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.

 

 

mglik

@jonwatches1

Thanks for the response. Maybe you didn’t see a subsequent post. I dug a little further and I actually like a few songs I sampled from Flo Rida. They were musical, had instruments and some singing. Even one song from Nicki Minaj was musical, but just one.

Southern rock huh? I listened to Skynyrd, 38 Special and early ZZ Top growing up, but I couldn’t tell you what’s going on in that genre since the 80’s. I’m principally a metal-head at heart with some tentacles into classic rock, classical Spanish guitar, modern blues, shred, atmospheric rock, a little acapella, and even doo-wop.

Off the beaten path, huh? Metal is definitely off the beaten path in this forum. It’s a genre that you’re either geared to gravitate to, or not. In that regard, it’s probably a little similar to rap. And it’s definitely not audiophile-friendly. I don’t know if you have any experience with it. You’re possibly familiar with Anthrax teaming up with Public Enemy about 30 years ago on a metal-rap song. But I won’t subject you to the more extreme versions of the genre that I prefer, however I will recommend one song that even if you don’t like it you’ll be surprised and entertained by it.

Five songs ... hmmm. It’s important that you follow these specific YouTube links for full effect of what you’re about to see with some of these artists.

Jinjer - Pisces: Progressive metal. Like it or not, you will be "entertained."

 

"sheer technical mastery and technique are so elemental to its form"

Dream Theater - The Dance of Eternity: The band that immediately comes to mind when terms like that are used. Every member of this band is a master of their instrument, except the singer, but this song is an instrumental. DT’s time signature changes can be a little disconcerting for people who aren’t into progressive- rock, metal or jazz. Their songs can be very complex.

 

OK, back to "off the beaten path."

My favorite guitarist (I play guitar).

Buckethead.- Jordan (live): Buckethead is likely an autistic savant. His skill level is ungodly. And he has over 300 albums of various styles and genres. Yes, 300. It’s so hard to pick one song because one only gives you a sliver of a glimpse into Buckethead’s repertoire, he’s so diverse, but this is a good start. And you have to see a live version to understand not only the skill, but the mind of Buckethead.

Lacuna Coil - Trip the Darkness: A gothic/alternative rock/metal band. Their album Comalies is actually audiophile-friendly. One of the few well-recorded rock/metal albums. Like your list, this is a band I would list as "accessible" to beginning metal-heads looking into "modern" metal.

 

When it comes to technical mastery I could list a slew of shredders that have ungodly guitar and compositional skills. Or I could list my second favorite guitar player, SRV, but I’m assuming, even though SRV is blues, if you know southern rock you probably know who he is. And I don’t want to freak you out with metal since it’s likely it won’t be accessible. What to do, what to do? OK, let me give you the guy who, IMO, created shred guitar.

Yngwie Malmsteen with the Japanese Philharmonic: Malmsteen created neo-classical shred guitar (I don’t want to hear from you Blackmore fans). Van Halen was THE guitar god at the time ... until Malmsteen released his first album in 1984 and changed the course of electric guitar. That album is what made me take up guitar. I can’t come anywhere near playing with his speed or accuracy. But neither can all but a handful of professionals. He was heavily influenced by Paganini and incorporated it with rock on guitar. Unfortunately, after his first album he proved not to be nearly as accomplished a composer as a guitar player. But that first album - Rising Force - is great. He spawned a slew of shredders on the Shrapnel label who themselves spawned another slew of shredders. He is the father of shred.

Look at M&M he was Huge and helped change gangster rap which is degrading and vulgar , M&M had his own flair and toned it down and white which was a Shocker I am not much into rap  but a couple CDs were pretty catchy

Jump up And get down. 

I call  Eminem  M&M a game changer from gangsta rap who set his own 

standard and being white a standard ,and $$ 250 million net worth.what  many don’t realize even though  is 

95% of rappers are black,  but much more people of all cultures purchase rap.

@mglik *G* "I come in peace, I mean no one no harm." ;)

It's been rumored there are those amongst us that follow my...'train of thoughts', however derailed it may interpreted by others.

But the suggestion
of an impression
Of the motive
to insert in
an emotive
Tweaks m'brain
beyond the membrane...

*EDM insert*

Sorry...been in some state like this for 70.5 yrs.  A habit that's a bit hard to 'recover' from....

I'll just go sit in the corner with my back to it, and just observe for awhile... ;)

*good natured tease* (nothing more, nothing less...*S*)