Rap.....

[Craig 6682]

.....is crap!

 

Discuss!!

[Happy Face 29]

.....is crap!

 

Discuss!! 

31878[/snapback]

 

You one whack MC.

[Papa Lazaru 0]

That brings back memories!

 

At the risk of repeating the same arguments...hip hop/rap covers such a wide range of music that is totally different in style and standard and the best stuff is invariably not the stuff thats around now and in the charts.

 

But we established all that last time i'm sure!

[Lou 0]

Certainly ain't my cup of tea. So, yes, I tend to agree.

[Craig 6682]

That brings back memories!

 

At the risk of repeating the same arguments...hip hop/rap covers such a wide range of music that is totally different in style and standard and the best stuff is invariably not the stuff thats around now and in the charts.

 

But we established all that last time i'm sure!

31884[/snapback]

 

C'mon PL, rap has a capital 'C'

 

[Papa Lazaru 0]

That brings back memories!

 

At the risk of repeating the same arguments...hip hop/rap covers such a wide range of music that is totally different in style and standard and the best stuff is invariably not the stuff thats around now and in the charts.

 

But we established all that last time i'm sure!

31884[/snapback]

 

C'mon PL, rap has a capital 'C'

 

31898[/snapback]

 

But that would make the word into crap...oh i see what you did there, you cheeky monkey!!!

[Brock Manson 0]

Rap nowadays is shite yes, but it never used to be.

 

Shame we have the 50 Cent's, Games and Kanyes around who don't have a scrap of talent between them.

 

*bangs head* I miss the days when Xzibit wasn't a commercial c**t.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

.....is crap!

 

Discuss!! 

31878[/snapback]

 

peace out, mo' fo'.

[Tooj 17]

Rap nowadays is shite yes, but it never used to be.

 

Shame we have the 50 Cent's, Games and Kanyes around who don't have a scrap of talent between them.

 

*bangs head*  I miss the days when Xzibit wasn't a commercial c**t.

31919[/snapback]

gotta go back to 40 Dayz & 40 Nights for that..... although as a song he'll never top "Foundation"

[Happy Face 29]

If you think rap is crap listen to some of the stuff referenced here

 

By Alex Henderson

 

Chuck D, founder and leader of Public Enemy, has often described rap as "the CNN of the streets," and he knows what he's talking about. Since the early '80s, rappers have addressed a wide variety of social and political topics -- everything from gang violence, AIDS, drug addiction, racism, domestic violence and prostitution to U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. And ironically, all of these sociopolitical lyrics have come from a genre that was best known for party songs in the beginning.

 

The first well known example of sociopolitical rap came in 1982, whenGrandmaster Flash & the Furious Five recorded"The Message" -- a highly influential gem that inspired numerous rappers to address social and political subjects. Before"The Message," most rap lyrics were escapist in nature and shared disco's "let's party" outlook, including the singles thatFlash's group recorded in 1979, 1980 and 1981. In those days, old school MCs typically spent their time boasting about their rapping skills, explaining why "sucker MCs" (rival rappers) were inferior and asking audiences to wave their hands in the air like they just don't care."The Message" didn't eradicate boasting rhymes -- which are still a major part of rap in the 21st Century -- but it did show numerous rappers that it was OK to write challenging, thought-provoking lyrics.

 

There were certain pre-1982 recordings -- some rap, some R&B -- that helped pave the way for"The Message". In the early '70s,the Last Poets (who were mainly a spoken word group) wrote a lot of angrily sociopolitical lyrics and sometimes performed them in a rapping style. It was also in the early '70s thatGil Scott-Heron (who is primarily a jazz-influenced soul singer) experimented with pre-hip-hop rapping on sociopolitical scorchers like"Whitey on the Moon" and"No Knock" (which lambasted the FBI for going after the Black Panthers).Scott-Heron's best known song from that period is"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"; some have described that classic as early rap, although it's really spoken word."Whitey on the Moon" and"No Knock," however, are closer to what came to be called rap -- and there are certainly parallels between those tunes and the militant recordings thatPublic Enemy started providing about 17 years later.

 

The more sociopolitical soul recordings of the early '70s -- gems likeMarvin Gaye's"Inner City Blues,"Curtis Mayfield's"Pusherman" andthe O'Jays'"For the Love of Money" -- also helped pave the way for sociopolitical rap. During the disco era of the mid- to late '70s, there weren't nearly as many message songs coming from R&B, and"The Message" reminded the music world that African-American music didn't always have to be about love, sex, partying and dancing.

