Only logged in members can reply and interact with the post.
Join SimilarWorlds for FREE »

Rap, Rock'n roll - Music?

I hope it's OK to start my post by quoting others from a different thread.

@Jimmy2016 [quote]Rap isn't music [/quote]@bijouxbroussard [quote]Old people originally said that about rock and roll, too.[/quote]

They (we!) were right about a lot of it and still are 😀. Some of it doesn't seem so bad in hindsight because now there's a lot of stuff that's so much worse. Depends a bit on how you define Rock & Roll, or even just 'music'.

Although it could be music that you like, it's very often spoiled by the sound board guy or engineers who think you need to have the bass & percussion instruments louder than all else; and that what used to be called a singer's accompaniment should be the main event, so the instrumentals get super-amped and the vocalist is partly drowned out with lyrics mostly lost.

Music can have melody, harmony and disharmony, simplicity or complexity, beat; variations in rhythm & volume. It can be calming, exciting or inspiring. It can have a message too. I suppose 'rap' is meant to have a message but I can seldom make it out. If it has none of those other attributes I think calling it music is preposterous.

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

DestroyerOfIdeologies · 22-25, M

I think a lot of people are disturbed by the origins of rap, and even today, of the disturbing lyrics and sh**** attitude that goes with them.

Personally I don't listen to it much these days, cept when I'm dancing on night clubs, which haven't been since covid.

I'm not here to say whether it's music or not. There are some songs that are fun. But those who defend it often seem to pretend the verbal abuse, especially towards women, don't exist.

bijouxbroussard · F

@DestroyerOfIdeologies I think people can’t separate rap from “gangsta” rap, which is not its only incarnation. Its origins are in poetry and spoken word groups going back to the late 60s.

dubkebab · 51-55, M

@bijouxbroussard Truth,Bijoux, school 'em!
And we can follow that lineage deeper into work songs,counting the dozens and inevitably back to African griots...

DestroyerOfIdeologies · 22-25, M

@bijouxbroussard We can debate it's origins (there was in a documentary even a rapper known from the 80s, perhaps he was even part of The Sugarhill Gang who said rap will always be the bastard son of disco) but in practice there's a lot of verbal abuse. And you can find them from famous groups: Wutang, Digital Underground (Tupac's crew, who helped him shoot to stardom), Luniz (yeah they got 5 on it, they major foul mouths too), Too Short, NWA, Beastie Boys and so on, to the break of dawn. Yeah there's some who have tried to keep it clean. Like MC Hammer, but what did the other rappers do? call him a sell out. Even with the Sugarhill Gang calling Superman a fairy was crass.

Hamilton probably gave it it's biggest PR boost. It is now become part of a famous musical. I like Lin-Manuel Miranda by the way. He's a pretty cool guy.

bijouxbroussard · F

@DestroyerOfIdeologies That just means [b]he[/b] didn’t know about groups like The Last Poets, whose work is acknowledged as a precursor to a lot of political rap. And I’m not really debating, I was there and remember its evolution into “modern” times.
Sadly, there are also contemporary black artists who don’t acknowledge all the other genres that came from our community. They think it all began with rap. That is [b]their[/b] ignorance, unfortunately.