What Is Your View On Rap/Hip-Hop?

[Funk$tar]

I like old skool hip-hip. The 'golden age' for me is early to mid 90's, when there was lots of great lyricists and clever sampling of old funk and soul music (rather than just ripping off whole songs) which got me discovering & loving the original records even more.

A Tribe Called Quest's The Low End Theory for me is possibly the greatest hip hop album ever, and is also a great bass album in its own right (featuring Ron Carter on upright). I also love De La Soul, The Pharcyde, Main Source, Pete Rock, Black Sheep, Beastie Boys, Run-DMC, Gangstarr. I liked Nas' 1st album (Illmatic), & I also like a bit of early Dr. Dre, Snoop, Digital Underground, which really got me into the whole Parliament-Funkadelic thing.

Maybe it's an age thing, and maybe I'm generalising, but a lot of new Hip Hop I've heard is less 'musical' and just too clichéd lyrically for me.

TB should really have yearly awards to honor people who give such great responses on these threads because I've said to multiple people like a gizillions times how "so correct" they are.
Haha great post brotha!

 

[Funk$tar]

I obviously like it.

Lookin' great my friend, I need that shirt!

 

[Frank Tuesday]

I'm very biased against records in which the music is programmed into the computer instead of played by musicians on musical instruments. Now that isn't to say that I don't like any records made that way, just that they face an uphill struggle to join my listen-more-than-once collection.

I could listen to this all day (and have).

 

[bassbully]

Older white guy here. I don't like it at all in fact 90% of it I don't even consider is music or musical. Its just spoken word some very bad on recorded beats and samples.
As a musician even a hack one I don't feel its music...sorry. I also have a hatred for what the gangster rap models to its young listeners. Its all about sex, drugs, money and killing or beating police or women down. I understand there is all forms of rap but I just lump it all together.

But I will say I respect the art form. I understand its roots and what it represents but its unfortunate it is often times very negative. You give people who feel down negative inspiration and its gets kind of ugly. I grew up during Punk rock and it in some ways is allot like rap. I saw kids who took the whole "Punk thing" to literally and used it to do damage spreading hatred. I see the same issues with Rap and some of the artists who continue to push this message to inter city youth, kids who live it everyday and it fuels them to do harmful things to often.

 

[ggunn]

I don't care for it, generally, although in a couple of instances one has caught my ear. DSFDF.

 

[cv115505]

I think it was good at its inception, and I think it has some less mainstream acts today that are great. I have played for some rappers, that I have really liked. That being said, the mainstream Jay-Z, Little Wayne (I'm not calling a grown man 'Lil') and all of that is complete garbage. I think that one day we will look at it the same way we look at the Disco Era now.

 

[Ace Of Bass]

Young black guy here...hip hop is like every other genre to me....there's some good and some not so good....and some terrible...it can be just as musical too...groups like The Roots took it to another level by forming the first well known band representing hip hop....they've had a string of bass players that shouldn't be slept on as well...sure a lot of hip hop is based off of samples and synth, but there is definitely room to appreciate it....
I will add this...I'm firmly in the camp of those who think it's not as good as it used to be as a whole...a lot of the older guys say the same stuff over and over and the young guys sound just like them....talking about selling dope is played out...and inappropriate at this.juncture in time...its all cool until it hits close.to.home...

 

[Big Hoss]

Okay I am going to go out on an old white guy limb here and say this...

I'm not a fan of Hip Hop / Rap. I prefer rock / prog rock and country. However I DO enjoy a wide range of music that's not in my main styles.

I have some thematic issues with a good number of Hip Hop artists, but I won't interfere with their freedom of expression. And it's far from just Hip Hop that I have thematic issues with. Not exactly a fan of Death Metal and similar genres either...

