Rap is the future?

[FairGamer9215]

My opinions towards music are very strong. It tends not to involve the genre, but more the content, the construction, and the passion put into it. For example, I do like some rap (Tupac, Biggie, a few by Kanye), but I wouldn't call it my favorite music. Overall, I believe that each genre of music has its own good parts and its own bad parts, and that opinion usually varies from person to person.

To me rap is dying.

No, sir. Music itself is dying. Let's face it, the best times are behind us. All that's left are decaying relics and new "stars" that try to recapture the times of the past. There's a lack of creativity these days, but it seems to only be in the popular scene. I suppose there are still some good bands out there, and like I've said, music itself is subjective, but still, in many peoples eyes, its all going to hell. I'm a musician myself, and I try to make new and awesome stuff too, but I can't create something that doesn't sound like ripping someone off. Its frustrating. But that just may be me. Anyway, rap is getting popular because, in many but not all of its forms, and at least to me, its a simpler dynamic than other types of music. With rap, you have synthesized beats, at least with most common rappers, no guitars, or other instruments, just synthesizers. There's nothing wrong with simple or electronic music, this is just my view of why its in such great amount. To me, the lyrics don't change in theme so much, its mostly just the beat or the WAY they say it.

But again, music is going downhill. I just hold closely to the bands of the past and dig like hell to find the new good stuff. That's all anyone can really do anymore, and I say this again, its all subjective.

[TheBattleFrontierAsh1]

I saw a news article about 50 cent performing at an elementary school in Brooklyn.....WHY ARE THESE LITTL KIDS LISTENING TO 50 CENT IN THE FIRST PLACE?!

Because not everything he comes up with is vulgar, at times he's pretty influencing and definitely not a bad role model.
In fact, most schools are fine with artists who've been in the industry for longer than 10yrs.

[KrayzieBuddha]

To me rap is dying. It was great when I was in grade school/high school. You had Bone Thugs, Eminem, Dr. Dre, B.I.G, Tupac, T.I. and many others. They all had their party anthems where they talked about the drinking and what not, but a lot of them had music about their life, about how hard life was where they grew up and even positive messages to younger generations to avoid gangs and the drug dealer life.

Now....it is complete garbage. Lil' Wayne was one of the best around, now he complete trash and has sold out. You have other people like Whiz Kalefa (sp?) and Nicki Minaj who rap about stuff that is ignorant.

I listen to what i grew up with but have also switched my focus back to bands that I used to love like NIN, Nirvana, Foo Fighters (faith in humanity was restored when they one a grammy for their album that was recorded in a garage, google that ****!).

B

I notice most rapper nowadays imitates Drake's vocals (and flows) and rapping fast. As for Nicki Minaj, I don't understand how people likes her music.

[Kaiserin]

I think mainstream music is deteriorating in quality. I don't think all music is deteriorating. Rap is a fair enough genre by itself, if not my cuppa tea, and it is growing very quickly... not sure how confident I'd be in saying it's the "future" of music, though. All the other genres will always be around and kicking, no matter how popular rap and hip-hop get.

[funrush]

I think a lot of rap is okay. Heck, there are some songs that I even like. However, the vast majority of these aren't from the modern era of rap, where pretty much everything has gone down the drain. When someone is talking about their life, how they grew up, or something like that, I normally enjoy rap. When the song tells a story, I'm all right with it. However, the "Doin' coke and beatin' my hos" mentality of modern rap just doesn't sit well with me. Not to mention the fact that the overall talent level of modern rappers is not even close to what it was in the '90s. Eminem and Jay-Z are still around, and they're all right. Pretty much the only ones I can listen to on a regular basis, since some of their songs actually "tell a story," like I said before. But the only modern rappers that I can sometimes listen to are Kid Cudi and Busta Rhymes. Even then, I can hardly stand them on occasion.

Also, the worst successful rap song of all time.

"She got a big booty so I call her Big Booty."

EDIT: After watching the music video, I feel the need to give a warning. If you are offended by foul language, disrespect for women, violence, partial nudity, use of alcohol, or poor music do not watch that music video.

Basically my thoughts.

[Taichi]

I notice most rapper nowadays imitates Drake's vocals (and flows) and rapping fast. As for Nicki Minaj, I don't understand how people likes her music.

