When will rap music be less mainstream?


First time I heard MC Hammer’s song many years ago, I like the rhythm and thought it is quite unique. After that, all kinds of rap music pop up. I never thought rap music would be mainstream for such a long time in US. If you look at the music award ceremonies, you will find it being flooded with rap music. Sometimes I am not even sure rap can be considered as song because you don’t sing but speak. Now you start to hear rap music in some other languages like Chinese, Japanese and Korean that don’t sound good in rap format. It would be interesting to hear rap music in Italian.

Time will tell if a song is good or not. A song is good if somebody want to play it for their loved ones on the radio 20 years later. I can’t imagine someone will play a rap for their beloved one 20 years later. Just curious if any A’gon member keep any rap collection?

Besides rap, I also have a feeling that the music industry in general is getting cheesy now. American Idol show gets huge attention while lots of singers perform at the bar or hotel can easily sing better than the idols. The show also asked Barbara Streisand if she watched the show and who was her favorite idol. What do you expect her to answer? People said Justin Timberlake is very talented singer/songwriter. I know him because I saw lots of headshot of him on commercials and magazines, but can you name any popular/well known song from him?
yxlei
Sit -

+1 to Guru,the Roots, and MC Solaar. Good stuff.

A couple others you may want to check out are;

Soul Position's "Things Go Better With RJ and AL".

I heard them live on KEPX and although I don't listen to much rap, I was impressed with their energy and showmanship. Interestingly, they are more pissed about the current direction of rap than anyone here and express it well. No that doesen't mean they yell more. Fun group with some good tunes and intelligent lyrics. Check out "Hand me downs" refering to all the great music that has come before and asking what we will hand down to future generations.

D'Angelo's Voodoo

is a couple of years old now but was a couple of years ahead of its time when it came out in 2000. The great studio bassist Pino Palladino (who some of you may know as the sub for the Ox on the Who's tour just after he passed) did the low end work on the album and did some fantastic stuff. Its a very dense album in terms of rhythm. Many of the fills and horn hits where the beat is pushed or slips in John Mayer's Continuum such as in "I Don't Trust Myself ..." come from Pino's work with D'Angelo. If you like that album, you may find "Voodoo" interesting. At the very least its a good chance to listen to a great player in two very different settings.

I'm going to get back to my Calexico! Happy listening!
Voodoo, now that record is the bomb. Sad that D'Angelo has retired from the scene, but that one holds up. As for Calexico, one of the best groups ever. Have liked everything they have done, including the Black Light and Feast of Wire.