If you don't "Get"/understand or appreciate HipHop/Rap please listen...

Hip-Hop music isn't only about sex,drugs,violence & money.
Remember when your parents said the music you listened to (when you were younger) isn't "music"?
You've turned into them. Listen to it with an open mind and don't misjudge/generalize the whole genre.
Music can't evolve if people approach new genres with a closed mind.

How could this be wrong for music?

 

A few words from somebody who doesn't own a single hip-hop song:

I'm not a native english speaker and on first listen I couldn't really follow the lyrics. Musically I like the song. I'm not starting Itunes yet to download the song but I wouldn't switch the station if I heard it on the radio. I think it would be nice to listen to it in the car at night.

 

That's better than bashing it because of it's genre.

 

It isn't "wrong for music", it's wrong for me. It was not made with me in mind as a potential listener, and there's no reason why I would listen to this rather than something that was. I'm sure the people it was made for will enjoy it.

 

I'll tell you what, man, there have been few moments more thrilling in music listening than hearing Public Enemy for the first time.

I don't get the out of hand dismissal of rap at all. Some of it isn't for me, but there's a lot of inspired work being done in the genre.

 

Like it or not, rap/hip-hop is probably the most important musical development to come out of the 80s. I think it endures because it is the means by which an entire socio-economic strata communicates its daily living experience. It came up from the streets and knocked out a permanent place for itself in the mainstream. It's here to stay.

That said, I recently saw a rap/hip-hop video (I don't pretend to know the difference between rap and hip-hop) featuring Eminem. At the end of the video, Eminem and his posse face off against a posse of white-faced zombies? I don't know--I think the millions in his bank account have made ol' Em a bit soft these days. He looks like a safe, super-clean, American Express Black Card carrying version of what he used to be.

 

Same could be said about Mick Jagger, no?

 

I don't mind when rap is mixed into a pop song -- by which I mean when a song that is being sung has a bit that's spoken word -- but I don't find records that are entirely spoken particularly enjoyable. I listen to music because I want to hear music, and that includes the human voice singing, not speaking.

 

Rapping is different from speaking in the same way poetry is different from prose. If you want to characterize, say, "Walk On By" by Isaac Hayes as spoken word, I guess I could go along with that, but rap is not simply people talking with a backing track...

 

An interesting question. My knee-jerk reaction is to say that Mick didn't grow up in as rough of a circumstance as Eminem. I don't think Mick was ever "street", and I think Em definitely was. I know Keith and Bill Wyman grew up in pretty meager circumstances, especially Wyman. But Mick, maybe not so much. I'm thinking of what Keith wrote in Life.

 

Nothing should be bashed because of its genre.

Apart from power ballads, obviously. We'll allow that.

 

But the Stones were pretty much promoted by ALO as "dangerous." The Stones were the dark to The Beatles' light, etc. and they were a lot rougher around the edges, image-wise. I could have said Johnny Rotten, but my point is basically that success mellow everyone out at a certain point...

 

Rap is a vocal technique, used in many genres, not just hip hop (e.g. Blondie's rap in "Rapture").

My favorite rappers right now are Die Antwoord, a South Africa group, some of which is in Afrikaans.

This is their satire of bling-rap:

 

I agree with you that the mellowing effect of success applies to both Mick and Eminem. But your point about promotion is a thought I just had, and my impression is that Eminem's "street creed" runs deeper than that of the Stones, and is less of a product of managerial star making or image making. But truth be told I don't know as much of Eminem's history as I do the Stones, and once these guys hook up with a manager and a record company, it's hard to tell what's what. I mean, who was Andrew Loog Oldham, really? A well-heeled Londoner that decided to manage the Stones to success? Meanwhile, wasn't Dr. Dre, Eminem's mentor from what I understand, a guy who took himself off the streets and had to carefully navigate the tutelage of Suge Knight (who no doubt was a gangster in the real sense) in order to eventually become the billionaire he is today? Maybe I'm being naive, but I think there was a lot more image making going on in the Stones' camp then in Eminem's camp.

 

The appeal of rap to me is rarely to do with the lyrics, but the awesome grooves and rhythm.

Case in point, this old school classic:

 

Seriously, and not with aggression or anything, but what's it to you what anybody else thinks of music that you like? Are you so insecure that you can't enjoy your music if others disdain it?

 

Guess you don't actually know Isaac Hayes' version of "Walk On By" as it's mostly sung, not spoken word.

The video linked in the first post was too monotonous to call it anything other than someone talking over a backing track. The same cadence, over and over, every few seconds. Maybe I should backtrack and say that songs like that aren't just people speaking over a backing track since most people don't speak in such a monotonous manner.

 

Forget water boarding, just lock me in a room and play that song and I'll tell you whatever you want.

 

I've given it more than a chance since some guys at work listen to nothing else. I just don't like it. Different strokes for different folks.

 

Which I suppose is why I actually said, "If you want to characterize, say, 'Walk On By' by Isaac Hayes as spoken word," as opposed to stating that's actually what it is, but believe me, we get it: You hate rap.

 

Hip hop died when Method Man guested for Limp Bizkit. The genre never recovered. (artistically)

 

Gorillaz are a fine example of how rap can be succesfully blended with pop songs. He's a clever lad, that Damon.

 

What's the big deal with this track? It's no better than any other hip hop.

It's just a pastiche as most of it is. A few seconds of a piece of music, a drum machine and someone speaking rhythmically over the top. It's quite removed from all other genres and it's easy to see why people dismiss it. It's certainly not music under most definitions you could put forward.

 

Ok, I will put on my flame retardant suite (cause I'm gonna need it) and then say that I wouldn't want to condemn a whole genre, I suppose, as I listened to hip hop and rap in my youth. But I feel like I have grown up and my musical tastes have done the same. I really don't care for the stuff anymore for serious listening. Present song included. Now I know I am basically calling it an immature, generally unsophisticated genre and that demands a response. Have at it.

 

Oh, you meant actually listen...to rap. I'm out.