Actually it's been pretty confirmed that particular flow was traced all the way back to Big Sean. There are some young one's who show hope rap/hip-hop. In about 10 years I think J-Cole and Kendrick Lamar will be the top 2 on the scene giving if everything goes right and they don't sell out. (more worried about J-Cole rather than Kendrick) I applaud everyone in this thread for describing their viewpoints of rap clearly and not ignorantly as you would see everywhere else under the sun.

Rock and Rap are incredible similar in a bunch of ways. It just bites that Rap will probably never have a huge positive changing moment. Rock had Woodstock as that moment where people thought "Hey, maybe this isn't as bad as we thought it was.". Sadly I don't think rap will ever have that kind of moment, atleast not in my lifetime. I love Rock and Rap, but I find myself on the former a lot more these days after this realization.

Drake had potential. Nicki Minaj had potential. Then, what I like to call 'The Young Money Influence' came in. The deeper they got in it, the more they dumb'd it down and sold out.

Anybody who likes rap see this year's BET cyphers? There were some amazing talents there. Some Old School guys. Talib Kweli,Snoop Dogg who surprised me, Xzibit surprised as well, etc. As well as the style of the younger guys who can actually rap. Kendrick Lamar, AB Soul, Hopsin, and Childish Gambino who absolutely shined with his awkward delivery. For those who don't know Childish Gambino is the Troy guy from the TV show Community, he's pretty good.

[GrizzlyB]

Did the OP somehow stumble into a wormhole that sent him and this thread back to the early '90s, or did I? Or is England just backwards so that music becomes less obnoxious over time, and rap is evolving out of dubstep, instead of the other way around? What is going on here?

[Skydra]

Actually it's been pretty confirmed that particular flow was traced all the way back to Big Sean. There are some young one's who show hope rap/hip-hop. In about 10 years I think J-Cole and Kendrick Lamar will be the top 2 on the scene giving if everything goes right and they don't sell out. (more worried about J-Cole rather than Kendrick) I applaud everyone in this thread for describing their viewpoints of rap clearly and not ignorantly as you would see everywhere else under the sun.

Rock and Rap are incredible similar in a bunch of ways. It just bites that Rap will probably never have a huge positive changing moment. Rock had Woodstock as that moment where people thought "Hey, maybe this isn't as bad as we thought it was.". Sadly I don't think rap will ever have that kind of moment, atleast not in my lifetime. I love Rock and Rap, but I find myself on the former a lot more these days after this realization.

Drake had potential. Nicki Minaj had potential. Then, what I like to call 'The Young Money Influence' came in. The deeper they got in it, the more they dumb'd it down and sold out.

Anybody who likes rap see this year's BET cyphers? There were some amazing talents there. Some Old School guys. Talib Kweli,Snoop Dogg who surprised me, Xzibit surprised as well, etc. As well as the style of the younger guys who can actually rap. Kendrick Lamar, AB Soul, Hopsin, and Childish Gambino who absolutely shined with his awkward delivery. For those who don't know Childish Gambino is the Troy guy from the TV show Community, he's pretty good.

Ugh, a large quantity music decays in quality when the artist becomes successful. There are a few in the industry that get better or stay good, but too many lose their artistic integrity. That's why I tend to stick to the music of previous times, where making good music wasn't a ticket to relative obscurity.

[Shayminlover123]

I think its rubbish ( besides the pokemon raps and ERB) I would probably like rap more if I didn't hear it every single day.

[Phlogiston]

Drake had potential. Nicki Minaj had potential. Then, what I like to call 'The Young Money Influence' came in. The deeper they got in it, the more they dumb'd it down and sold out.

I think that this basically is the problem -- dumbing down past a certain point. Maybe not necessarily selling out, unless they intersect. Which... well, nowadays, it does, to be fair -- from my perception, anyway. I don't loathe all rap... my capacity to like it, though, took a while to develop. As a general rule, when all music of a given genre gets to all be identical... even if I did like that sound, why bother having different artists?

This started out having a good point, but it disappeared. Anyway, rap can't be the future unless the trends change to allow more variance. This is a possibly huge genre (I'm not even that much of a fan, but I can basically say compare Eminem to Pharoahe Monch, just for a simple starter) that's a little bit stifled by the mainstream.

