Do you think rap music sounds horrible

For the most part, yes. But some rappers do have legitimate talent, I just prefer to hear them rapping over dance tracks. As a guest rapper, with a real singer to sing most of it.

Flo Rida is just about the best of the bunch, to my way of thinking.

MOM?

Is that you??????????

I don't even consider it music.

It certainly isn't music. It is not poetry. Those who promote it usually can't scratch their names in the dirt with a stick.

It's just noise, like traffic jams or heavy construction sounds, only far worse.

I love it. If you really listen, it moves you in ways that you'll never understand. I've discovered that people my parents' age mid 40s and up don't really connect with it. My Mom and Dad are Kurt Cobain kids and their angst played out differently in their music.

I hate a lot of it, mostly the rappers that only rap about money in a non-ironic way.

But there is a lot that I like. I do like Eminem, and my favorite is Spank Rock:

Kid Cudi is also really talented:

There is a time and place for it, but it'd sure be nice if the aficionados would ditch the booming car thing. That's so 20 yrs. ago it's like a form of retardation.

I used to hate all rap music as a teen, but then I became more open-minded. It's still not one of my favourite genres, but there are lots of songs I enjoy.

Generally, the focus of the music is not to be beautiful, but to have a certain energy, so if you're expecting the former you'll often be disappointed.

But here's a good rap song that should appeal to those who look for beauty in their music:

And here's the polar opposite - very abrasive and powerful:

And finally something in between:

Timmy went deaf by the age 18 from listening to LOUD ROCK MUSIC. He RUINED HIS LIFE. Is that what YOU want?

This thread is drenched in white privilege.

Rickey Smiley loves "Bonecrusher."

True R15, but rap is drenched in patriarchal privelige.

R15 White privilege is nothing but black failure.

What does "white privilege" mean in the context of this thread?

I am baffled.

Wait a minute, it's racist to dislike rap music, really? What if most of your favorite artists are R&B, is that white privilege too? Wow, who knew racism was so petty, I thought it was about discrimination, but apparently it's about thought police telling you what music you're allowed to like and dislike.

R15, which race would that be, because I don't read anyone mentioning color or race here.

The music scene today is terrible. That is why rap/hip hop is so powerful. It rises above the shit and is the only music today that actually has talent behind it. No autotune, no outside songwriters. Just pure talent and emotion from the heart.

I am not a person to scream "Racist!", but I think that if a person hates ALL rap/hip hop that racism plays a part. Today's rap is better than the old school stuff. The old stuff was silly ("Funky Cole Madina", "Toilet Stool Rap", anyone?). The modern stuff is real life and real emotions.

That is why the average hip hop CD sells 5-10 million copies. Because it's real! Your Lady Gaga is fake autotuned noise. Metallica is fake autotuned noise. One Direction, the same. Mariah Carey, the same! Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi, Eminem, etc. are the saviors of modern music.

Love the blues, soul, Motown, Atlantic records.

Smokey and the Miracles, Aretha, Ray, Temps, Gladys, Ella, Louis, Nat... love them all, and more. Love(d) Leontyn Price.

Cannot stand rap. Only thing I can say about it, is I hear the anger. I also think anyone can learn to do it. It's more like a sport than an artistic expression.

Kid Cudi? You've got to be kidding.

Or you're 16 years old.

My partner loves it and I like a bit of it (yeah, Drake and Jayzee, pretty whitewashed stuff). He likes the hardcore stuff. I just don't get it. Life is hard, why spend all your time seeing who can come up with the meanest story?

Yeah rapping about your cars and chains is REAL >.>

R25, if you were talking to me, I was talking about the songs about little brother getting gunned down in front of the church, stuff like that, not cars and chains.

You have to admit rap is better than rock. Rock is nothing but a bunch of stoned-out white racists playing air guitar in the parking lot. Rock is the worst thing to ever happen to music. Rap is at least real.

It's like folk music to street animals.

Okay, that is racist, but it I might say folk music to street criminals.

yes

Rap music is just a way for black guys who have no talent or conscience to make millions.

recent rap lyrics by mr. rick ross:

"she a pussy ho, pussy ho, she a pussy ho until she give me pussy, ho."

yep, lots of import there. profound even.

I'm black and i Hate it... its hackjob of real music via samples may be good to shake ur booty at the club but to be released as an album? Blasted all over the airwaves day in and day out? HELL NO

In an enlightened society, r15 would be executed.

It is clearly an age thing. The same people who are bitching about rap, got their Elvis records bashed when they were kids. And where age isn't a factor, location usually plays a huge role.

Most of these rappers sell their soul, so is don't listen to this garbage.

I agree with R34 that heavy metal is the white version of rap. Soulless noice.

Same for white country singers, R32.

I hate rap for the same reason I hate country; It sounds ignorant. It's mostly the accent and speech patterns. And the fact that with rap, there's almost never actual melody.

As a counterpoint, here's some rap that I actually like. Notice the lack of ignorant lowlife accents. Problem solved.

