Taking the Rap
Holy Wow, BillyBurg, I found all those titles on YouTube and had a very good time with them.
Here is an interview between Jeremy Scahill and the rapper Vic Mensa... it is the one titled:
From an artist's point of view.
Reply to Artisan,
In my earlier post in this thread I mentioned several "other" than rap songs that have bad messages and I won't play on my station so I don't just think it's just rap. And there's lots more than the ones I noted.
As for drug use it's very prevalent with bands, singers, of rock and other genres and the list is endless but that doesn't mean you are bad person and most don't sing about it in their music like the Velvet Underground did. Dion was a heroin addict already as a teenager having hits like Teenager in Love. Judy Garland already was hooked on the pills in the Wizard of OZ and it killed her at 49. Almost every rock band you can name have at least 2 members who are drug addicts and how many has it killed.
But to me I don't care or need to know about their personal lives. If that bothered me I wouldn't listen to the Beatles 'cause they were on drugs too. Or anyone else for that matter. Most of the time it stayed out of their music.
You mentioned Country and I don't like what is called country now at all and a lot of what they sing about is bars and beer and getting wasted and trashing someones truck if they cheated on you(Carry Underwood) ...almost as bad as Rap! Old "classic" Country yes, like it, like Tammy Wynette.
Maybe if you try hard enough I can be convinced that Rap is a legitimate music form even though I will never listen to it. Or anything that is not played with real instruments.
By "real instruments", Im going to presume you mean traditional. Its a long-standing assumption in music that, if a device or a contrivance can create a sound that no other device can, and that sound can be organized in terms of rhythm, pitch, duration and timbre, then it qualifies as a musical instrument.
I do not personally consider a turntable to be a musical instrument; but by that definition it is. There are no moving parts to set vibrations into the air in a synthesizer, yet it more than qualifies as a musical instrument because it has been accepted as such.
Im not trying to change your mind. But I will repeat what was said once a long time ago: music is whatever you interpret music to be.
Words and Descriptions
Right, BillyBurg directs the conversation toward what we mean by the words we use to describe music. "Traditional" instruments might also refer to "acoustical" instruments, which are physical devices that require only human power and produce pitches across several octaves.
The "synthetic" instruments require electricity plus human input, unless they are controlled by a "sequencer", which is an automation program the same as Zara is for radio.
There is no reason rap music couldn't be arranged for acoustic instruments and somebody has probably done it.
The claim that rap doesn't employ chords is also something else to question; at least it seems to stay within key.
"music is whatever you interpret music to be." as wisely stated.
Exactly.
But I do like that I started this discussion. At least there's some activity here.
It was getting pretty dead for a while and at the ALPB there's been no activity for a long time.
Wonder where Thelagacy is on this topic as I think him and I have the same thoughts about this. I guess my supporters choose to remain silent.
But if there wasn't differences of opinion there would be no discussion.
You need left and right.
We Are the Smart Low Power Discussion Site
Mark says, "I do like that I started this discussion. At least there’s some activity here. It was getting pretty dead for a while."
And I also like that you started this conversation, Mark, because it gives everyone a chance to express their point of view and maybe learn some things.
I am still learning, and have not found the right rap to use as bridge music on KDX, and maybe I'll abandon the search. But now I know more about rap than before.
One thing for sure, I could never sit down and write a rap lyric. I admire those who can.