That hip-hop continues to alienate middle-aged white men speaks to its success as a countercultural phenomenon and partially explains why it has eclipsed rock in modern youth culture. Even if you never succeed in understanding it, take comfort in knowing that you were never meant to.
Black or white, hip hop is just random dissenting talk plastered over other people's music. Can be nice with an appropriate sample or a sung chorus, but nothing as memorable as Beethoven, Ella Fitzgerald, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.
It's like techno music, if you will: a curiosity in musical history.
Only tunes remains.
Black or white, hip hop is just random dissenting talk plastered over other people's music. Can be nice with an appropriate sample or a sung chorus, but nothing as memorable as Beethoven, Ella Fitzgerald, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.
It's like techno music, if you will: a curiosity in musical history.
Only tunes remains.
I'd say it a little different, but I agree with the direction you are going, even if there can be examples to prove this theory wrong.
Part of the reason why I love Wyclef's album Carnival is it is full of great/chill rap, but more importantly, full of great melodies and actual songs. It is a great gateway to those entering the world of hip-hop/rap.
On the other end, there are rap songs, highly acclaimed rap songs at that, which are ONLY rapping over a beat. THAT'S IT. For some people that's an aquired taste. Maybe they aren't paying attention to the lyrics, which are often the most important aspect at that point. idk... what I'm saying is
and I suppose then I agree with your techno/electronic connection - it's like some people don't like 4 on the floor over and over and over again. It's a bit boring, innit? There's good electronic music that doesn't stay so programmed/mathematical, and pushes the envelope (both figuratively and literally... haha, please tell me you got that joke... please someone)...
But for some there's that human melody element missing and that's enough to turn someone off completely, regardless of the other merits the artwork has.
On another note - WTF did Wyclef just die... it's like he did alright with the Fugees, did alright solo, and then just made shit after that... idk... Carnival III is coming out this year, but I'm not holding my breath.
Black or white, hip hop is just random dissenting talk plastered over other people's music. Can be nice with an appropriate sample or a sung chorus, but nothing as memorable as Beethoven, Ella Fitzgerald, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.
It's like techno music, if you will: a curiosity in musical history.
Only tunes remains.
Hip hop, at least in America, has eclipsed any other kind of popular music as the dominant cultural influence. Hip hop is not just music, it's a culture; clothes, lifestyle, art, etc.
It's much more than a curiosity, and will continue to grow, evolve, and influence nearly every aspect of the music industry.
Black or white, hip hop is just random dissenting talk plastered over other people's music. Can be nice with an appropriate sample or a sung chorus, but nothing as memorable as Beethoven, Ella Fitzgerald, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.
It's like techno music, if you will: a curiosity in musical history.
Only tunes remains.
Hip hop, at least in America, has eclipsed any other kind of popular music as the dominant cultural influence. Hip hop is not just music, it's a culture; clothes, lifestyle, art, etc.
It's much more than a curiosity, and will continue to grow, evolve, and influence nearly every aspect of the music industry.
Great point.
And this likely is why the previous argument was made about culture. It might be hard for someone not part of the culture to really appreciate it. I for one am not as immersed in it at a clothing, lifestyle, art, etc. level. I mean don't they have a derogatory term wigger for nothing, right?
Black or white, hip hop is just random dissenting talk plastered over other people's music. Can be nice with an appropriate sample or a sung chorus, but nothing as memorable as Beethoven, Ella Fitzgerald, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.
It's like techno music, if you will: a curiosity in musical history.
Only tunes remains.
Hip hop, at least in America, has eclipsed any other kind of popular music as the dominant cultural influence. Hip hop is not just music, it's a culture; clothes, lifestyle, art, etc.
It's much more than a curiosity, and will continue to grow, evolve, and influence nearly every aspect of the music industry.
Also this is already true... since probably 2008, but started in the 90s.
Black or white, hip hop is just random dissenting talk plastered over other people's music. Can be nice with an appropriate sample or a sung chorus, but nothing as memorable as Beethoven, Ella Fitzgerald, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.
It's like techno music, if you will: a curiosity in musical history.
Only tunes remains.
Hip hop, at least in America, has eclipsed any other kind of popular music as the dominant cultural influence. Hip hop is not just music, it's a culture; clothes, lifestyle, art, etc.
It's much more than a curiosity, and will continue to grow, evolve, and influence nearly every aspect of the music industry.
Let's hope that there is more in this culture than what we can see in music videos then: adoration of the golden calf, women as object, egotistic art, etc.
Last edited by Yann on 11/02/2017 17:08; edited 1 time in total
Part of the reason why I love Wyclef's album Carnival is it is full of great/chill rap, but more importantly, full of great melodies and actual songs.
