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When rap came out 30 years ago I thought it was just a fad

Now it seems like it dominates the music industry, movies and fashion. My only question is why?

taters
tostadosunidos's avatar
tostadosunidos
1,096 posts
 
Whipsaw, there's a lot of music that I don't like.  But I don't say that it's not music.  I simply don't believe rap possesses the melodic element required.  If you're not going to have the melodic or harmonic element you'd better have some pretty interesting rhythm happening. 
If a "beat" poet recites with bongos accompanying, is that music or just a guy reciting poetry with percussion behind it?  Isn't that  essentially what rap is?
BTW,  again you insult my power of reasoning.  Why?  It certainly doesn't help your case.  I've heard rap as long as it's been around.  I keep listening and I keep thinking.  Again, the fact that I don't care for it is not the reason I don't think it qualifies as music.  You're jumping to conclusions.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
4,163 posts
 
Tostadosunidos, to say that rap isn't part of rock and roll is historically incorrect.
taters OP
1,149 posts
 
I appreciate all the interesting comments on this thread. When someone said that 95% of the rappers can't play an Instrument that really summed it up for me. Rap to me is like Porn. It's the easiest way to get your 15 minutes of fame.
tostadosunidos's avatar
tostadosunidos
1,096 posts
 
onhwy61, I think rap is part of rock and roll tangentially--certain rock songs have rap elements. And what all is rock and roll? Is disco rock and roll? Is Motown rock and roll? I don’t even think a lot of the Beatles’ catalog is rock and roll--certainly a lot of it is. And of course there’s a lot of material that could be argued either way. I’m personally baffled by some of the people voted into the rock and roll hall of fame--not because they are not great artists, but because they didn’t play rock and roll or weren’t part of the pre-rock influences. Which is different from thinking someone doesn’t belong there because of the value of their music.
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
1,368 posts
 

Kids are going to like what they like. I’m not sure that the people who enjoy rap now will still be listening to it when they are 60 though.

I think our culture in the US has been on a downward slide for some time and this is reflected in music, movies, tv and politicians. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t a lot of good people and a lot of good culture being created here, some of it in the rap/hip-hop genre, it’s just that the bad is growing at an alarming rate.

bdp24, Jimi Hendrix was entirely American. Born here, lived here and served in the US Army. A couple of Brits signed him to a lousy management contract and worked him too hard, and his British friends let him die instead of calling an ambulance, but that doesn’t make him British in any way.

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