Ugh, a large quantity music decays in quality when the artist becomes successful. There are a few in the industry that get better or stay good, but too many lose their artistic integrity. That's why I tend to stick to the music of previous times, where making good music wasn't a ticket to relative obscurity.

There is also this, to an extent -- once an artist gets a huge income, most of them tend to stagnate, in some respect. This isn't always bad for an artist, but it does mean that after a point, it becomes hard to rationalize buying a new album, if nothing else. I don't think it's fair to say that old music is exempt from this by default. I mean, look at the similarities between Motorhead albums, for instance. Not a hugely successful band, but there's definitely some success there and a whole lotta similarity between albums.

[KrayzieBuddha]

Actually it's been pretty confirmed that particular flow was traced all the way back to Big Sean. There are some young one's who show hope rap/hip-hop. In about 10 years I think J-Cole and Kendrick Lamar will be the top 2 on the scene giving if everything goes right and they don't sell out. (more worried about J-Cole rather than Kendrick) I applaud everyone in this thread for describing their viewpoints of rap clearly and not ignorantly as you would see everywhere else under the sun.

Rock and Rap are incredible similar in a bunch of ways. It just bites that Rap will probably never have a huge positive changing moment. Rock had Woodstock as that moment where people thought "Hey, maybe this isn't as bad as we thought it was.". Sadly I don't think rap will ever have that kind of moment, atleast not in my lifetime. I love Rock and Rap, but I find myself on the former a lot more these days after this realization.

Drake had potential. Nicki Minaj had potential. Then, what I like to call 'The Young Money Influence' came in. The deeper they got in it, the more they dumb'd it down and sold out.

Anybody who likes rap see this year's BET cyphers? There were some amazing talents there. Some Old School guys. Talib Kweli,Snoop Dogg who surprised me, Xzibit surprised as well, etc. As well as the style of the younger guys who can actually rap. Kendrick Lamar, AB Soul, Hopsin, and Childish Gambino who absolutely shined with his awkward delivery. For those who don't know Childish Gambino is the Troy guy from the TV show Community, he's pretty good.

BET? Black Evil Television?

[Taichi]

BET? Black Evil Television?

lol nice. Yeah, but during the Hip-Hop awards each year they have these Cyphers which are possibly the ONLY time you'll ever hear the good stuff on there. Past participants in the cyphers have been Kanye, Big Sean, Papoose, Lupe Fiasco, Eminem (who appeared in two cyphers), Mos Def, Black Thought, Jadakiss, Fabulous, Bun-B, Corey Gunz, Juelz Santana, KRS-One, Joe Budden, Raekwon, Busta Rhymes, and even some foreign stars like K'nann, Hime, there was even a Ghana exclusive cypher.

[Todoserugi]

for the most part i hate rap. it just has never really appealed to me.

[Necro101]

It's not rubbish it is pure bad... (in my opinion none of my friends agree tho...) I don't like it. It's just random guys/girls (but all girls have failed at it up to now) talking in a mic. Anyone can put swear words in a random order and say them. (obviously this has been proven wrong many times...) Personally, I just don't like how it sounds and how it has evolved from people trying to spread a word to people saying random ****....
Now let's compare:
Some people don't like music with people who scream (screamo, Melodic Death Metal, Doom/Death... etc) They say it is bad because of gibberish nonsense. It's the same thing for rap (it is not worthy of being capitalized) some people love it and other don't like it (hating is too much of a strong word).
In conclusion, no one is the same, some prefer Metal and other prefer disgracing auto tuned types like pop, rap and something like stepdub or dubstep.... Something in that root.

I'm a Hard Rock and any type of Metal guy so this will affect my opinion on this post.

RAWK ON

[Klizcool]

If rap is the future, then I hope that I die young.

Music today is just not as creative as it once was. The good ole days of when Jimi Hendrix would play the star spangled banner with his teeth are long gone, now replaced by anyone who can sing a song into a microphone. Sure, some rap artists include methods of music other than drums and base, but there's just a lack of creativity there. Sure you lyrics are nice, but I don't want to listen to a guy talk for 3:15 minutes, thank you very much. Give me a guitar solo please.

What I'm getting at is, I don't like to listen to you ramble on about how we're all mean to each other. It's just poetry with a beat.

