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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
chashmal
605 posts
 
Darkmoebius: I am so tired of that argument. Just because 2 things have similarities does not mean they are related. Yes, it is true, similar things were said. However the context was completely different. It is just like the red scare of the 1950's. We laugh at McCarthy now, but it turns out he was right! Rock n' roll is obviously a great musical form, but it DOES lead to degeneration of cultural values. We are seeing that now. It doesn't make Rock N' Roll any less great. Rap has no greatness in it. Just listen to it!
bongofury
1,160 posts
 
Chashmal

Rap has no greatness in it. Just listen to it!

My two line response. Have you lived in a cave for the last three decades without access to popular culture?
Have you actually EVER contributed anything positive in a posting during your life on Audiogon?
darkmoebius
899 posts
 
01-20-10: Chashmal
Darkmoebius: I am so tired of that argument. Just because 2 things have similarities does not mean they are related. Yes, it is true, similar things were said. However the context was completely different...Rock n' roll is obviously a great musical form,
Chasmal, I know classical fanatics(not just old ones) who still consider Rock & Roll to be to crap created by untalented and untrained drug addicts & hoodlums. So no, your Red Scare analogy doesn't apply, it's not a generational or historical context thing.

There are also Classical fanatics who still think Jazz is crap and lacking in refined musicianship. Many others might say the same about, especially, the blues greats.

Here's a funny bit of Rock & Roll history, for those that didn't already know... The first major time Bob Dylan publicly performed Rock-tinged folk with an electric guitar instead of acoustic at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, folk purists were horrified. It was so offensive and unconscionable to folk singer Pete Seeger, that he grabbed a fire axe and had to be restrained form chopping all the power cords to the band and smashing their amps(according to a documentary I saw on PBS). Supposedly parts of the crowd, other performers, and even the press booed Dylan.

Ewan MacColl wrote in Sing Out! folk magazine, "Our traditional songs and ballads are the creations of extraordinarily talented artists working inside traditions formulated over time ... But what of Bobby Dylan? ... a youth of mediocre talent. Only a non-critical audience, nourished on the watery pap of pop music could have fallen for such tenth-rate drivel."

Sound familiar?
darkmoebius
899 posts
 
At the Newport Folk Festival, Dylan was backed by the electric Paul Butterfield Blues Band.

Anyway, I understand why people don't like rap(I can't stand most of it), there's nothing wrong with that. But, to say there is no talent in any artist within the entire genre, or that all of them are hoodlums is either ignorance of inexperience.

To claim that one has to play an instrument or read music to be considered a legitimate artist is ridiculous(not to mention quite a few hip-hop artist do both). Rock, blues, Jazz, and Country music have a rich history of great singers and musicians who couldn't do one or both.

I have usually found that those who make the most adamant and generalized statements against rap are also those who know the least about it.
entrope
482 posts
 
Let's talk about country music now...
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