I think many people who aren't Hip-Hop fans may only get to hear a small sample of the music tbat constitutes hip hop. Its difficult to boldy state that hip hop isn't good music if you've only listened to a small percentage of the music. Hip hop/ rap music has only recently emerged as a image defining phenomonom, only because more suburban white kids are getting into the music. As far as your 'political cry' theory, the music has its roots in black music jazz/ scatting, spoken word/ poetry, and African music. I don't what your musical preferences are but many people would argue that rock music would fall under the category of being anti-melodic. Which in itself isnt a bad thing per se, however much of black music including rap is based on Afican rhythms and harmony. But if your ear can't hear it or you can't feel the music, that's another thing all together. As thinly veiled as your initial question is, I thing the argument your sugarcoating is that you don't like the image of rappers or perhaps black people. (chew on that)
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Name : RealityCheck30076, Gender : M, Age : 25, City : Philadelphia, State : PA Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, Thank You for your opinion Idearte. I value freedom of speech. You are getting two very different things mixed up here and everyone who has answered this question has also mixed these things up. Your problem is with music. Why is this posted in the race/ethnicity category? Race has nothing to do with music. Let me explain something to everyone. Hip-hop is not a genre of music. Hip-hop is a lifestyle, it's the way you talk, walk, dress, and even your whole swagger and way you move. Sometimes it dominates peoples personalities. And Rap, R&B, Reggae, Go-go are the music portions of this culture. Hip-hop is like a box with Rap, R&B etc. inside one of its compartments, if that helps you visualize it. And regardless of what they constantly try to portray on TV, many Black people don't listen to rap. And in the same respect, many Black people listen to Rap AND other types of music as well. Just like any White man listening to Rock ALSO listens to Rap, R&B, or anything else, classical, country...whatever. Your opinion is with music, not race, the yforum people got this one wrong. But to fully answer your question.... EVERY kind of artform is as wonderful and brilliant as it can be. Let's take the musical artform. EVERY type of music is the best that it can possibly be. just because you dont like it or feel it is bad in some way, does that make it bad? that is your opinion. we start to believe that opinions are truths, which is wrong. If 50% of the people liked Rap, and 50% didn't, which one is right? ALL forms of music are wonderful, just because one person doesnt like them doesnt mean that it changes how wonderful they are. You have your opinion, so stick by it if that's what you believe. Thank you for reading this. Peace In Your Life. D. Poet
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Name : D-Poet31801, Age : 16, City : Anywhere, State : NA Country : Everywhere, most people associate rap with booty shaking or some kind of gangsta type stuff, but if you listen to some songs like 2pac 'keep your head up' or nas 'i know i can', than you'll see that they're giving out a message to the public, just like if someone was writing a book. They're telling a story, listen the Notorious BIG's 'juicy'. They're telling of the life they live and they lived.
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Name : nikita, Gender : F, City : hattiesburg, State : MS Country : United States, Firstly I think you are very naive and disillusioned if you think music is about melody and beauty. If you trully believe this then i don't think rap and hip-hop should be your first point of call... ever heard of punk rock? Real punk rock and some forms of heavy metal HAVE absolutely NO desire to appear melodious or beautiful. Secondly, there are some very politicized rap or hip-hop bands out there such as Public Enemy or Dilated Peoples but they do not receive enough airplay. Sadly this is part of the dumbing down of america. Partly this is because MTV don't want to deal with bands that may be controversial and partly probably because people don't want politics in their music, they just want a good beat. Thats why there is less and less music coming from the streets as bands are becoming more and more manufactured. Thirdly... mainstream rap and hip-hop are very beat based and that's why music producers are almost as famous as their artists. You can recognise a dre beat a mile off. (also because i suppose producers are always in their artists videos...!) If you are not the kind of person who be bumpin in the club when you hear a strong bass beat then you'll probably just turn over to your local classic or country or easy listening fm station. As to your real question, hip-hop sounds great. The image is disgusting to me, i think the whole bling bling thing is very crass and materialistic, but as others have pointed out not all hip hop or rap had this image. Thank god.
