by inanitydishamen » Mon Jul 28, 2003 11:25 am
I disagree, while this thread was not made to be a 'music vs. music' thread (lord knows that would be more at home in the music forums), it will visit that topic for a breif period.
Rap music is a strange and varied style. On one end of the rap spectrum there is the self indulgent, party lifestyle. But on the other side there is a totally different tone and type of music.
Rap was originally made as party music, talking of good times and having fun. But, with the good comes the bad (to put it in a cliche). With the introduction of rap in the mid/late 70's the world of urban America was changing rapidly, the black panthers and other groups were making things known and heard about the strife of young black men on American streets. Rap music was still about partying, but the focus of that was deviating, the release of 'Rappers Delight' by "The Sugarhill Gang" was probably the very first truly commercial rap single, selling thousands of singles in 1980, the year of it's release, a previously unheard amount for a rap single.
As times changed and Reganomics came into play, life got markedly worse for the young urban male. Crime and drug use were on the rise and definately contributed to the music's change in focus. The first group to make a song of real urban strife was "Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five" with 'The Message'. The song illustrated the trials and tribulations of many young black americans at the time, stuck in a dead end job, living in a slum, barely able to pay the bills. Times were worsening for black people in general as the regan era progressed. Groups like NWA and Public enemy, while radically different lyrically had much of the same message, a young black male, picked on and pushed around by an authority figure, eventually rising up and demanding change. NWA used violence in their lyrics and had a very raw sound, public enemy was not as voilent, but the two groups were both pushing for major changes in the white house and on the streets.
When Regan left the white house and bush came in, things were not any better. Rap continued to focus on the bad, although the situation for many artists improved. It was becoming a more accepted music form, and making many artists quite a lot of money.
When Clinton moved into the white house the situation for many black males got better, times were not quite as hard as they used to be. Rap's focus changed, from largely being dominated by bad things, the artists who had suffered in their urban sprawls for many years of their young lives, started to run into large amounts of money. The 'cash money' lifestyle of many rappers was born through having more money than what many of them knew what to do with. Compensating for lost time and money, flashy cars, diamonds and jewlery became the new excess item for rap artists and some urban males. Good times ruled. Rap's focus changed somewhat, from being about living in a nightmare, to living everyone's dream.
Rap is a very dynamic musical genre, it encompasses many ideas and can change as society changes. While rock can do this to some extent, it is not nearly as flexible as rap is. Music has always been a catalyst for change, from moods in a movie or AMV, to being a distributor of new ideas and thoughts. Rap is flexible musically and lyrically, which makes it much better suited to expressing ideas and thoughts.
In closing I would like to say that, the things played on the radio should in no way be taken as all that a musical genre has to offer. Most recently the rapper "50 Cent" made a song called 'In Da Club' which is a pure, unadulterated party song. Although, on the very same album which 'In Da Club' is featured on, "50 Cent" deals with his life and talks very candidly about past experiences in which he has done things he is less than proud of. Rap is a very personal type of music. Most lyrics are written in the MC's context, drawing from the MC's own experinces and life. What I'm trying to say is that 'Rap' and 'Rock' are two differet genres entirely, one is written predominently by people of european decent and the other is written by people of african. The race difference should be proof enough that the two musical styles have nothing in common, and should not be compared to one another.
So there you have it, the musical styles and genres are very different, but there is no question as to which musical genre has more personal levels of content.
In the end you can decide for yourself which you like better. After all, in the end it is just music. Just listen to what makes you feel good.
LOL