Posted on 03/01/2007 5:11:49 AM PST by IDontLikeToPayTaxes
NEW YORK — Maybe it was the umpteenth coke-dealing anthem or soft-porn music video. Perhaps it was the preening antics that some call reminiscent of Stepin Fetchit.
The turning point is hard to pinpoint. But after 30 years of growing popularity, rap music is now struggling with an alarming sales decline and growing criticism from within about the culture's negative effect on society.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Probably not as you define discerning. I'll still put Grandmaster Flash, Digable Planets, Arrested Development or the Beastie Boys in my CD player. Just nothing of the new stuff.
Rap began as an offshoot of funk- the first I heard was Rapper's Delight by the Sugarhill Gang, released c.1979. It was nothing like today's rap; it was party music. Will Smith launched his career as a comedy rapper, going by the name The Fresh Prince.
Bingo -- that's the explanation.
"Just nothing of the new stuff."
Well, it's a start. Rome wasn't built in a day.
No,I know no Carlton Banks.
I could throw out some names but if you aren't from my neck of the woods the names would mean nothing to you.
And,before The Last Poets were The Watts Prophets with their classic album,Rapping Black in a White World.
THAT record is extremely rare in collector's circles.
"I'm sorry, but this is VERY wishful thinking. Do you honestly believe that a 12-16 year old cares what Bill Cosby thinks? And do you think a 12-16 year old also cares about what is taboo in society?"
Cosby's statements have without question had an influence—most notably on the Sharpton-Jackson contingent as audible in some of their rhetoric. The influence trickles down from there to reach yes even the little whippersnappers. They care about what is defined as important to care about by those who lead them in the media and elsewhere. It always works that way. Why do you think young kids in general are imitating Bill Clinton’s lewd behavior with Lewinski on such a large scale during the past several years? It always starts at the top.
"I don't know much about Rap, but what I do know of it has no musical form, only rythem. I believe it was invented so those with NO musical talent whatsoever could pretend to be in the music business."
Rhythm is form. The no-musical-talent invention was punk, not rap, which is the more musically sophisticated of the two.
"Rhythm is form. The no-musical-talent invention was punk, not rap, which is the more musically sophisticated of the two."
Have you ever heard of melody? Music to me must have more than rhythm. Poetry with rhythm still has no melody, and music without melody is not music.
Thanks for the info, will keep my eyes open for that album during garage sales.
"Have you ever heard of melody? Music to me must have more than rhythm. Poetry with rhythm still has no melody, and music without melody is not music."
Typically I find myself on your side of this argument. But you must admit some rap has subtle melody which can be just as pleasing at times.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_music
Love on My Mind by the Freemasons is a good example of current disco-pop House:
http://www.video-c.co.uk/watchsearchedvideos.asp?vidref=free005
what about “Convoy”......
I saw the video for that the other day - man, it just goes on and on. I remember a friend had a 45 of it when I was maybe 12 or 13, and we memorized a bunch of the lyrics - I liked the bit about going over to a friend’s place to eat and the food’s no good. It was something new and different at the time - who knew what it was going to turn into?
Notice, too, that all the bragging, sexual innuendo, bling bling, pimps and hos, and so on, was already there in that song, if not explicitly then implied.
As I’ve said before on this forum, a friend once told me in fun that square dance callers were the first rap singers; the lyrics were just different.
The song “Trouble” chanted by Harold Hill in “The Music Man” is “rap”.
Actually, technically speaking...."Walk This Way" by Aerosmith in 1975 was the first Top 40 rap song.
It peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1977.
Which is the reason that Run DMC gave for their cover in 1986. An homage to the first Rap/Hip-Hop tune to break the Top 10.
And to be honest, only recently have I heard my students rapping "known" rap songs. They usually do their own or stuff they hear in the clubs (that they are several years too young to be in). Much of that latter stuff is a lot filthier than the stuff on the radio, too.
DO you have a copy of “Captain Billy’s Whiz-Bang”?
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