I like me some great melodies in hip hop as much as anybody, but maybe that's not the point of the genre? Or of techno for that matter (which I admit I'm not a huge fan of but I've really been digging The Field lately). Like I mentioned in another post, my love for hip hop started to grow when I stopped looking for the same things I looked for in rock music. The point of having different genres is so that you can hear different sounds when you're in different moods. When I want nice melodies, I listen to rock or R&B. When I want in your face attitude, clever wordplay, sick flows, or hypnotizing beats, I go for hip hop.
In regards to Yann's comment: yes, a lot of hip hop songs focus on sex and lavish lifestyles. But not all of them. Common was already mentioned, and there's a whole world of conscious hip hop out there for anyone who's not into that. There's also abstract hip hop, with lyrics that are just pure poetry and don't even focus on a theme. I've never understood why there's a trope of "hip hop is all women, drugs, and violence" when AC/DC and the Rolling Stones are some of the most popular rock bands out there. AC/DC have a song where a woman giving oral sex is compared to a dog being given a bone. Under My Thumb is a fairly misogynistic song. Can you imagine if there was a genre called "conscious rock" because we needed to break off the rock musicians who were "OK" or "safe" to listen to? Rock fans seem to have no problem listening to these songs because "it's just a song", but apparently hip hop songs are more than that.
And I don't see why egotism in art is a bad thing - isn't a lot of art created to show off the creator's talents? Also Lennon and Jagger had pretty big egos but I'll stop beating that dead horse.
Here's a video from this year from one of the most exciting new hip hop groups. I don't see any idolization of woman, just a lot of fun, lyrics about self love, and a verse criticizing rape culture:
Link _________________ And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.
Black or white, hip hop is just random dissenting talk plastered over other people's music. Can be nice with an appropriate sample or a sung chorus, but nothing as memorable as Beethoven, Ella Fitzgerald, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.
It's like techno music, if you will: a curiosity in musical history.
Only tunes remains.
What exactly do you mean by calling rapping “random dissenting talk”. Hip hop is by far the most lyrical genre of music there is. I can name lots of hip hop songs with lyrics that are miles ahead of anything The Beatles or The Rolling Stones have ever written. If you hate sampling so much, I recommend some of the biggest hip hop albums ever, that barely uses sampling at all, in favour of live instrumentation, like Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly and lots of OutKast’s stuff. And caling the biggest genre in the world “a curiosity in musical history” is some bullshit. Have you ever tried to dig into hip hop?
Black or white, hip hop is just random dissenting talk plastered over other people's music. Can be nice with an appropriate sample or a sung chorus, but nothing as memorable as Beethoven, Ella Fitzgerald, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.
It's like techno music, if you will: a curiosity in musical history.
Only tunes remains.
What exactly do you mean by calling rapping “random dissenting talk”. Hip hop is by far the most lyrical genre of music there is. I can name lots of hip hop songs with lyrics that are miles ahead of anything The Beatles or The Rolling Stones have ever written. If you hate sampling so much, I recommend some of the biggest hip hop albums ever, that barely uses sampling at all, in favour of live instrumentation, like Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly and lots of OutKast’s stuff. And caling the biggest genre in the world “a curiosity in musical history” is some bullshit. Have you ever tried to dig into hip hop?
That was excessive, I agree (I was responding to an agressive comment). I like hip hop and I do love samples (earlier on this thread, I recommended a YouTube video of a DJ exploring samples of albums). On the other hand, i'm being put off by the atmosphere and values of recent hip hop videos (babyBlueSedan answered on that above)
Black or white, hip hop is just random dissenting talk plastered over other people's music. Can be nice with an appropriate sample or a sung chorus, but nothing as memorable as Beethoven, Ella Fitzgerald, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.
It's like techno music, if you will: a curiosity in musical history.
Only tunes remains.
What exactly do you mean by calling rapping “random dissenting talk”. Hip hop is by far the most lyrical genre of music there is. I can name lots of hip hop songs with lyrics that are miles ahead of anything The Beatles or The Rolling Stones have ever written. If you hate sampling so much, I recommend some of the biggest hip hop albums ever, that barely uses sampling at all, in favour of live instrumentation, like Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly and lots of OutKast’s stuff. And caling the biggest genre in the world “a curiosity in musical history” is some bullshit. Have you ever tried to dig into hip hop?
That was excessive, I agree (I was responding to an agressive comment). I like hip hop and I do love samples (earlier on this thread, I recommended a YouTube video of a DJ exploring samples of albums). On the other hand, i'm being put off by the atmosphere and values of recent hip hop videos (babyBlueSedan answered on that above)
About the music video thing. Yeah sure, there is a lot of bad ones, but I like to focus on all the good (‘cause those are the ones I care about). There has been allot of rock videos over the years objectifying women, but there’s also been lots of good stuff too. Allot of videos from big hip hop acts are thought provoking, or at least not overly offensive.
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