Recommend Elok some music

[Elok]

I'll check out all your suggestions later; right now I've got to get dinner ready. Thanks to everybody who chipped in!

[Guynemer]

I am not the least bit surprised that we have the same taste in music, Elok.

[Al B. Sure!]

My main objection to rap is not about stupid lyrics or bling or any of the other stuff; I mention that mostly to yank your chain. The main problem is that its core characteristics--rhythmic grunting into a microphone while bad, repetitive beats play in the background--are basically what you get from watching a porno, only without the jugs (which, to be fair, music videos generally contain, along with copious butt). Perhaps Eminem, at some point, busted mad rhymes or what-have-you about the implications of quantum mechanics. I bet it sounded just as crappy as every other rap "song" ever, so I don't care. It is an absolutely terrible genre.

That rhythmic grunting is poetry or is metered rhyme unacceptable to you? Rap is today's Blues. You can't claim to like blues if you don't appreciate the soul behind it and its current manifestation. And bad beats? Clearly you've never been exposed to songs produced by the late J Dilla, DJ Premier, 9th Wonder, Exile, etc.

[Barnabas]

If you don't understanding English you can enjoy Blues because of the melody and the quality of the vocal delivery, but you can't do the same with rap.

[Al B. Sure!]

If you don't understanding English you can enjoy Blues because of the melody and the quality of the vocal delivery, but you can't do the same with rap.

You're right. Rap is pointless if you don't understand English. However, you'd still not be experiencing the full experience of Blues music without understanding of the words. I've been over this before but instrumentation (including vocal modulation) can only convey emotion, not intellectual ideas. Lyrics can convey both emotion and ideas. Rap is lyrics-based, obviously.

I actually think a lot of rap goes over people's heads, though. Like Jay-z's Plato reference I said earlier ('Is Pius pious because God loves pious?'). A lot of people think that song (No church in the wild) is a religious song when it's the ****ing opposite! It's a nihilistic affirmation of transcending religion (stating a heirarchy in the chorus: 'What's a mob to a king? What's a king to a God?' then, 'What's God to a non-believer?'). But people are stupid and don't understand it.

[giblets]

That rhythmic grunting is poetry or is metered rhyme unacceptable to you? Rap is today's Blues. You can't claim to like blues if you don't appreciate the soul behind it and its current manifestation.

Why, because rap is popular among blacks? That's racist.

[Al B. Sure!]

Why, because rap is popular among blacks? That's racist.

Explain to me how blues isn't the direct ancestor of rap:



It's a repetitive beat with rhythmic 'talking' over it. There's a number of other songs from the 1950's that are literally rapping. Check songs by Boogaloo and his Gallant Crew.

What modern rapping did was speed up the lyrics by putting more words into bars and more bars into verses... then in the late 80's, polysyllabic and internal rhyming was introduced. Rap is blues evolved with a strong lyrical emphasis.

[giblets]

Also, why isn't blues today's blues?

[Elok]

I am not the least bit surprised that we have the same taste in music, Elok.

We're like twins, only you have The Job Skills. Also The Social Skills, I imagine.

[giblets]

You're right. Rap is pointless if you don't understand English. However, you'd still not be experiencing the full experience of Blues music without understanding of the words. I've been over this before but instrumentation (including vocal modulation) can only convey emotion, not intellectual ideas. Lyrics can convey both emotion and ideas. Rap is lyrics-based, obviously.

I actually think a lot of rap goes over people's heads, though. Like Jay-z's Plato reference I said earlier ('Is Pius pious because God loves pious?'). A lot of people think that song (No church in the wild) is a religious song when it's the ****ing opposite! It's a nihilistic affirmation of transcending religion (stating a heirarchy in the chorus: 'What's a mob to a king? What's a king to a God?' then, 'What's God to a non-believer?'). But people are stupid and don't understand it.

Most musicians don't have intellectual ideas worth caring about. That would include anything Jay-Z says about Plato.

[Al B. Sure!]

Also, why isn't blues today's blues?

Tell me how that John Lee Hooker song is different from rap.

I want Elok to explain it too. He says he has a problem with rhythmic talking over repetitive instrumentation. How would Boogie Chillin' not be described as such?

[giblets]

Explain to me how blues isn't the direct ancestor of rap:



It's a repetitive beat with rhythmic 'talking' over it. There's a number of other songs from the 1950's that are literally rapping. Check songs by Boogaloo and his Gallant Crew.

What modern rapping did was speed up the lyrics by putting more words into bars and more bars into verses... then in the late 80's, polysyllabic and internal rhyming was introduced. Rap is blues evolved with a strong lyrical emphasis.

No, I don't think rap is just really fast blues. Also, if the lyrics are so ****ing important why would you want to go really fast instead of giving people time to think about them while you say them?

[giblets]

Tell me how that John Lee Hooker song is different from rap.

I want Elok to explain it too. He says he has a problem with rhythmic talking over repetitive instrumentation. How would Boogie Chillin' not be described as such?

Talking blues is just one kind of blues and some blues musicians can actually sing...? Maybe Elok doesn't like every kind of blues.

[Al B. Sure!]

No, I don't think rap is just really fast blues. Also, if the lyrics are so ****ing important why would you want to go really fast instead of giving people time to think about them while you say them?

Word content, fool. Boogie Chillin is 2 and a half minutes long but is about a paragraph in length and he really doesn't say anything particularly deep. In 2 and a half minutes, he has barely enough content to fit into a single verse of rap.

By going faster, you fit more words into the radio-designated 3.5 minute window. And most rappers don't actually rap much faster than what is suggested for voice communication (in a debate with Asher, I noted the words per minute of a rap song he said was too fast and noted it compared to the WPM suggested for audio books, radio, television, etc.). Rap seems fast because you're (as a non-rap fan) trained to zone out to music as opposed to listen intently as you would audio books or television.

[giblets]

Word content, fool. Boogie Chillin is 2 and a half minutes long but is about a paragraph in length and he really doesn't say anything particularly deep. In 2 and a half minutes, he has barely enough content to fit into a single verse of rap.

By going faster, you fit more words into the radio-designated 3.5 minute window. And most rappers don't actually rap much faster than what is suggested for voice communication (in a debate with Asher, I noted the words per minute of a rap song he said was too fast and noted it compared to the WPM suggested for audio books, radio, television, etc.). Rap seems fast because you're (as a non-rap fan) trained to zone out to music as opposed to listen intently as you would audio books or television.

Now you're claiming that if someone doesn't like rap then they must not pay attention to music? You are coming off as very pretentious.