 

Hip-hop audiences got a slight taste of social commentary in 1980, when old school rapperSpoonie G recorded"Spoonin' Rap" forSugar Hill Records (the same company that put out"The Message"). Although"Spoonin' Rap" was mostly a boasting/party tune,Spoonie did throw in some lyrics about life behind bars: "In jail, they got a game/They call it survival/They run it down to you on your first arrival." And those lyrics were borrowed in late 1982, whenGrandmaster Melle Mel (ofthe Furious Five) used them on"Survival," a hard-hitting sequel to"The Message".

 

1980 was also the year in whichKurtis Blow rapped about the challenges of a recession on"Hard Times," one of the lesser known gems on his self-titled debut album. If"Spoonin' Rap" and"Hard Times" offered some hints of what was to come, the gloves came all the way off withFlash's sobering"The Message," which talked about drugs, crime, violence, poverty and other horrors of ghetto life. Back in 1982,"The Message" was such a jolt to the hip-hop world; after so many party-oriented lyrics, no one expected to hearFlash's colleagues rapping about "junkies in the alley with a baseball bat" -- or about a young man going to prison for armed robbery and being gangraped repeatedly before being "found hung dead in the cell." Powerful stuff.

 

The popularity of"The Message" and"Survival" inspiredFlash andMel to come out with some equally hard-hitting gems in 1983, including"New York, New York" (which painted a troubling picture of life in the Big Apple) and"White Lines" (a song about cocaine abuse). And thanks toFlash's group, many other rappers were inspired to come out with sociopolitical gems in the '80s -- gems likeRun-D.M.C.'s"It's Like That,"Captain Rapp's"Bad Times (I Can't Stand It,")Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde's"Fast Life" andMC Shy-D's"Paula's on Crack".

 

Flash's message rhymes were a strong influence onBoogie Down Productions, one of the most intellectual rap groups of all time. Led byBlastmaster KRS-1,BDP has tackled a wide variety of issues, including crack cocaine, venereal disease, gang violence, racism and inner-city violence. Sadly, urban violence is something thatKRS has first-hand knowledge of; the rapper's partnerScott La Rock (who he co-foundedBDP with) was murdered in the Bronx after the group's 1987 debutCriminal Minded. WhenLa Rock was killed,KRS considered discontinuingBDP, but thankfully, he decided to keep the group going.KRS' political/spiritual philosophy has been an interesting mixture of black nationalist, Hindu and Rastafarian ideas -- one may not always agree with his politics, but he's certainly been admirably thought-provoking over the years.

 

No essay on political rap would be complete without some mention ofPublic Enemy, whose militant lyrics have influenced everyone from2 Black 2 Strong (a Harlem rapper) and the Oakland-basedParis to rap-metal favoritesRage Against the Machine. Founded by rapperChuck D,Public Enemy sharesBDP's black nationalist outlook and has been heavily influenced by the politics ofMalcolm X andthe Black Panthers. In the late '80s and early '90s,PE were at the height of their popularity; the group was huge back then, and their lyrics were always interesting even if you didn't agree with everything they had to say. Not thatChuck D expected all of his fans to agree with all of his positions -- for example, there were some diehardPE fans who disagreed with their endorsement of the controversial Nation of Islam leaderLouis Farrakhan (just as not all ofMerle Haggard's followers are in total agreement with the politically conservative ideas that the country legend expressed on"Okie from Muskogee" and"The Fighting Side of Me"). Ultimately,PE wasn't about indoctrination -- likeHaggard on the right orJoan Baez andBob Dylan on the left, they were really about expressing a point of view and making people think.

 

Public Enemy became popular around the time that gangsta rap became popular. AlthoughChuck D has rapped about many of the same things as gangsta rappers -- drugs, crime, racism, poverty -- there is a huge difference betweenPE and gangsta rap. The thing that makes someone a gangsta rapper is a willingness to rap in the first person about thug life --Chuck D,Melle Mel andRun-D.M.C. rapped in the third person about the actions of urban criminals, but they didn't actually portray criminals on their albums. Gangsta rappersIce-T andN.W.A, on the other band, became known for first-person accounts of life in the hood. In the late '80s, those Los Angeles residents wrote the book on gangsta rap; they portrayed thugs and gang members on their albums and gave listeners a guided tour of South-Central L.A.'s troubled ghetto areas. In the '90s, gangsta rap started sounding like a formula -- the market became saturated with gangsta rap. But in the beginning, gangsta rap was more educational than exploitive, and the best gangsta rap albums-which includeN.W.A'sStraight Outta Compton,Ice-T'sPower,Ice Cube'sDeath Certificate and the late2Pac Shakur'sMe Against the World -- are sociopolitical classics.

