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I honestly think that deep down at the core of it, it's a race thing, keep in mind, I'm saying this as a white guy. Let's say that Dave Matthews or Maroon 5 releases a song called " I am a God", everyone would run around " They have so much confidence, it's nice to see confident people." Kanye does it and everyone runs around saying " who does he think he is?" If every rapper were white, rap wouldn't get the backlash it gets. If every rapper looked like Zack Morris, nobody would care.
I honestly think that deep down at the core of it, it's a race thing, keep in mind, I'm saying this as a white guy. Let's say that Dave Matthews or Maroon 5 releases a song called " I am a God", everyone would run around " They have so much confidence, it's nice to see confident people." Kanye does it and everyone runs around saying " who does he think he is?" If every rapper were white, rap wouldn't get the backlash it gets.
I am pretty sure that ANY celebrity that compares their art to the work of Jesus will outrage Christians, regardless of color. It is like Gwyneth Paltrow saying that being a celebrity on twitter is like being a soldier in a war... she has been crucified for it, and she is white.
If Dave Matthews or Maroon 5 said that their art is comparable to the work of Jesus, Christians would flip out on them too.
I think I hit this party late. I'm in my mid 20s, I like a lot of genres of music, but I can't stand pop, rap or any of that teenage stuff. I like beats, I actually produce beats and have some stuff online, but I do not enjoy the rap, it's image is not for me and it's sound is not for me. Is it artistic? Yes. If you like rap, good for you.
Obviously there is good, creative, honest rap and hip hop, but in pop culture it's such a minority of the content. I seriously can't stand the materialistic, nihilistic nature of a lot of it, and I am so sick of people who give that style a pass because 'they are just rapping about what they know' or how X artist was poor and is now just making an example of how wealthy s/he is by living and and performing and exhorbitant cost of living. Spread the wealth then, jackass.
But yes, there is more positive hip hop outlets. I was reading recently about Senegalese hip hop:
I honestly think that deep down at the core of it, it's a race thing, keep in mind, I'm saying this as a white guy. Let's say that Dave Matthews or Maroon 5 releases a song called " I am a God", everyone would run around " They have so much confidence, it's nice to see confident people." Kanye does it and everyone runs around saying " who does he think he is?" If every rapper were white, rap wouldn't get the backlash it gets. If every rapper looked like Zack Morris, nobody would care.
Interesting you say this because although I have to admit the production of a lot of Kanye West's stuff is impressive and the instrumentation can often be really amazing (and I'm not sure how responsible he is for a lot of that anyways), but I think he's a total douche at the end of the day. Definite case of unwarranted self-importance.
Also, I actually feel it's the opposite in terms of the race thing. I find there is something about being white/caucasian that makes it less likely for a person to have a suitable sound for hiphop. It's as though blacks have, in general, deeper voices which work better for the genre. I genuinely can't think of a white hip-hop artist that doesn't sound at least a little bit like a hack. Of course this certainly isn't a basis/excuse for racism or anything, I just think there seems to be some sort of relationship between tone of voice and race.
Obviously there is good, creative, honest rap and hip hop, but in pop culture it's such a minority of the content. I seriously can't stand the materialistic, nihilistic nature of a lot of it, and I am so sick of people who give that style a pass because 'they are just rapping about what they know' or how X artist was poor and is now just making an example of how wealthy s/he is by living and and performing and exhorbitant cost of living. Spread the wealth then, jackass.
But yes, there is more positive hip hop outlets. I was reading recently about Senegalese hip hop:
Interesting you say this because although I have to admit the production of a lot of Kanye West's stuff is impressive and the instrumentation can often be really amazing (and I'm not sure how responsible he is for a lot of that anyways), but I think he's a total douche at the end of the day. Definite case of unwarranted self-importance.
Also, I actually feel it's the opposite in terms of the race thing. I find there is something about being white/caucasian that makes it less likely for a person to have a suitable sound for hiphop. It's as though blacks have, in general, deeper voices which work better for the genre. I genuinely can't think of a white hip-hop artist that doesn't sound at least a little bit like a hack. Of course this certainly isn't a basis/excuse for racism or anything, I just think there seems to be some sort of relationship between tone of voice and race.
Some of my favorite hip hop beats are actually produced by Asian peoples, Nujabes, DJ Krush...
Rap music started out the same way blues did. When blues was discovered in the twenties, like rap it was " unapologetically " black music. It was inspired, created by and for black people. The major difference is rap came on the scene during a period when black musicians ( Michael Jackson ) were crossing over to appeal to a wider audience.
Oddly, most forms of popular music once it is established, forms various branches that appeal to diversify its audience. For instance, Rock has ; hard , soft , country, jazz, etc., and heavy metal has many branches also.
Rap on the other hand branches out through various ethnicities or cultural groups. I think people who don't like rap are just not listening to artist who are one of them.
I honestly think that deep down at the core of it, it's a race thing, keep in mind, I'm saying this as a white guy. Let's say that Dave Matthews or Maroon 5 releases a song called " I am a God", everyone would run around " They have so much confidence, it's nice to see confident people." Kanye does it and everyone runs around saying " who does he think he is?" If every rapper were white, rap wouldn't get the backlash it gets. If every rapper looked like Zack Morris, nobody would care.
Death/Thrash metal band Slayer is a better example with writing songs called Angel of Death and Jihad. Angel of Death about Nazi Germany's "Angel of Death" and Jihad was about 9/11 through the eyes of a terrorist. They got slamed for it. Dave Matthews and Maroon 5 would actually never do an "I am a God" song. Most bands that would do it are like a Van Halen at the heights of the David Lee Roth lead singer syndrome or like Slayer would be doing it to be artistic.
As for Kayne saying that, he is just annoying. Has he done good songs but he's done so many stupid things. Kayne and other rappers writing that like Kendrick Lamar, are typically doing it in annoying ways. Up through Heartless, he has done good songs, since then I don't really care.
As for if rap sucks, I don't really like modern rap. I like more of old school rap like Public Enemy, Run D.M.C., Beastie Boys, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince and even new school acts like Eminem, Papoose and Black Eyed Peas and hip-hop soul like Cee Lo and Aloe Blacc. Rap doesn't appeal to me even though I actually have been opened up to R&B more and more of late.
Let's say that Dave Matthews or Maroon 5 releases a song called " I am a God", everyone would run around " They have so much confidence, it's nice to see confident people."
AYFKM? If Adam Levine ran around singing "I am a G-d," there would be no end to the **** people would give him. No end.
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