I don't particularly like country 39, but I think the lyrics are pretty inoffensive and it does require some singing capability. The better comparison is Heavy Metal, like R34 suggested.

What R4 said.

Yes. Same goes for heavy metal, though.

Oh come on, none of you like L'Trimm?

I hate all music except that by talented artists. Make fun of me if you will, but Barbra, Bette, Liza, Judy and Diana Ross are timeless and inoffensive. Music should make one feel good.

Public Enemy put out two very good albums last year.

I agree, R42, it is a better comparison.

I agree heavy metal is a good comparison, but why are people not complaining about metal?

Because heavy metal is such a fringe genre, R49, whereas rap is not.

I love early rap: Sugarhill Gang, Kool Moe Dee, Run DMC, etc.

And I was obsessed with De La Soul and a Tribe Called Quest. Early Public Enemy too.

The closest any group has come to any of the above is Cannibal Ox. There stuff is like jazz: trippy, offbeat, almost surreal.

Also: Madvillain, Quasimoto (same guy really) and Dr. Octagon.

None of the gangster shit does anything for me. There is nothing lyrical or interesting at all about it. It's totally stupid, uninspired and appeals to the lowest common denominator. Also reinforces the stereotype that blacks are violent, trashy, uneducated etc,

[quote]It is clearly an age thing.

As though rap is something new and fresh. It's VERY OLD now and just seems to refuse to go away.

There should be a 'death to rap' thing, like what they did to disco.

Exactly, rap has been pushed on the public for my entire life. It's cultural rot propaganda enabled by the corporate entertainment machine.

Rap is crap and always was.

I love rap and hip hop. It is about the only thing I listen to. As well as alternative rock. Masculine music only, dude.

I don't like the hiphop culture at all. It just glorifies ignorance and most of it is made-for-retards.

I will say, though, some of the 90s rap was great. I only really know the commercial stuff (2Pac, Biggie, DMX, Lil Kim, and most other big names), but you have to admit some of those people could be really funny and creative in their use of language, especially the diss tracks.

The stuff they put out nowadays is a good waste of energy...

[quote]Masculine music only, dude

Something tells me you are far from being masculine yourself.

The early rap was good, today's rap is garbage.

NIGGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[quote]The early rap was good, today's rap is garbage.

It was OK, something new.

Now it's been around soooooooooo looooooooong.

It's been great for people who have no musical talent to make a lot of money and call themselves musicians.

It annoys me when they even have the cheek to sample some great old song. Not only do they make crap but they do their best to plunder and spoil classic songs of the past, as well.

It's a complete con.

Many black people in America used to take so much pride in Aretha & Stevie & Marvin and a zillion other geniuses and rightly so.

Oh it's "fringe" I see.

Thanks.

pure crap soaked up by the dregs of society

It's really perplexing how ANYONE can enjoy this crap and espouse its virtues when there is nothing interesting or musical about it except the clever use of samples and pretty good background music. Rhyming to a beat isn't talent.

2 months, R63? Really.

Racist troll.

I love hip hop!

Who is bumping all of these ridiculously old threads today?

If you buy a musical instrument like a bass drum and just beat a steady rhythm, hour after hour, all day long, it's not music, it's noise. Though it's a musical instrument, you're only producing noise.

Rap isn't music. It's noise.

Hip Hop is the poetry of a generation, it's from the streets and is the single most IMPORTANT musical movement of all time, there are many things worse than Rap for instance '80s Synth Pop (soulless, performed with no passion), Heavy Medal (screaming devil worship music that requires NO talent in playing or singing), Country & Western (barn dance hillbilly ignorance). Vagina Pop like Barry Manalow, Madonna, Celine Dion etc. Just pap for middle age rich white ladys. Hip Hop speaks to the masses about poilitics injustice government control etc. It is of dire and immediate importance. I have been a fan for life since I was 4 years old back in the days of Dr. Dre and Jay Z. There will never be another phenomenon like it. It became bigger than rock and roll in the 50s and 60s, bigger than disco in the 80s, bigger than Madonna in the 90s. It will live forever.

I'm willing to consider it an art form, but music? Definitely not.

[quote] It became bigger than rock and roll in the 50s and 60s

Nonsense.

There's a minstrel show quality about it that some whites like and find reassuring. It sounds low-life and ignorant: just what they expect.

OTOH, r71 it is often the first introduction young people have to the fact of racial injustice.

When you're young you don't always know all the logic of an argument or have real life experience, but kids also have great BS detectors.

When I heard this for the first time, I realized that they were being honest about what was in front of them. I know it sounds corny, but I started to read about LA, then black/white in America in general after this.

And thennnnn...

The Beastie Boys.

(Those sorts can't keep their hands off anything, can they?)

I love the vibe, the attitude

Trap is the theme genre of assholes. Every time you hear it, know that a horrible person is about to make an entrance.

Rap music is just noise.

Opera singing is just screeching.

Jazz music s just masturbating.

Rock music is too unsophisticated.

Heard it all before.