 

Ironically, some of the best sociopolitical rap of the late '80s and early '90s came from someone who is much better known for lighthearted, escapist lyrics:Sir Mix-A-Lot. WhenMix's name is mentioned, most hip-hop heads immediately think of fun pop-rap like"Baby Got Back" (his biggest hit),"Posse's on Broadway" and"Beepers". But anyone who thinks ofMix as strictly a party animal should take a close listen to searing message raps like"National Anthem" (which addresses the Iran-Contra scandal and the plight of Vietnam veterans, among other things),"Society's Creation" and"The (Peek-A-Boo) Game". So why haven't more people acknowledgedMix's sociopolitical side? It really comes down to marketing; labels released his more fun songs as singles and promoted them aggressively.Mix would include one or two political smokers on an album, but he was marketed as a party rapper and went with the flow.

 

In the 21st Century, rap lyrics continue to run the gamut -- they can be frivolous, or they can be serious-minded. And whenever an MC tackles a social or political issue, he/she should be thankful thatGrandmaster Flash and his colleagues opened the door back in 1982.

 

link

[Brock Manson 0]

Rap nowadays is shite yes, but it never used to be.

 

Shame we have the 50 Cent's, Games and Kanyes around who don't have a scrap of talent between them.

 

*bangs head*  I miss the days when Xzibit wasn't a commercial c**t.

31919[/snapback]

gotta go back to 40 Dayz & 40 Nights for that..... although as a song he'll never top "Foundation"

31922[/snapback]

 

Chamber music was class too. Class album that.

Preferred At The Speed Of Life though. Foundation and Paparazzi have to be 2 of his best.

 

I havent even listened all the way through his last album it was that bad. (It's both commercial AND political...whoot I'm glad I got it for my birthday and didnt have to pay money for it)

[Jimbo 175]

I used to love Rap music when I was about 13, but back then Rap was good, artists like Public Enemy, Eric B and Rakim, De La Soul, Stetasonic, BDP - KRSone, but anything from 1990 onwards is utter utter manure of the highest order, I would prefer to stick pins in my eyes and have my testicals burnt off with an Oxy-Acyetelene torch than listen to any of it.

[luckypierre 0]

rap is indeed crap. Hip hop on the other hand..

 

Jimbo theres still good stuff around but you've got to dig for it. Its all Puffy's fault imo. The decline started with all the versace shit that they used to come out with, with their big production videos. It was all just bollocks. The Notorious Big should have stuck to being Biggie Smalls and not help the little fuckwit make millions. Jay-z is held as being the most talented when to me he sounds rubbish , he doesnt come close to the likes of Rakim, CL Smooth and Kool G Rap.

 

Hip Hop is what it was. Rap is now the bollocks you see topping the charts, the one thats so imaginative it now samples a whole song.

[sammynb 3368]

So what Blondie was crap?

[Happy Face 29]

Scroobius Pip is doing the academy in a few months.

 

[Tooj 17]

Hip-Hop has been shite since '97 IMO. It's often said but the decline did coincide with the death of 2Pac & Biggie.

[Happy Face 29]

Hip-Hop has been shite since '97 IMO. It's often said but the decline did coincide with the death of 2Pac & Biggie.

 

 

Hello Nasty '98

Things Fall Apart '99

Labour Days '01

Run Come Save Me '01

Phrenology '02

Madvillainy '04

The Mouse and the Mask '05

Game Theory '06

Fishscale '06

[ewerk 30744]

Hip-Hop has been shite since '97 IMO. It's often said but the decline did coincide with the death of 2Pac & Biggie.

 

 

Hello Nasty '98

Things Fall Apart '99

Labour Days '01

Run Come Save Me '01

Phrenology '02

Madvillainy '04

The Mouse and the Mask '05

Game Theory '06

Fishscale '06

 

 

Mostly

 

There is plenty of good rap music out there, it's just about finding it.

[Guest alex]

Hip-Hop has been shite since '97 IMO. It's often said but the decline did coincide with the death of 2Pac & Biggie.

 

 

Hello Nasty '98

Things Fall Apart '99

Labour Days '01

Run Come Save Me '01

Phrenology '02

Madvillainy '04

The Mouse and the Mask '05

Game Theory '06

Fishscale '06

 

 

Mostly

 

There is plenty of good rap music out there, it's just about finding it.

Like pretty much all genres really.

[ewerk 30744]

Hip-Hop has been shite since '97 IMO. It's often said but the decline did coincide with the death of 2Pac & Biggie.

 

 

Hello Nasty '98

Things Fall Apart '99

Labour Days '01

Run Come Save Me '01

Phrenology '02

Madvillainy '04

The Mouse and the Mask '05

Game Theory '06

Fishscale '06

 

 

Mostly

 

There is plenty of good rap music out there, it's just about finding it.