I feel like there has come a distinct division now between "Rap" and "Hip Hop", and of the two, I will take Rap any day of the week. I consider Rap to be acts like Eminem, Tone Loc, Will Smith, Sugar Hill Gang (Yes I am going chronologically backwards). Or even the ultra misogynists 2 Live Crew. I can enjoy the art if not the themes. Rap music to my ear anyway typically flows, has a good groove that moves the lyrical elements forward. Hip Hop, well Hop is a good word for it. It is a quite disjointed, discordant cacophony. There isn't good flow within the elements. I just don't enjoy listening to Hip Hop.

I am not sure, but from what I see, it would appear that for the most part, what I would consider rap is for the most part dead. I just don't hear that much of it on the radio any more.

Then there is the over processed, over sampled, filtered, effected, and just down right muddy sounding junk you hear pumping out of Jessie Pinkman's car... I think everyone knows the stuff I am talking about. All you hear are the super low lows, and the ultra high trebles, with no mids at all. And for the most part, almost all created in software... Mind you, there is absolutely an audience for that. I'm not it. I'm no longer the audience much of the edgier music from my youth was intended for. I have matured well beyond the "Let's get high and score with every willing girl we can" music, as well as the "F--- the police" themes... I am no longer in the "Have a Beer with Fear" stage of my life, and I am more in the "All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down" phase...

So long winded story short I guess you could say, no, Hip Hop is not my style, I'd never consider playing anything current Hip Hop although I would enjoy the bass guitar heavy rap styles of the 70s, 80s, and 90s.

 

[Big Hoss]

Young black guy here...hip hop is like every other genre to me....there's some good and some not so good....and some terrible...it can be just as musical too...groups like The Roots took it to another level by forming the first well known band representing hip hop....they've had a string of bass players that shouldn't be slept on as well...sure a lot of hip hop is based off of samples and synth, but there is definitely room to appreciate it....

You sir, (young) are the audience that Hip Hop is really meant for... Hopefully you can have some influence to drive the art form to its peaks, and hopefully the market will weed out the talent less hacks...

 

[Funk$tar]

Older white guy here. I don't like it at all in fact 90% of it I don't even consider is music or musical. Its just spoken word some very bad on recorded beats and samples.
As a musician even a hack one I don't feel its music...sorry. I also have a hatred for what the gangster rap models to its young listeners. Its all about sex, drugs, money and killing or beating police or women down. I understand there is all forms of rap but I just lump it all together.

But I will say I respect the art form. I understand its roots and what it represents but its unfortunate it is often times very negative. You give people who feel down negative inspiration and its gets kind of ugly. I grew up during Punk rock and it in some ways is allot like rap. I saw kids who took the whole "Punk thing" to literally and used it to do damage spreading hatred. I see the same issues with Rap and some of the artists who continue to push this message to inter city youth, kids who live it everyday and it fuels them to do harmful things to often.

I appreciate your response, but just listen to this song.

It was simply a message to black men in the inner city who were just killing one another over ridiculous things.
I mean If you don't think this is music I understand and respect your opinion. But I have to ask...what is music then?

Probably the most beautiful words in Rap history period that are in this song come from the heart and soul of the legendary Kool Moe Dee, who raps:

"Back in the sixties our brothers and sisters were hanged
How could you gang-bang?
I never ever ran from the Ku Klux Klan
And I shouldn't have to run from a black man
Cause that's Self Destruction, your headed for Self Destruction."

You may not see the beauty in these words, but please ignore all rap that exists today and try to see how back then, this music was used to create a message to my fellow brothers and sisters that we're all one, so stop the violence...

 

[Big Hoss]

In general, I'm not a fan of rap, hip-hop, or R&B. I'm a metal guy, almost to the core, which is mostly made of classical (and then, mostly Romantics and neo-classical).

However, I have some opinions. I think Eminem is probably the most talented rap performer going. I don't care much for his lyrics or choices of topics, but I think his technique and flow are absolutely top notch. I liked in the mid-90s when metal and rap bands collaborated. The actual music that came out was perhaps something of a disappointment, but I think the idea has a lot of potential. I'm not talking about rap-metal bands. I'm talking about actual rappers and actual metallers collaborating and coming up with some amazing stuff together.