Not to mention how well an entire band can employ a theme. In Rap, that mood is set by a mixer and whatever else is used.

What I'm getting at here, is that I just don't see the creativity in Rap.

[Taichi]

If rap is the future, then I hope that I die young.

Music today is just not as creative as it once was. The good ole days of when Jimi Hendrix would play the star spangled banner with his teeth are long gone, now replaced by anyone who can sing a song into a microphone. Sure, some rap artists include methods of music other than drums and base, but there's just a lack of creativity there. Sure you lyrics are nice, but I don't want to listen to a guy talk for 3:15 minutes, thank you very much. Give me a guitar solo please.

What I'm getting at is, I don't like to listen to you ramble on about how we're all mean to each other. It's just poetry with a beat.

Not to mention how well an entire band can employ a theme. In Rap, that mood is set by a mixer and whatever else is used.

What I'm getting at here, is that I just don't see the creativity in Rap.

So you'd like rap a little if it had a guitar solo or two thrown in? (just joking)

There are rappers who play other instruments. A good example is RZA from former Wu-Tang Clan fame. He plays guitar as shown with his collaboration with The Black Keys when they did Blakroc (is he Hendrix or Jimmy Page? No but he definitely takes the guitar seriously and not a joke like a certain Lil Wayne does.) and piano/keyboard as well and lyrically is one of the most creative guys around when it comes to rap.

Ramble on about how mean they are to each other? Wow, don't mean to be rude but that is a bad generalization. Not going to lie though, it just bugs me when people say things (which I'm not accusing you of saying) like "cat in the hat had a heart attack due to a big mac" and then say "look at me, guess I'm a rapper now, where's my record deal?" in a sarcastic and insulting tone. That's pretty similar to me playing a D-Chord extremely poorly on a Steve Vai strat (love the tone of that guitar, wish I had that one instead of my crap squires.) and then say that I'm Tony Iommi. That's how I feel about it anyway.


But I do understand that some people just don't like words all over the place and prefer a nice riff, shredding, or solo. Some like imagery in words, some like imagery in pure compositional form, and there's the middle ground that appreciate the value that both bring. But there was a once upon a time where Rock had a some form of respect for rap and vice versa. Anthrax/Public Enemy, Trent Reznor has been known to collaborate with a few rap artist here and there. Wu-Tang and Nirvana had form of respect for each other, but just off of pure assumption I guess you're not into the grunge or alternative rock music?

I think I wandered away from my point. I apologize if you don't understand my point. I guess I rambled. lol

[Kutie Pie]

Well, another possibility for bad rap and bad music overall is the overuse and widespread of Auto-Tune. I think this use of Auto-Tune has actually screwed around with our brains to where we are slowly becoming tone-deaf. Yes, there are still people out there who don't use it because they can actually sing, but we have a lot of artists using it these days, especially in the pop and rap/hip hop industry, that it's getting ridiculous and rather embarrassing. You obviously had to be able to sing and hold a note back in the day when recording (especially as recording tools were pretty sensitive), these days we have Avid ProTools and the like to manipulate sound waves in music and vocals so it sounds more "pitch perfect" than it is. Also doesn't help music is getting really loud. You obviously can't have extremely loud music or it becomes distorted, but they're really pushing it these days by getting closer to that decibel limit through wave manipulation.

[Taichi]

The autotune boom hit it's peak back in 08-09. It'll be dead soon, just give it more time.

[THEIRONDONUT]

The thing about rap, is that it isn't determined by the rappers singing ability. Personally, I don't think TInie Tempah nor Eminem have a musical bone in their bodies. But the reason I love them, is because of the QUALITY OF THEIR RAPS. I don't listen to rap because of their singing, I listen because it is can be humorous or not, but it portrays a message, that people can understand and feel, something that people can relate to. THAT's why I enjoy rap. Thank you so much everyone for commenting, I completely forgot I even MADE this thread, buts its great to see so many people take in interest into this topic.

[THEIRONDONUT]

I think rap is overused, which is why it has dipped in quality. I now realise I have only been listening to PAST rap, from my past, when everything was much simpler. Now that I think about it, I rant about today's music all the time... I... think... no, it can't be.... IM TURNING.... INTO ONE OF THEM!!!!! XD

PS sorry for 2x Posting