What is your view on Rap Music?

" @Adamantium said:

" Tupac is the shit. Everyone else just wishes they were as good as he was. "

Biggie Smalls is better than Tupac :) "

Not into it. I think the art form is put to waste when all that anyone has to talk about it is "crack, money, and bitches". 

" @Adamantium said:

" @Absurd said:

" @Adamantium said:

" Tupac is the shit. Everyone else just wishes they were as good as he was. "

Biggie Smalls is better than Tupac :) "

Lolz! Haha thx dude. I haven't had a good laugh today, until that! "

That's right, shake it off. One day you'll recognize. "

Most of it I cant stand but, I do enjoy most of Eminem's songs and Hilltop Hoods.
I dislike stuff like 50 Cent, Soulja Boy and all that crap.
Run DMC can be good from time to time :/

not interested in at all.  I think it's generally pretty awful.

It's not my thing, but it's a genre I can respect. I don't know the music well enough to comment past that.

" @baconbits33:   IQ of a paper clip IN MUSIC. I'm not being aggressive about this, so I don't why you have to be. "

Jacques Cousteau could never get this low

" @Absurd said:

" @Adamantium said:

" @Absurd said:

" @Adamantium said:

" Tupac is the shit. Everyone else just wishes they were as good as he was. "

Biggie Smalls is better than Tupac :) "

Lolz! Haha thx dude. I haven't had a good laugh today, until that! "

That's right, shake it off. One day you'll recognize. "

When people remember Tupac they think of a real thug, speaking truth about life in the ghettos of L.A. during the most turbulent times of gang violence, of lyrical poetry and genius presented unfetterd, unadulterated, and unapologetically. Of a man cut down in his prime, representing a piece of America that no one else could portray in any similar fashion.  When people remember Biggie, they think of a 300 pound money-grubber whose greatest legacy is leaving us with Puff Daddy. Lolz. "

Stuff that plays on the radio barely counts as rap. Lyrics never have any deeper meaning, along with the subject matter being about as shallow as a kiddie pool in the desert. 
 
Aesop Rock. Listen to him. 
 
  

Obvious from my name, it's my absolute favorite genre of music. From the moment I heard Killing Me Softly during a cousin's birthday party when I was young, I was hooked. To be completely frank, I find a lot of the reasoning for people's dislike of the genre to be lazy and quite immature. To claim that you dislike a genre because of its sound is one thing and completely understandable. But to say that an entire genre of music and its hundreds and thousands of artists are all limited to a single piece of subject matter is completely baffling to me. 
 
I'm not gonna bore you with "underground", "it was better back in the day" and "radio is crap" talk because to be honest, I think these accusations are also complete bullshit. Just as there are terrible mainstream artists, there are abysmal underground artists who talk more about how they think hip-hop is dead rather than using hip-hop for what it was intended: expressing a state of mind through spoken word. There were plenty of shoddy rappers back in the day who were in it just for the money and fame rather than to respect the art form. I mean, hell, the amount of gold chains and track suits back in the day should be enough of an indication of how far back corporate music has existed. As far as radio is concerned, I could go for hours explaining my dislike of both sides of the argument. If you are not a fan of the delivery of the music and style of the instrumentals in hip-hop I completely understand and don't blame you for it. But when it gets down to stereotyping, I really do lose respect for the individual in terms of their music preferences. It's a lazy and clumsy way to put together what it is about music you don't like.

" @baconbits33: 
 
My turn to be aggressive:
 

"

I like some rap music, but not most of it.

" Obvious from my name, it's my absolute favorite genre of music. From the moment I heard Killing Me Softly during a cousin's birthday party when I was young, I was hooked. To be completely frank, I find a lot of the reasoning for people's dislike of the genre to be lazy and quite immature. To claim that you dislike a genre because of its sound is one thing and completely understandable. But to say that an entire genre of music and its hundreds and thousands of artists are all limited to a single piece of subject matter is completely baffling to me.   I'm not gonna bore you with "underground", "it was better back in the day" and "radio is crap" talk because to be honest, I think these accusations are also complete bullshit. Just as there are terrible mainstream artists, there are abysmal underground artists who talk more about how they think hip-hop is dead rather than using hip-hop for what it was intended: expressing a state of mind through spoken word. There were plenty of shoddy rappers back in the day who were in it just for the money and fame rather than to respect the art form. I mean, hell, the amount of gold chains and track suits back in the day should be enough of an indication of how far back corporate music has existed. As far as radio is concerned, I could go for hours explaining my dislike of both sides of the argument. If you are not a fan of the delivery of the music and style of the instrumentals in hip-hop I completely understand and don't blame you for it. But when it gets down to stereotyping, I really do lose respect for the individual in terms of their music preferences. It's a lazy and clumsy way to put together what it is about music you don't like. "

Virtually any rap that is found on TV or radio is crap.  Although this can be said about all forms of music.