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Name : katie26698, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Age : 30, City : ny, State : NY Country : United States, Social class : Lower middle class, Music isn't just about 'Melody and Beauty', whatever the second means, since beauty is very subjective. Music is about pitch and rhythm. Rap music doesn't rely very much on pitch, but don't think there isn't pitch in rap. Oftentimes there portions of songs that are sung, or the rapper raps in different pitches. And there is almost always some kind of background music going on in a rap song. However, rhythm and rhyme are what rap is all about. Rap music is heavily rhythmic and that's why I think a lot of people like it. It's why I like it at least. The way the syllables and the sounds flow in a rap song... It's an experience you simply don't get with rock or classical or whatnot. Some people will even argue that music with lyrics, i.e. songs are not music. Pure music has no vocals, and should only be instrumental. You're really arguing the same kind of technical argument, saying that music has to be sung in the traditional manner. Rap is just pure rhythm extracted from traditional music. I didn't used to like rap. I didn't grow up with it at all, mostly listening to chinese pop when I was a kid. However I love rap now even though I find most of the lyrics in rap songs distasteful. I hope the trend in rap lyrics will change and rap songs can incorporate more of the human experience into their words than just violence, money and women. Anyhow I think the human taste for human is very malleable. Basically you will sooner or later like what you are exposed to. How else can music vary so much, from grand opera to rap to britney spears to dance music to the tribal music of primitives, with each genre having its own fair share of fans?
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Name : Jonath, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Asian, Age : 19, City : Boston, State : MA Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, I definitely agree. Rap and Hip-Hop nowadays is gross, has too much misogyny and all about the least important things in life like for example, bling-bling! I grew up listening to New Age, Smooth Jazz (Contemporary Jazz) other forms of Jazz and Rock music of the 80's & 90's. I also think that the Gangsta lifestyle sucks eggs, and the thugs represented in the videos, look like crap. They sing like it, too!
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Name : New Age Girl, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 17, City : Chicago, State : IL Country : United States, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class, I am not really into hip-hop and rap but I know ppl who are and I can see why.First, let me start off by asking why you feel the you have superiority to determine what is music and what is not. So just stop judging. The reason most people like rap/hip-hop is because they can dance to it and some can relate to the lyrics. Not all rap is about drugs, booty poppin, sex, etc.
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Name : Karma, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Indian/Caucasian, Religion : Confusianism, Age : 15, City : nonee, State : MT Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class, Hip hop, like any other music has good and bad. 50 cent to me, is trash, and it's ashame that people ignorant of hip hop, it's him that they see. I love hip hop and i love a lot of other musics too. But honestly i can not stand music with loud guitars and stuff. Hip hop does adress many many social issues, like try listen to Talib Kweli and Nas and zillions of other rappers. It's not all about 'bling bling' and 'bitches' only 50 cent talks about that stuff and hes a cornball thats all. As for why people like it, well, it has hot ass beats that make you dance and lyrics that sometimes are hot, and sometimes are not. That's all. I think hip hop is a real revoloutional art form, and i think its better people listen to hip hop and get involved with that, then what else they could be getting involved with.
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Name : Michelle, Gender : F, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Catholic, City : Brooklyn, State : NY Country : United States, Rap and hip-hop may seem as if they are one type of music, but that is where everyone assumes wrong. Rap was made out of hip-hop through the corporations of this society as a way to control the masses. Hip-hop was originated in the slums of the inner cities as a way of expressing thoughts of current situations in society. While the true MC's talked about the real situations in society, that kept people within their societal rank, the corporations slowly put other 'artists' under contracts and rules and limited their expressions of thought. The difference between rap and hip-hop is clear. While rap was introduced as another way to keep masses under control, hip-hop was left behind as a thing of the past and its true identity was only discovered by a small amount of individuals.
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Name : Steffani, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Chicana, Religion : I have my own beliefs, Age : 22, City : Kennewick, State : WA Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Hip-hop is definitely 'different'-it doesn't have a true melodic line, but that does not make it bad. Intrinsic to this genre is the pattern of sample, beats and the wordplay of the artist. In the right hands, this 'pattern' is very moving-listen to the rap 'My Mind's Playing Tricks on Me'-to get my point. I don't regard hip-hop as music but as a very intricate form of spoken word performance. It's not Beethoven, and that's usually alright and OK. I think a lot of the flack that hip-hop has taken is due to the gangster sensibility, the boasting, and the woman -hating of this genre. For example, 'Straight Outta Compton' does NOTHING for me.
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Name : Paul-A28895, City : Long Beach, State : CA Country : United States, 
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