When rap came out 30 years ago I thought it was just a fad

Then Mr Whipsaw - you seem to want to carry the cross to promote the idea / concept  that rap music does have a ; '' political as well as a sociological importance '' in today's society.  Okay, then please do enlighten me as well as maybe some of the other members here on what artists you think have that significance. I am sure that in some circles  these particular artists that you speak of,  may be discussed as often as say : Bob Dylan , Peter Seger, Woody Guthrie as well as a Sam Cooke on promoting a specific cause or enlightening us  on the promotion of individual rights and liberties.  I just named a few who came to my mind right away ......as I will listen to them as a student of different musical approaches and not because I was called ignorant  - because I won't listen to that medium. That was very  a condescending comment  - so prove me wrong that there are artists who are relevant in todays; society and who actually have talent .......and please do not tell me Kayne West !!!!!  

Bring the Noise

Public Enemy’s political voice may have obscured the enduring brilliance of their work. It’s been 21 years since the release of "It Takes a Nation" and it’s hard to believe how fresh, innovative, and emotionally powerful that album still sounds. The raw energy of Chuck D’s booming voice, trading rhymes with Flavor Flav, is channeled through a layered mix of swirling scratches, quick beats, and funky James-Brown samplings. It’s only when you listen to the old masters like PE and Run-DMC that you realize how much the current generation (Kanye and the rest) are in their debt. And, who knows, perhaps gangsta rap will even prove to be a short-lived commercial aberration.

You may know Chuck D from his Air America radio show and perhaps less from his status as one of rap’s great MCs, along with 2Pac, Nas, Jay-Z, etc. The "noise" in the title is what the pop world thought of hip-hop in the early days. Chuck D welcomes the slur. Yes it is "noise," he is rapping, our kind of noise, and if you don’t like it, tough. As in much of black music, of course, there is an underground "elitism" there meant to shoo away the white establishment. The "noise" played the same gatekeeping function as the jarring harmonies, forbidding virtuosity, and asymmetric rhythm of bebop did 40 years earlier. It didn’t help matters that Seamus Heaney (a poet I admire enormously) praised the poetic power of hip-hop. Heaney was right, of course, but to declare hip-hop safe for the establishment was the last thing hip-hop needed. (Everyone was probably too busy listening to Britney to hear Heaney.)

Some quick historical perspective. In my view, one pop figure dominates, nah, towers over everyone else. Nothing the Brits did comes anywhere close. Same with Elvis. No one can claim his musical breadth, creativity, and influence. That person, of course, is James Brown. And yet there was always something missing. Brown was always so far ahead of everyone else he ended up talking to himself. And you can’t formalize a new language when you only talk to yourself. Hip-hop is Brown’s legacy as an autonomous musical genre, its culmination if you will. It’s a genre that never ceases to amaze me. It’s not musical in the traditional sense of the word. But there’s an emotional intensity to it, a rhythmic richness, and a verbal brilliance that have no equivalent in pop music. I love it."

Thank you Mr. Whipsaw - and I really don't quote understand your attitude here as I am trying to learn something and share some thoughts. You seem to be a very opinionated individual and assume a lot about me and my musical tastes and interest. Yes, it does seem I happened to miss in one of you diatribes on the artist(s) you had mentioned that I might want to listen to....so you can relax a little as well as lose the combative position as I am trying to learn a little something here in which you seem to be very uncomfortable with. You pointed out on what I should listen to, but you never  mentioned if you have ever listened to the artists that I have mentioned here in my thread or maybe you ; ''  I guess ; ''  You either didn’t read my post(s) carefully, or ignored them '' to quote you. So Mr. Whipsaw - have you ever listened to them in order to expand your tastes as I am trying to do or has your myopic view clouded your research on them ???
I have heard and listened to Gill Scot Heron and enjoyed his work, but if you need constant affirmation on your comments of what is considered  '' good music '' by your standards you may need to look elsewhere than this site. Herron's work is very good but I guessed that I just never looked at that as rap .......I have listened to 2Pac and Jay-z and they are good and actually had a message......a message that unfortunately I could not be part of nor will I ever understand or know and much less, ever experience..... the life of inner city blacks. Instead of being combative - that viewpoint should have been expressed as I would have least understood more of what you were trying to say  - and not use someone else's '' paper'' to support your opinion.......So, then I guess I never will understand that music or it's message, however, I will continue to listen to possibly gain a little more insight. But I will never condone the violence it promotes, the objectivity of women or lack morals that seems to promote  - along with a very distorted value system.

Now .... I have seen Lames Brown and BB King ( to name a few more ) many times  -  and they have what the others do not have - CLASS !     

"It NEVER was any good and 30 years from now ...no 5 years from now, do you think that you will be listening to any of the, for a lack of any better words ; songs that are being played now ???? I think not...I am amazed that crap is still around"

"I have listened to 2Pac and Jay-z and they are good and actually had a message......a message that unfortunately I could not be part of nor will I ever understand or know and much less, ever experience..... the life of inner city blacks. Instead of being combative - that viewpoint should have been expressed as I would have least understood more of what you were trying to say - and not use someone else's '' paper'' to support your opinion.......So, then I guess I never will understand that music or it's message, however, I will continue to listen to possibly gain a little more insight. But I will never condone the violence it promotes, the objectivity of women or lack morals that seems to promote - along with a very distorted value system."