Why gangsta rap doesn't qualify as "art" IMO

Arts & Sciences Arts & Entertainment
#1

i look at gangsta rap like this:

in comedy, it takes a LOT more talent to tell a good clean joke than a dirty one.likewise, it’s easy to make a song about base things. it’s hard to make a song about higher things. rap doesn’t use the higher senses. it’s gutter music.
it’s rhyme scheme uses the simplest form of rhyme in the english language, a rhyming word at the end of EACH line. it is much harder to write a rhyme per every other line.
there is gospel, soul, blues, jazz ,and ragtime if i need to hear true African American art. my ears won’t miss gutter rap.

finally, what possible talent could it take to run a turntable? DJs are kidding themselves.even scratching is not a refined rhythmic ability.

are we so lost that we now consider DJs musicians? DJs are no more musicians than taking a crap on the sidewalk is a painting.my two cents.

#2

Saying what kind of music is ‘good’ or not is like saying orange is a stupid colour because you don’t like orange.

Personally, I hate that kind of jazz-Starbucks-muzac that has become accepted worldwide as background noise. Salsa dancing music makes me want to set fire to things. But some people enjoy that crap, so whatever. Music is supposed to move us, inspire us, and it is never going to be a ‘one size fits all’ thing. That’s grand.

#3

eye of the beholder, Ran. Or maybe ear of the beholder.

I don’t really like rap, but I’ll be the first to admit that there are some incredibly talented people out there making it.

#4

talented compared to Pat Metheny?talented compared to Thelonious Monk? rap music is so easy to make. that crap on ICRT is driving me nuts.

#5

How many hours have you spent listening to the thousands of rappers there are? Even if you do that, what you say is only opinion. There are a lot of rappers out there, even in gangster rap that are using complicated rhyme schemes. Listen to Wu-Tang Clan an hear their more poetic style, listen to Eminem and Biggie for his very complicate rhyme schemes, Tupac for his emotion and message, Beastie Boys just for a more light hearted style. There are SOOOO many rappers out there that I’m sure you never listened to.

I do have to agree though, percentage wise, rap has the MOST crappy artists, only a handful of really good ones.

#6

If you’ve ever heard Freestyle rap, you know it’s an art that takes skill, quick thinking, and eloquence.

#7

IMHO, ICRT should change its name to 臺CRT.

#8

icrt sucks just like any other american radio station. (yes i know its based here).

try tripleJ for a real radio station. (google it, there’s a web feed)

#9

[quote=“urodacus”]icrt sucks just like any other american radio station. (yes i know its based here).

try tripleJ for a real radio station. (google it, there’s a web feed)[/quote]

Even JJJ have been crap for the past 10 years. They were much better when they were Sydney only, and still quite good up until the late 90s.

#10

true, and i started out listening to double Jay, so that dates me even more. and i was part of the save the js campaign. and i shared beers and more with Tony Biggs for example. and i think arnold frolows sucks. but that beside the point.

even in its soft current form, Triple J still beats pretty much any american radio station hands down… america is justly known as the home of radio pap. even college radio stations. maybe KCMU from seattle is passable…

#11

Last time I was in Oz (late 90s) I was listening to tripleJ. It was what everyone “of a certain age” listened to, pretty much, and it was fantastic – really great radio. Then more recently someone turned me on to the online feed and I was appalled at what it had turned into. What happened over there?

And Buttercup, you argument doesn’t hold water. You should have chosen a different colour because of course, orange DOES suck and is stupid. Everyone except Loretta knows THAT.

#12

OK. let’s get back on topic:

gangsta rap might have good and bad exponents, but whether it is art or not is probably not open to question. it is music, therefore it is an artform. i mean, i dont think ‘the streets’ are terribly useful to the future of music either, but i’d still have to call it music and poetry even though to me they suck the big one.

i think the main questionable aspect of gangsta rap is the misogyny and acceptance of violence that it has entrenched in american culture over the last ten years. old skool rap (thinking de la soul or public enemy or LL Cool J etc here) was way less anti women, and much more political and thought provoking, even the offbeat stuff like de la soul. spike lee would never have approved of the direction that the new ‘black’ consciousness has taken!

tupac, ice cube, etc should not be the role models that they are, but they are as much a product of existing american values as they are shapers of the future. unfortunately.

#13

rap has gotta go. used to if you wanted to see the gangsta mentality, you went to a certain part of LA. now you can’t get away from it. go to Guam and you have the Chads. go to taiwan and you have the TaiKe. go to Japan. go everywhere and you’ll see that rap is the anthem of the have nots trying to take what they think should be theirs.

i say take away their coolaide. make rap hard to find. get rid of it. it’s poison. it’s poisoned our world to where you’ve gotta go to the south pole to get away from gangs.

rap is a virus. gangsta-ism is a virus. rap is the coolaide that this evil yeast feeds on. take away their coolaide and the gangs lose a lot of their power, image, and most importantly, the narcissitic soundtrack to their pathetic criminal lives.