" @baconbits33:   What's hypocritical about it? Have I been displaying those tendencies here without knowing it? Again, I don't feel like I've been aggressive in this argument. "

" @Video_Game_King said:

" @baconbits33: I'm not claiming to be an expert (far from it), just stating my opinion. "

Well that's given your not a expert nobody is on this website when it comes to music, but I mean, it's common sense to know Battle of the Bands. I mean for godsakes theres freakin dozens of big time movies based off of it, hell even the main star of the movie you mentioned Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny, made a movie that revolved around the Battle of the Bands. "

" @baconbits33:   Take notice of the "far from it" part. It explains a lot. "

" Music is like candy. You always throw away the rappers. "

" Depends what kind of rap you mean. If you mean REAL rap, the stuff released "back in the day" that had some actual meaning to it and had awesome rhythm and great beats and was made by skilled musicians, then I like it very much.  If you mean the sorry excuse for music that most people consider rap today, complete with meaningless lyrics bout dem bitchez and/or hoez, autotune and da bling bling, that stuff is trash and should be eradicated from memory. "

I am not the demographic apparently, being 49, but there is some hip-hop I really like.  I suppose I was pretty young when I first took a liking to some of it: 
 
Grand Master Flash & the Furious Five  
When I first heard them, I really enjoyed what was a fresh new style of music.  Around the same time, white people were starting to get into it, especially in Europe.  Falco (Der Kommisar) and Malcolm McLaren (of Sex Pistols fame, with Duck Rock, an entire album of hip-hop) were an interesting diversion. 
 
De La Soul 
Now this is my favourite style of hip-hop, old school style.  They were amazing.  Say No Go was brilliant.  Their style remains my favourite, and is done well by the likes of Jurassic 5 and Ugly Duckling in recent times. 
 
Beastie Boys 
How can you not love the Beasties?  A fan in the early 80s and still am.  No-one does their rock/rap music as well. 
 
RunDMC 
More brilliant old school hip hop.  They were brilliant and were the only group that could make me listen to Aerosmith, but the likes of It's Tricky set them at the top of the hip hop pile. 
 
Cypress Hill 
If you don't like Insane in the Brain, you have no taste.  This is about as aggressive as my tastes in hip hop will go though. 
 
Missy Elliot 
Missy is by far the best thing hip-hop has ever produced.  She is beyond brilliant.  In fact I will say that she is the best solo female artist of all time.  Get Ur Freak On, 4 My People, Pass the Dutch - everything she does just gets me.  I will even forgive for the work she did with Timbaland.   
 
Emimem 
I enjoyed Emimem, but surely we have to acknowledge that in reality, he was bordering on a novelty act.  I am glad he dropped out of the scene, for as much as I enjoyed his work, it was getting old, real quick. 
 
So, they would be my standouts from my tastes.  What I REALLY HATE though, is gangsta rap, 50 Cent style.  That is just the worst music (if you can call it that) ever and there is nothing sadder than some white kid who thinks he is gangsta.  

Dood, rep musix is like de Darkoz bangin' a drum and reading a poem El-oh-El.
 
 
but seriously, there's alot of quality stuff out there, people are just too quick to judge cause they see soulja boy on TV and think 'dood fkn blackiez...what dey know bout musix'.

absolutely hate it.

Something funny I noticed about the way people perceive hip-hop and rap is that there are always two major extremes in every discussion. On one end, you've got the absolute haters who default the entire genre to being about  cash, bling, drugs, hoes, etc. Obviously, a lot of emcees and rappers have plenty of songs in which they don't wax about these topics; anyone who refuses to see that is just ignorant.  These people also make the assumption that the genre takes no skill because of the absence of instruments; try producing a beat or even following along with a remotely skilled rapper and there's bound to be trouble.
 
On the other side of the spectrum, you've got hip-hop/rap "fans" who think every single thing released by an "underground" rapper is the greatest thing since the invention of the Internet. These are the same people who  deem some rappers "street philosophers" and "geniuses". Some artists make some really good music, but let's not get carried away here. Many people who blindly support hip hop and rap also tend to forget that even the best of  the genre, ) I'm looking at you, Biggie and Pac) have talked about some ignorant ass shit in large number of their songs. 
 
As for me? I like myself some hip-hop and rap music. Sometimes it has meaning, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I like to hear some thought-provoking stuff. Sometimes I just want music to drive or move around to.

" Something funny I noticed about the way people perceive hip-hop and rap is that there are always two major extremes in every discussion. On one end, you've got the absolute haters who default the entire genre to being about  cash, bling, drugs, hoes, etc. Obviously, a lot of emcees and rappers have plenty of songs in which they don't wax about these topics; anyone who refuses to see that is just ignorant.  These people also make the assumption that the genre takes no skill because of the absence of instruments; try producing a beat or even following along with a remotely skilled rapper and there's bound to be trouble.  On the other side of the spectrum, you've got hip-hop/rap "fans" who think every single thing released by an "underground" rapper is the greatest thing since the invention of the Internet. These are the same people who  deem some rappers "street philosophers" and "geniuses". Some artists make some really good music, but let's not get carried away here. Many people who blindly support hip hop and rap also tend to forget that even the best of  the genre, ) I'm looking at you, Biggie and Pac) have talked about some ignorant ass shit in large number of their songs.   As for me? I like myself some hip-hop and rap music. Sometimes it has meaning, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I like to hear some thought-provoking stuff. Sometimes I just want music to drive or move around to. "

" Music is like candy. You always throw away the rappers. "

"   

  One of the best rap songs I have listened to in my living memory (but it is quite short lol) "

ITZ GOT SIK BEETZ YO!!!

I don't enjoy rap, but my reasons are different. Rap is more like a poem than it is music. It usually lacks melodic changes and has repetitive baselines. It lacks most of what makes music, music. I'm not saying rap isn't music, don't take me the wrong way.

Rap is fantastic. People who say they dislike it, just havent heard the right rap. There is a whole world of rap that is nothing like the gangster shit you hear every day.

I only have like, Fort Minor on my iTunes for rapping. That's about it. I don't really like it, I just prefer rock/metal/electronca.

" Like everything else there is good hip-hop and bad hip-hop. "

please dont call that trash music.