Don't forget the 80s collaborations that started the whole hybrid thing, like Run DMC / Aerosmith... Walk This Way is still one of my favorites from that era...

 

[Funk$tar]

Young black guy here...hip hop is like every other genre to me....there's some good and some not so good....and some terrible...it can be just as musical too...groups like The Roots took it to another level by forming the first well known band representing hip hop....they've had a string of bass players that shouldn't be slept on as well...sure a lot of hip hop is based off of samples and synth, but there is definitely room to appreciate it....
I will add this...I'm firmly in the camp of those who think it's not as good as it used to be as a whole...a lot of the older guys say the same stuff over and over and the young guys sound just like them....talking about selling dope is played out...and inappropriate at this.juncture in time...its all cool until it hits close.to.home...

Now why can't the younger Black community be like this?
I mean I am so proud to be Black and I think it's awesome to see some of these younger black kids using rap to vent their emotions, but when you bring dope, drug dealing, the defilement of women, and gang banging' into the music, what's the purpose? To get the youth to think that stuff is cool so they can join a gang and kill another innocent black life! Crap like that brings us only a step backwards to where we really need to be in society, but of course they choose to ignore. They even use tragedies like the shooting of Michael Brown to get attention and point fingers at White people when we should really be pointing the fingers at ourselves and think what could we have done?

 

[hover]

You are correct, more like the mid 70s to mid 80s...

Fixed it for ya, then skip to the late 90's thru now underground stuff.
I like it just fine, not just the overly hyping lifestyle / subs and dubs stuff.

 

[Big Hoss]

I hope not to cause too much of a stir!
But people like you are the reasons why I love TB! haha
You actually have had the pleasure to explore and learn about a genre that most people (older people ;D) despise, instead of just knocking it down from one bad experience. Sure I understand when someone who is a bit older turns on the radio and hears Rap music playing they will most likely not understand it and will then distant themselves away from it. But If those people would actually take the time and learn of it's origins, they might end up liking it or at least appreciating it.
Anyways great post and yeah The Roots are awesome!

While I am sure that there are folks that pretty much instantly dislike things that are unfamiliar, I hope you take this for how it is meant... Part of the issue of Hip Hop, as was the issue with early Rock, then hard rock, metal etc.. is that it reflects a point in time in regards to the youth culture, and almost by design is alienating to the more mature population. There is nothing wrong with that, it's just that what is popular with one group is on the bleeding edge / avant garde to another. My musical tastes developed during the 80s sure, but that doesn't mean that even tough I am older, I can't appreciate a newer musical style.

Your point about learning is completely valid though. And really why I wanted to reply to you... Sure the youth can, and do learn from the older generations. But then again, those of us like me in the older generations can, and should be learning from today's youth. As we learn about those things that differ from our normal comfort zone, we find the different more accessible, and in turn, we grow at each turn. And if we aren't growing in some way, we are dying, and decaying. I for one, and in no hurry to get to the dying and decaying point...

 

[VinnyIuspa]

young white guy, hate rap. All of it lol.

 

[bass12]

Okay I am going to go out on an old white guy limb here and say this...

I'm not a fan of Hip Hop / Rap. I prefer rock / prog rock and country. However I DO enjoy a wide range of music that's not in my main styles.

I have some thematic issues with a good number of Hip Hop artists, but I won't interfere with their freedom of expression. And it's far from just Hip Hop that I have thematic issues with. Not exactly a fan of Death Metal and similar genres either...

