No seriously, get the fuck out. I love how you're generalizing a genre based on specific artists or a 'sub-genre', if you will called, dance rap. Please go listen to some Cypress Hill or old Dr. Dre
"LAWLZ HIP HOP IS DA SAME BEAT WITH SUM DUDE TALKING" I like quite a bit of rap but I usually take it in small doses for the most part (and I REALLY fucking hate the culture it's spawned). FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW SHIT ABOUT RAP CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING: Gravediggaz - 6 Feet Deep Three 6 Mafia - Mystic Stylez Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton
also: Cypress Hill - Temples of Boom Dr. Dre - The Chronic and 2001 Ice-T - Power and O.G. Original Gangster
I'm not a fan of it; it just doesn't conform with my tastes. However, I can recognize what separates the (c)rap from the other hip-hop that attempts to break out of the mold. For some reason, Nas's widely-revered Illmatic album is possibly the only album I enjoy from the genre on the whole (if there was ever an 'epic' rap song, then "It Ain't Hard to Tell" is it) ... the more underground artists/albums, while I can see they definitely reach for more artistic aims than garbage like Ludcaris and goose shit like Nelly, they do absolutely nothing for me, save for a few tracks here and there maybe. Yes, I am referring to artists such as Jedi Mind Tricks, Atmosphere, MF Doom, Madvillian, Jurassic 5, etc. I mean, fuck, I know and have heard what are considered the 'good' rap artists. Two things bother me most about rap (besides the more commerical rap's bottom-of-the-barrel shittiness): 1. For the most part, the emphasis is placed on lyrics moreso than the music it seems... ...yes, Sage Francis writes lyrics with wit and poetic quality, but most of his 'beats' fail to reach me (even the bits with saxophone and whatnot don't do it for me). Which one of you said that music, in proper construction, can express far more than any lyrics can? Well, I most definitely agree with this. Perhaps this is why my tastes are orientated more towards instrumental acts with hip-hoppish vibes (e.g. for example, electronica like Amon Tobin)... 2. The other emphasis on putting lots of stupid fucking interludes, skits, samples, random crap like someone's worthless answer machine messages, etc. on the album. It is a great way to break up momentum and basically counts as filler (both the 'shitty, commercial' rap and the 'artistic, underground' rap is guilty of this, really... take a Ja Rule album and you'll have this shit, then take Madvillain's "Madvillainy" album, and you'll have the same kind of interference). And yes, I am well-aware that plenty of metal albums have this same problem as well, but I've noticed it more with rap...
It definitely is more common in rap than most other music styles and I completely agree with you. As someone who is primarily a full album listener rather than a track/playlist/shuffle/using-the-fastforward-button-constantly listener I can say it is by far the most irritating trait of hiphop records. Even if a skit is memorable/funny the first time you hear it, it sure as fuck isn't the twentieth time you hear it. I only like them when they are short and to the point and maintain some kind of atmosphere (some of the ones on Wu-Tang/solo albums are quite good, but they too have had many that are just way too damn long and boring). I'll never understand why artists feel the need to fill their albums with stupid gimmick tracks. I could rant about that for hours.
Yeah way to try and humiliate me by quoting my post. I've heard some underground hip-hop before and had a similar reaction. Just not for me, I guess.
I can't stand rap. I haven't heard any of the underground stuff, so let's assume that they do have intelligent lyrics. It still has zero musical value. It's lyrics being chanted with a certain rhythm, and the rhythm is similar in almost every song. There is background music, but it's a minor part, isn't given any attention and therefore monotonous and completely empty, and in my opinion annoying.
Huh? It's nothing personal, I usually find your posts to be well thought out, but that one was ill-informed generalising of the highest order. If you don't like hip-hop because the sound of it doesn't appeal to you enough to explore it further, then fair enough. But as has been mentioned your post was exactly the same as someone saying they don't like metal because it has negative lyrics about hate and satan worshiping, the music itself is just noise, and the kids who like it are juvenile delinquents.
I'm doing a research paper on the discourse between the metal and the hip-hop community. Last year, I did it on the "typical" image of metal as a misogynic, homophobic and racist community. The year before, it was on Sepultura's image as a political band. Thanks for the replies. It's going to be extremely useful.