Darwin > RappersFollow

And on a bit of a tangent... Is rap actually music?



Rap has no melody.

However...



A different definiton of music:

(did that from memory, but you get the idea)

According to that definition, rap is indeed music. However, also under that definition, the simple act of me talking to another human being could be called music.

Meh. All I've done with this post is contest myself.

It implies that all of the 4 are needed.

You know what? I really, really, really hate it when the dictionary contradicts itself. Really.

Bone Thugs N Harmony disprove the first thing you wrote.

As for that last part, that means you are also making classical, rock, country music simply talking.

If your talking about rap as in the spoken word rap, then yah, it is just talking.

Rap has changed and obviously people who dislike havent caught onto the change its gone through.

So that would be me saying Rock is the devil's music.

I think you just haven't listened to enough rap to make the distinction. To me, modern country music all sounds alike. I am also sure there are people that would say that about classical music.

If all you have been exposed to is the stuff that sells, I'll even agree with you here. I am not a fan of much of the rap music that is selling well today. There is a lot of terrible to mediocre stuff that is selling millions.

But, on the other hand there are also a lot of artists that I believe are really great that get almost no exposure. Are you familiar with The Roots, Little Brother, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, Arrested Development? All of these are what I would consider great artists, but you don't hear them getting a lot of airplay.

BET has allegedly refused to air Little Brother's latest video stating that it is "too intelligent for the BET audience."

The popular rap music today is crap because the audience demands crap. I remember when I was younger and rap music was not popular at all I used to think about how someday I would be able to turn on the radio and hear rap music. Sadly, that day is here and it is nothing like I had hoped.

Try this album if you are not familiar with The Streets.



Edited, Wed Dec 7 09:00:40 2005 by Patrician

Maybe, but I doubt it. Circumstances in our culture are quite different from the way they were during the birth of rock and roll, and directly afterward.

And anyway, rap has been around a while now, depending on how you define its beginning. For instance, Grandmaster Flash formed his group in the late 1970's, and he could be considered quite easily an early rap pioneer. In the time since, I can't think of very many white rappers. Vanilla Ice was a disaster and was never respected in the genera, the Beastie Boys were hip-hop pioneers but alot of people consider them in a different genera as "rap". Eminem has done well in the genera. How many others are there? Maybe some underground guys, but I can't think of any off of the top of my head.

"White Man" claimed parts of rock-n-roll very quickly. Not to say precursers to Rock and Roll were not african american, if you think about pre-rock and roll it brings blues to mind, and people like T-Bone Walker, Memphis Minnie, and Robert Johnson were certainly early pioneers of the first half of the century. Once you hit the 1950's however, the people who come to mind are not all african american. Think about Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Elvis...something interesting that just came to mind is that Jerry Lee and Elvis both came out of Sun Studios in Memphis, TN. Something odd about Memphis is that it was the birthplace of rock in a sense, and also a birthplace of soul. What created that atmosphere of "creation" was the sudden integration of the music industry. Sam Phillips was a white guy, and he pioneered rockabilly. The owners of early Stax records were white, and the performers themselves were quite integrated. I think you could make an argument that it was that integration of artists that helped to create rock and roll as we know it. Rap is different in that it wasn't about integration, it was about african americans finding a voice for themselves after integration.

Sorry if that was confusing, I was sort of pondering the subject as I typed, and kind of changed my mind about what I was saying, heh.

What's worse?

Rap itself...or calling it "cRAP" and thinking you're hilarious and original?