I feel like there has come a distinct division now between "Rap" and "Hip Hop", and of the two, I will take Rap any day of the week. I consider Rap to be acts like Eminem, Tone Loc, Will Smith, Sugar Hill Gang (Yes I am going chronologically backwards). Or even the ultra misogynists 2 Live Crew. I can enjoy the art if not the themes. Rap music to my ear anyway typically flows, has a good groove that moves the lyrical elements forward. Hip Hop, well Hop is a good word for it. It is a quite disjointed, discordant cacophony. There isn't good flow within the elements. I just don't enjoy listening to Hip Hop.

I am not sure, but from what I see, it would appear that for the most part, what I would consider rap is for the most part dead. I just don't hear that much of it on the radio any more.

Then there is the over processed, over sampled, filtered, effected, and just down right muddy sounding junk you hear pumping out of Jessie Pinkman's car... I think everyone knows the stuff I am talking about. All you hear are the super low lows, and the ultra high trebles, with no mids at all. And for the most part, almost all created in software... Mind you, there is absolutely an audience for that. I'm not it. I'm no longer the audience much of the edgier music from my youth was intended for. I have matured well beyond the "Let's get high and score with every willing girl we can" music, as well as the "F--- the police" themes... I am no longer in the "Have a Beer with Fear" stage of my life, and I am more in the "All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down" phase...

So long winded story short I guess you could say, no, Hip Hop is not my style, I'd never consider playing anything current Hip Hop although I would enjoy the bass guitar heavy rap styles of the 70s, 80s, and 90s.

Hip-hop is commonly accepted as an umbrella term for four distinct elements which make up "hip-hop culture": MCing (rapping), DJing, graffiti and b-boying (breakdancing).

 

[cnltb]

I just want to clarify that I am a fan of real MC's from the "Golden Age" of Hip-Hop and not that stuff you hear on the radio people call, "Rap." I appreciate the art form or any art form that expresses one's feelings and what not, but I don't appreciate when a newer generation of rappers completely dismantles an art form by insulting woman, cursing every 5 seconds, discussing the same controversial subject in every song, and so much more. I know a lot of you bass players on here are older and may not understand the art form at all, but to people like me who are from impoverished areas where dealing drugs and killing is encouraged, Hip-Hop was a way for some people living in those areas to relate to one another and escape that reality together. Just like any other genre of music, Hip-Hop has it's artists that helped define that genre and that are still trying to keep it going, while other people simply take it and mold it into a way to vent their feelings about ridiculous crap like Sex, Drugs, and...well mainly those two. I appreciate Hip-Hop and hope others can do the same and learn not to judge from what they hear on the radio, but from what they hear from the past MC's who actually were trying to tell their stories and true feelings about all things meaningful.
Well anyways, what's your guy's view of Rap/Hip-Hop?

How old do you think we are here?
Hip hop-the movement rather than just the music(rap, which is not unique to hip hop) started in 1973 ( well...at least that party, Kool Herc gave in august of that year is often coined the birth hour of hip hop.
I think that the movement with all it's integral elements was and still is ( or possibly again) a useful thing.
A potent youth movement, combining various strands of Art with education and the idea of self improvement.
That the music changes with time is not unique to rap, and all genres have the good ones and the not so good ones( according to the tastes of each individual listener).
I like that.
My favorite Rapper is Buck 65 and he does not swear a lot or dwell on the 'same old' subject you mention.
Many others bore me though as I too am tired of the same old cliche`s, be that in music or wordage.

 

[SteveHeissner]

As an old white guy I like any rap or hip hop song that's got a cool music video. I just hit the mute button and enjoy. However, I did like the old Sugar Hill Gang stuff back in the day. No need to mute that stuff.

 

[cnltb]

Hip-hop is commonly accepted as an umbrella term for four distinct elements which make up "hip-hop culture": MCing (rapping), DJing, graffiti and b-boying (breakdancing).

expanded to nine, now...I forgot them ,of course, but entrepreneurship is one as is education, if I am not mistaken.

 

[bass12]

expanded to nine, now...I forgot them ,of course, but entrepreneurship is one as is education, if I am not mistaken.

Never heard that before. Must be the new PC edition.