#14

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/23/simmons.bad.words.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

directly on topic…

#15

[quote=“ran the man”]rap has gotta go. used to if you wanted to see the gangsta mentality, you went to a certain part of LA. now you can’t get away from it. go to Guam and you have the Chads. go to Taiwan and you have the TaiKe. go to Japan. go everywhere and you’ll see that rap is the anthem of the have nots trying to take what they think should be theirs.

I say take away their coolaide. make rap hard to find. get rid of it. it’s poison. it’s poisoned our world to where you’ve gotta go to the south pole to get away from gangs.

rap is a virus. gangsta-ism is a virus. rap is the coolaide that this evil yeast feeds on. take away their coolaide and the gangs lose a lot of their power, image, and most importantly, the narcissitic soundtrack to their pathetic criminal lives.[/quote]

yes, and speed-metal leeds to suicide. We are fully aware of the power of bad music…

Maybe it all started in the good ol’ days? Wonder what Al Capone and his gang were listening too…hmm…

Seriously, I have to agree with urodacus on this:

Some might not think it’s real music, but to many people it is. I like listen to it (I like other genres as well), but I guess that’s like when the jazz listeners don’t agree on what is real jazz or not. To some bebob is jazz, to others it’s not…it’s all individual tastes…

I like the suggestion, Simmons have in the linked article, about getting a ban out for the three words listed.

yo, yo, word up and Peace out (or something like that)
Gangstarr-tinster

#16

Thank you sandman, but I wasn’t arguing so no need to pop my inner tubes in the bath.

Yes, I also am not sure why Loretta feels the need to be visible from deep space at all times. I swear, his dress sense embarrasses the dog, sometimes.

I like Eminem. He is kewl.

#17

have you noticed that wherever rap goes, local musical flavor just goes out the window? rap is the mcdonalds of music. it kills local culture just like Nike, McD, KFc, all that. the worst mistake taiwan made was adopting rap/hip-hop instead of developing the local sound which incorporated taiwanese elements.

i think sexually/violent explicit music, whether they say the 4 letter words or not, shouldn’t be promoted as a matter of class.

i’m not an anti-semite, but damn it. the guys who run this business and i read the same first part of the same book. they KNOW what they’re doing is wrong.i hope some rabbis will get wise to this and put some pressure on these cats in LA to be responsible.

it takes a village to raise one child. LA is corrupting what the rest of us(parents, teachers) are trying to steer right. it’s irresponsible. it’s not responsible enterprise to allow gangsta rap to monopolize everything.

#18

well, punnk was diosmissedd in much the same tones thirty years ago. and it thrived.

then peoplegot tired of it when it went all mainstream and ended up in a procession of sewn zips on designer jeans and perfectly coiffed mohawks strutting down the cat walk.

perhaps the same thing will happen to gangsta rap.

i notice that you distinguish between gangsta rap and other forms of rap… is there some rap music you do like?
what particularly about gangsta rap gets you the most? is it the rhythm, the violent message, the glorification of handgun culture, the mangled language and forced patois of the street, the entrenchment of gang culture in daily life? not all of these things are directly part of the music per se, but a piece of the greater whole that is hip-hop. that extends to art, graffiti, car design and style, clothing choices, ‘cool’ and ‘power’, subculture jargon, etc…

what do you feel about rap music that is not gangsta rap? what about eminem, or beastie boys, as white exponents of the style, and non-gangsta to boot? and what are your thoughts on the travesty that soul music has become in its modern mangling/mingling with R&B. think black eyed peas for a fairly decent rendering of the style, and beyonce and a thousand artistst whose names i can’t or won’t profess to know for a poor interpretation of same? is it just a black thing or can white folks join in in modern music too, without guitars?

#19

says the guy listening to ICRT

those brands are there because they are needed,individuals are expected to use taste and common sense when choosing anything.

[quote=“ran the man”] the worst mistake taiwan made was adopting rap/hip-hop instead of developing the local sound which incorporated Taiwanese elements.
[/quote]

you’re implying that mando-pop is ace :astonished: :astonished:
i’m not sure if you’ve made your age public,but country music,blues,jazz…hardly ever pull crowds these days

once again,it’s there because there’s a market for it,if no-one listened,no-one would sing it

:noway: :noway:

[quote=“ran the man”]

it takes a village to raise one child. LA is corrupting what the rest of us(parents, teachers) are trying to steer right. it’s irresponsible. it’s not responsible enterprise to allow gangsta rap to monopolize everything.[/quote]

it isn’t a monopoly,in this modern world you have choice,plenty of it…if you still listen to something you hate,then there’s something wrong with you…oh wait… :smiley:

#20

Just finished reading Chronicles volume 1 by Bob Dylan. This is what he has to say.

If it’s good enough for His Bobness, then who’s to complain?