Rhythm And Poetry, more on the literary side.
Is Rap a valid musical form?
This has been way more than the progression away from tubes to SS!
Believe the world of Hip Hop has been around and evolving for around 5 decades.
And for most of that time I have dismissed and avoided that world and its “music”.
So angry, offensive and abrasive. Just a bunch of rhythmic yelling.
I believe my former thread was titled “Why Rap?”. Through that discussion and somewhat of an understanding that this must be a new art form that engages and entertains millions if not billions. That and a long standing belief that if a type of music or a particular artist attracts many, many fans there must be substance and quality there. Even if I personally don’t particularly like it there must be something there.
Rap and the Hip Hop world was always so foreign and culturally untouchable.
Then my Rap thread and several others at that time got me rethinking my perspective and I watched a video of a group of student performance musicians at Juilliard all exclaiming their fascination with a Rap artist named Kendrick Lemar and his “masterpiece” “To Pimp a Butterfly”. I bought the double LP. Trying to listen to it turned out to be difficult because of my old view of Rap and that of the world of Hip Hop. But it was also becoming clear that this was truly something of significant interest. However, I just listened to the two discs only once-with some difficulty.
Today, after several weeks, I hesitatingly pulled the album out again. And to my surprise and actually delight hearing it with fresh ears it grabbed me and would not let go. I immediately heard the brilliance of a multi faceted, and to me, all new experience in sound. Not unlike great 20th century or progressive Jazz it evolved from section to section with a plethora of fascinating, yes musical, experiences. Tonal, atonal, percussive, rhythmic, breathing combined with incredible, energetic tongue twisting strings of mostly unintelligible words. And not merely angry yelling.
Sure, a ton of F bombs but words that don’t flow over you like lovely other genres but invade the psyche and don’t let go. Not particularly pleasant but gripping and interesting in its complexity. Words delivered with such power and drive which acted as a rhythmic counterpoint. It was impossible to turn away or turn off.
And speaking of turned off, the experience was the opposite of that. Stories of life undeniable human. Yes, driven by bitterness, anger and raw emotion. Impossible to dismiss it as not deeply felt.
I do think “To Pimp a Butterfly” is unique. But I also believe that there must be much more in this Hip Hop world that has deep musical interest. Some time ago I heard Drake on SNL perform a song that was amazing though not really Rap. Rather an advanced and unconventional musical form. I hear similar musical threads throughout “Pimp”. I did get a CD of Drake. “Scorpion”. I also could not absorb it in my first listen. I look forward to the next, fresh listen. I did try to hear several YouTubes of some very successful Rap artists. They mostly lacked the interesting musical themes threaded through. “Pure Rap” with just the rhythmic words-not my cup of tea. But a musically valid form none the less.
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Obviously rap is music, as every musicologist (and almost anyone under forty) will agree. It's just silly to say otherwise. The songs have more than just rhythm; they have melody and harmony, although that's not usually their focus. Further, rapping itself deploys pitch. Indeed, human speech is a pitched language. (Ever visited Scotland?) And as anyone who has ever actually listened to rap knows, much rap is keenly aware of previous generations of music. MF Doom, for example, is known for his "chopped and screwed" jazz standards. In fact, there's an entire genre known as jazz rap. There is no argument to be had here; maybe there was thirty years ago but those days are gone forever, over a long time ago. (Steely Dan riffs appear in rap songs.) A more interesting question to me is why so many folks out here are so narrow-minded in what they call "music." In another thread, many argue that the only "real" music is played on unamplified acoustic instruments. Say what? Why wouldn't we want to as inclusive as possible? Why not welcome all kinds of tastes to this board? Javanese gamelan? Sure! African drumming? Heck yeah. Noise metal? Sure. Why not open ourselves up a bit? |
@crouse99 I've like that since 1st exposure, like the beat and enjoy the expression. *G* @jssmith , the best answer I can have is: If you don't like what it is, you can Always 'roll your own'.....I've always seen rap as an 'update' on rhythmic poetry. G.S. Heron in the 21st Century, and more of it. Can't say that I'm down with all of the bits....but I also lack the Black experience of life in the US when most (along with an awful lot of other races.... I shouldn't have to fill in the blanks for you on that....😒 BTW...As a youngster in SoCA, I could see the smoke from the Compton fires, and hear the sirens. To quote F. Zappa: I look at the back of my hands....that's not white....It's Called Beige. Albinos are white, and not outdoors a lot....if you suffer from vitiligo, you're patchy like a calico cat....not very pretty, and you'd rather stay indoors because people stare at you More. There is only one race, and it's called Human. (Note I've not mentioned 'humane'.) Color is genetic, and is unavoidable...and merely serves to divide us,, for whatever frelling rationale we seek to apply. YES, It's an Art/Music, and certainly VALID, regardless of the message. Why don't y'all grow up.....?😒🤨 |
Note to our hosts: I'm not cursing per se, nor do I see myself as singling out any viewer/poster/'interested party' for a drubbing in print....I'm just generally annoyed about the whole issue and general perceptions of the matter at hand. The rest of it is just the daily grind of the times...just like yours... ;) Yours, asvjerry |
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