[Pharmaciest]

Can I have permission to find a way to kill rap?

Wouldn't expect you to stoop to racism, MrFun.

What do I mean? Because all these criticisms of rap are completely unfounded. If anyone actually listened to the genre, they would know that rap isn't all *****es and bling and cop killing and whatever else is being spoon-fed to you by stupid racists. Just like any other genre of music, lyrical content can vary and there are stupid rappers who rap about stupid things (see almost everything AAHZ listens to). However, that doesn't mean that all rap is like that nor that much rap is like that. That approach to rap is synonymous to characterizing all rock music as satanic because of Marilyn Manson or whoever (Manson may not be very satanic, I realize, but I know more of his reputation than actual music so insert someone more fitting here otherwise).

I know rap. I know that this idea that rap is nothing but *****es and guns is complete bullshit. I've posted multitudes of songs that prove otherwise. So your criticisms are either founded in complete ignorance or, frankly, a continuation of the long-standing racist denigrations of every form of music that has originated within the African American community, be it blues, jazz, rock and roll, or rap.

I can provide the names of some popular artists that should be checked out by anyone who holds such ignorant beliefs and is open-minded enough to be willing to admit that they are wrong. Please take advantage of this learning experience and you will come away with a new appreciation of at least the lyrical content of rap.

[penpizdes]

So rap is a race now?

Because you missed it...


Wouldn't expect you to stoop to racism, MrFun.

What do I mean? Because all these criticisms of rap are completely unfounded. If anyone actually listened to the genre, they would know that rap isn't all *****es and bling and cop killing and whatever else is being spoon-fed to you by stupid racists. Just like any other genre of music, lyrical content can vary and there are stupid rappers who rap about stupid things (see almost everything AAHZ listens to). However, that doesn't mean that all rap is like that nor that much rap is like that. That approach to rap is synonymous to characterizing all rock music as satanic because of Marilyn Manson or whoever (Manson may not be very satanic, I realize, but I know more of his reputation than actual music so insert someone more fitting here otherwise).

I know rap. I know that this idea that rap is nothing but *****es and guns is complete bullshit. I've posted multitudes of songs that prove otherwise. So your criticisms are either founded in complete ignorance or, frankly, a continuation of the long-standing racist denigrations of every form of music that has originated within the African American community, be it blues, jazz, rock and roll, or rap.

I can provide the names of some popular artists that should be checked out by anyone who holds such ignorant beliefs and is open-minded enough to be willing to admit that they are wrong. Please take advantage of this learning experience and you will come away with a new appreciation of at least the lyrical content of rap.

[tramadolwithall]

Corporate rap is trifling bullshit.

What is corporate rap? Talib Kweli and Big Boi from Outkast do Pepsi Max commercials, Common (and Jannelle Monae) did GAP commercials, Mos Def did car commercials, Nas and AZ did Sprite commercials, Grand Puba from Brand Nubian did as well, Rakim was/is the spokesperson for Hennessey, Busta Rhymes promoted Mountain Dew, Jay-Z IS corporate, etc. What's more corporate than doing commercials but all these artists (except Monae) are upper echelon of respect in the hip hop community and are the tenured elites.

That distinction between sell-outs and 'real talent' doesn't exist in Hip Hop. Nearly all of the rap community doesn't look down upon those with major record deals, the heavy haterific underground heads aside. There is a respect for the hustle and the fact that Common is dancing around and rapping in a GAP commercial doesn't diminish that man who made "Resurrection", "One Day It'll All Make Sense", and "Like Water for Chocolate".

Honestly, why should it?

And for that matter, does Mos Def co-starring in movies like Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy or Be Kind Rewind diminish his music? Is Will Smith not a pioneer in Hip Hop because he was on a popular sit-com and has done dozens of movies?

What is 'corporate' rap?

Outkast has the best selling rap album of all time. How much does their popularity diminish their value?

[LasTins]

The reason those tools are all respected is because aspirational hood rats think that they can blow up and get rich too. Black people are as trifling as corporate rap. That's why broke ass welfare mothers spend hundreds on their hair, and ghetto niglets wear hundred dollar shoes.

Every single time will.i.am craps out a new single, a little part of me dies.

Oh really? Tools? Will.I.Am is ruining the world?

Here's some corporate rap. Will.I.Am and Common. This was corporate enough to have been written and recorded for the movie Freedom Writers. Here's the video:



Yes, that is ruining the Black community

[Donadoni1809]

Is will.i.am unironically comparing himself to MLK? What a pompous douche.

[KongoSan]

Whatever. Can the man not share in MLK's dream?

[horoshevapola]

Here, MrFun, I'm posting this song specifically for you since Common address the homosexual community in the third verse. Common with Cee-Lo.

[veizKinquiz]

The message is generic platitudes that I'd expect to find on a college girl's bumper stickers.

Common is a fine lyricist, but he's a hell of a long way from corporate mainstream rap. When was the last time you heard him on a Top 40 station?

Yet is that message harming the Black community, as you claimed?

As for Common, his most recent albums:

UMC, hit #12 on the Billboard 200 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.
Finding Forever hit #1, selling 155,000 units in the first week of release
Be hit #2 and received four Grammy nominations

Those aren't the rap charts. The Billboard 200 includes all genres/releases. Between that and the Grammy nominations, you claim Common isn't mainstream?

[Junrlaeh]

Asher:

Spears has been nominated for eight Grammy awards and won her first in the category of Best Dance Recording for her single Toxic in 2005 I'm not sure what your point is. You're saying Grammy awards/nominations aren't given to popular acts so me mentioning some of Common's most recent nominations is not indicative of his mainstream success? But they ARE given for popular acts! I never heard of anyone claiming Grammy's are given to underground people.

Common has won 2 Grammy's, by the way, along with all his nominations.

[KuznehikVasaN]

All I know about Common is he's friends with Will Ferrell. That tells me all I need to know about his artistic ability.

[interbaoui]

He's a musician?

I thought he was a rapper.

[Navzrrqt]

In I'll be sure's defence: there's some good hip-hop of course. Sadly, most bestselling rappers are blinghobadassrappers :/

Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - Waiting for the beat to kick in



Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - 'The Beat That My Heart Skipped'

[loolitoertego]

I like music that is complex with many layers to it and meaningful & genuine. The vast, vast, vast majority of rap is none of the that.

[Forex Autopilot]

I'm confused why anyone would take you up on that offer. It's not that mainstream rap is hard to find. I hear it all the time, usually through the 100kW car stereos of the intellectually curious thug in the 1980s Dodge next to me at a red light.

Why don't you look into real music?

Look for songs with complexity in it, not childish rhymes over a simplistic, repetitive beat.

[DeronBoltonRen]

Post-Rock
Post-Punk Revival

[blogwado]

I wonder what Asher would have said about rock and roll in the 1950's... what he would have said about jazz and blues in the 1930's...

Probably would've liked them.

If your idea is that I don't like "new genres" or "different genres", you're way off. I like genres of music way newer than rap is.

I don't like rap because it lacks what I consider to be core to what music should be about: melody and rhythm and soulful expression. Yes, there's the odd rapper with meaningful lyrics but it still misses out on the key components of what makes good music.

Similarly, with dance music -- beats serve to keep time, not to be the focal point of the song. The lyrics to dance songs are almost always completely airheaded and repetitive as well. Insufferable.

I'm blue, ba-da-be-ba-da-ba.

[AccusaJalsBub]

Another problem is I've heard rap...he acts like people who don't like rap just never heard it before.

You can most certainly hate what you've heard many times. It's not prejudice, it's taste.