Like pretty much all genres really.

 

Well I'd say more so with rap really as most of the decent stuff is based in America and rarely picked up by the media over here.

[Guest alex]

Hip-Hop has been shite since '97 IMO. It's often said but the decline did coincide with the death of 2Pac & Biggie.

 

 

Hello Nasty '98

Things Fall Apart '99

Labour Days '01

Run Come Save Me '01

Phrenology '02

Madvillainy '04

The Mouse and the Mask '05

Game Theory '06

Fishscale '06

 

 

Mostly

 

There is plenty of good rap music out there, it's just about finding it.

Like pretty much all genres really.

 

Well I'd say more so with rap really as most of the decent stuff is based in America and rarely picked up by the media over here.

You say that because you're into rap though. My point was that with nearly any genre, especially one that has crossed into the mainstream/pop world, you have to dig a bit deeper. I don't think rap is particularly unique in that regard.

[Happy Face 29]

I agree it's the same with all genres.

 

But you don't even have to dig. It's not as if it's the 80's and everyone's thumbing through vinyl and asking the record shop owner what's good. EVERY genre has a multitude of podcasts you can subscribe to with a single click and hear the best and newest of.

[ewerk 30744]

Hip-Hop has been shite since '97 IMO. It's often said but the decline did coincide with the death of 2Pac & Biggie.

 

 

Hello Nasty '98

Things Fall Apart '99

Labour Days '01

Run Come Save Me '01

Phrenology '02

Madvillainy '04

The Mouse and the Mask '05

Game Theory '06

Fishscale '06

 

 

Mostly

 

There is plenty of good rap music out there, it's just about finding it.

Like pretty much all genres really.

 

Well I'd say more so with rap really as most of the decent stuff is based in America and rarely picked up by the media over here.

You say that because you're into rap though. My point was that with nearly any genre, especially one that has crossed into the mainstream/pop world, you have to dig a bit deeper. I don't think rap is particularly unique in that regard.

 

I'm not trying to say it's unique, what I'm saying is that decent rap isn't well catered for in Britain, of course there are other genres that share this problem and the fact that there is little decent homegrown rap music doesn't help. I suppose it's really the way in that the genre is nearly completed Americanised that is the problem (and again I'm not saying that rap is unique in this respect).

[Guest alex]

Hip-Hop has been shite since '97 IMO. It's often said but the decline did coincide with the death of 2Pac & Biggie.

 

 

Hello Nasty '98

Things Fall Apart '99

Labour Days '01

Run Come Save Me '01

Phrenology '02

Madvillainy '04

The Mouse and the Mask '05

Game Theory '06

Fishscale '06

 

 

Mostly

 

There is plenty of good rap music out there, it's just about finding it.

Like pretty much all genres really.

 

Well I'd say more so with rap really as most of the decent stuff is based in America and rarely picked up by the media over here.

You say that because you're into rap though. My point was that with nearly any genre, especially one that has crossed into the mainstream/pop world, you have to dig a bit deeper. I don't think rap is particularly unique in that regard.

 

I'm not trying to say it's unique, what I'm saying is that decent rap isn't well catered for in Britain, of course there are other genres that share this problem and the fact that there is little decent homegrown rap music doesn't help. I suppose it's really the way in that the genre is nearly completed Americanised that is the problem (and again I'm not saying that rap is unique in this respect).

[Happy Face 29]

Hip-Hop has been shite since '97 IMO. It's often said but the decline did coincide with the death of 2Pac & Biggie.

 

 

Hello Nasty '98

Things Fall Apart '99

Labour Days '01

Run Come Save Me '01

Phrenology '02

Madvillainy '04

The Mouse and the Mask '05

Game Theory '06

Fishscale '06

 

 

Mostly

 

There is plenty of good rap music out there, it's just about finding it.

Like pretty much all genres really.

 

Well I'd say more so with rap really as most of the decent stuff is based in America and rarely picked up by the media over here.

You say that because you're into rap though. My point was that with nearly any genre, especially one that has crossed into the mainstream/pop world, you have to dig a bit deeper. I don't think rap is particularly unique in that regard.

 

I'm not trying to say it's unique, what I'm saying is that decent rap isn't well catered for in Britain, of course there are other genres that share this problem and the fact that there is little decent homegrown rap music doesn't help. I suppose it's really the way in that the genre is nearly completed Americanised that is the problem (and again I'm not saying that rap is unique in this respect).

 

Apart from Roots Manuva, Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, Sway, M.I.A, Scroobius Pip..........