but then I grew up.

IMO

I still can listen to old stuff like Public Enemy, some TuPac, and maybe Bone Thugs. But for the most part, its all "bling bling, hoes and *****es, rollin on dubs".

All mainstream music sucks. Pop music is the worst. Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, boy bands, it all sucks. The only thing I can listen to is some rock and progressive trance. Rock is turning into crap, too. Just because Pearl Jam had success, the industry cranked out 50 different bands that sound just like them. Creed being the biggest poseiur of them all.

American culture is bankrupt.

[klesh]

How many of you are actually musicians?
How many of you have ever made rap music?
How many of you are as white as Asher?

-FMK.

[mactbone]

I've played for half of my life, why?
Never rapped, I have wrote poetry, I think that's close enough though.
Yes, I am extremely white.

I have played jazz, orchestral, pep band, and marching band stuff. I have written one piece for Trombone and a few for piano. Not very good ones, but I've never claimed to be a composer.

[sparkplug]

oops, ignore this post.

[sparkplug]

Today we have drivel like Puff Daddy and Britney Agiuilara infesting the airwaves. If you like that kind of stuff, fine. I used to be into gangsta rap and I used to love songs about the 'bling bling'. But now I'm sick of it. After hearing rappers endlessly talk about how they have sex with thousands of women, drive expensive cars, and beat down 'playa haters', I got tired of it. I began to look elsewhere for music. The music on the radio and MTV is crap, and I can't find any of the 'good' rap in stores. Thank God for the internet is all I can say. Sorry about the rant, but I'm rather angry today and I can't help it.

[sparkplug]

I forgot about Public Enemy, I'll have to find my old copy of Fear of a Black Planet . That was some kick ass music.

[Tuberski]

Originally posted by UberKruX
rap music isn't music. i dont care if i'm overgeneralizing but any music that says "i shot a cop" isn't music. it's riot chanting.

Does that make Eric Clapton a rap artist?
"I shot the sheriff?"

[Al B. Sure!]

How many of you are actually musicians?

Never played no instruments but I can sing..
.
How many of you have ever made rap music?

I have...

How many of you are as white as Asher?

People usually think I'm hispanic or mixed.


I agree with Sparkplug but this backpacker hip hop is just as bad as the bling. Mos Def and Common are nice but when you get into **** like Aesop Rock and Dilated Peoples... that is just pretentious suburban **** that is about rapping about nothingness... Abstract rap is a bastardization of what is a concise and clear artform from those that usually don't have a voice. I like the intelligent gangster rappers from 2pac to Nas, Scarface to Bone Thugs, etc. Social rap.

although I should note that I think that the commercial rap isn't all that bad. basically, it's just fun rap. Rap as being social or political is pretty new. For most of the eighties until Public Enemy, rap (old school) was just a laid-back fun thing where emcees basically just boasted about their rapping ability and people had a good time. It was Public Enemy and 2pac that showed rap's capabality of being intelligent and influential. But this commercial rap is just an extension of old school. It's just a fun thing for the clubs. Don't think anything of it. People don't take it seriously.


thanks

[Caligastia]

Rap is only music if its mixed with metal.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Field Marshal Klesh
How many of you are actually musicians?

I play guitar and used to play keyboard/piano when I was a weeee lad.

How many of you have ever made rap music?

This has nothing to do with it.
Why would we make something we generally hate?
It's like saying you can't say jumping off cliffs is okay unless you've done it yourself. When you see other people doing it, you know it's a bad idea.

How many of you are as white as Asher?

This is what I was talking about earlier. I don't like rap because it's full of racial slang, life, and connotations.

The fact that you come out and say something like that shows you why I won't like rap for some time. I don't like rap because I'm "very white", har har, I got it.

[Lung]

Originally posted by Blackwidow24
Well, it is music, or at least can be classified as music because of the use of beats and singing HOWEVER, it can be ridiculous and hard to listen to.

I like Tupac, he was a poet, alot of his songs were about his own life, but alot of rap artist just use it as a means to get out there anger and hostility towards forces more powerful than themselves...i.e. the police. They also seem to have a HUGE disresepect for women...labeling them as Beotches and hoes...its gotten really bad lately

You just gave me an idea, BW

Rap is to music what prose is to poetry

[sparkplug]

I don't see whats wrong with Dilated Peoples. I have their new album and it sounds good to me. Dilated is in no way 'abstract hip hop''. Their new album is basically just a good collection of battle raps,freestyles,old skool beats,and some political tracks. And Aeosop Rock's lyrics may sound like nonsense, but maybe you should listen a little harder. And I have no problem with party rap. One of my favorite groups is the Alkaholiks, and their music can only be described as drunken party rap. Its stupid **** like the Cash Money Millionaires that piss me off. But who cares what I think, I'm just a stupid backpacker.

[joseph1944]

Re: Is rap music really music?

Originally posted by sparkplug
Well?

NO

[sparkplug]

Re: Re: Is rap music really music?

Originally posted by joseph1944
NO

Care to elaborate? I guess I should have been more specific but I was busy when I started this thread,so let me restate my question: Is rap music? If not, is it poetry? What about the beats? Do the beats that accompany rap make it real music? What about rap that is backed by live instruments? Is it music then? That is what I should have asked. Sorry about that, but I didn't have time to write a longer question.