I'm So Afraid....as a rap song?

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

As far as rap -- hopefully I'm allowed to say that I don't care for it much, without sounding close-minded. There have been a few tracks I've liked to one degree or another, but nothing that's ever truly impressed me or stuck with me. I'm too much of a melody & harmony kind of guy.

Of course you are, when you say it intelligently like that and don't pass off an entire genre of music as utter crap performed by untalented people, and as long as you don't bring up the ridiculous argument that it sucks because "they don't write their own music."

Nobody has to like anything, but opinions should always be well-informed and intelligent.

[cliffdweller]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

I HATE RAP (I can't bear to call it "music")!

You sound like my dad. He's almost 60 btw.

Look peeps the deal is, you don't have to like rap. It ain't for everyone, just like many other genres of music out there. It doesn't tickle everyone's fancy and that's cool. I just don't like all the lame arguements people try to pull out when they start to talk about why they de-value it as an art form. Like David said, just say you don't like it and move on. But saying you hate it, and then trying to place value judgements on why it's an inferior form of art is going too far and will never fly. There aren't enough pages on a thread to adequately hash out that argument. But I will say that I think Jyqm has done a good job defending it as a totally legitimate and valuable form of music, so I'll defer to what he has already said on the subject. Hey, that was easy!

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by cliffdweller

You sound like my dad. He's almost 60 btw.

In my defense, rap started really gaining in popularity when I was around 15, and I despised it at that age, too.

[WelshWitchPMD]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

In my defense, rap started really gaining in popularity when I was around 15, and I despised it at that age, too.

I bet that you remember Sugar Hill Gang, Run DMC and LL Cool J. I know I do.

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by cliffdweller

You sound like my dad. He's almost 60 btw.

Look peeps the deal is, you don't have to like rap. It ain't for everyone, just like many other genres of music out there. It doesn't tickle everyone's fancy and that's cool. I just don't like all the lame arguements people try to pull out when they start to talk about why they de-value it as an art form. Like David said, just say you don't like it and move on. But saying you hate it, and then trying to place value judgements on why it's an inferior form of art is going too far and will never fly. There aren't enough pages on a thread to adequately hash out that argument. But I will say that I think Jyqm has done a good job defending it as a totally legitimate and valuable form of music, so I'll defer to what he has already said on the subject. Hey, that was easy!

Well said. (Even if in the end you jsut deferred to what I said...) But yeah, to reiterate: of course not everybody is going to like rap, and of course some folks are really going to hate it. That's fine, but the arguments that attempt to de-value it as a legitimate form of music are, as cliffdweller said, lame.

And I say that as somebody who at one time made all of those same arguments. I spent more or less the entirety of high school immersing myself in classic rock (Fleetwood Mac, Zeppelin, Floyd, Beatles, Stones, Springsteen, all that stuff), and I didn't like rap, and I trotted out all that same pretentious rockstar bull****, "It's not real music, they're not playing any instruments and it's all pre-recorded loops, wahh wahh wahh!" But pretentious rockstar bull**** is all that is.

[Sugar]

Originally Posted by seeker007nmss

Yup Sara...all stolen riffs. Yup.

Actually she stole the Sara riff from "Be My Baby." Am I the only with that piano demo where she says that's the sound she's looking for on this?

Originally Posted by seeker007nmss

Okay....Everytime I see a rap group, Where is the Band? Bad poetry and a bass machine? OOh...and scratch records? there you go. Let's complain about the "hood" while sitting on expensive cars, wearing tacky "bling" and degrating women in the video. Throw in cursing and attitude, Oh yeah, I am all over it. Real classy.

A good part of your criticisms are valid, IMHO. There's plenty of crap rap, but you can say that about any art form. I don't listen to a lot of rap, and I only own two rap albums (Ice-T, Original Gangster and Beasties, Ill Communication) and I would not consider the poetry on either of these to be bad.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...rap artists...THE GOOD ONES... are the only ones paying attention to rhyme and rhythm these days as far as I can figure. The good ones are the closest things we have to Shakespeare today.

[cliffdweller]

Originally Posted by Jyqm

Well said. (Even if in the end you jsut deferred to what I said...)

Yeah, well, I'm tired. And you spelled "just" incorrectly btw.