Re: OT: An A Legend Is Gone
 

I must say that I disagree. The majority of rap music that I have listened to, and that I have seen the music videos for (which I admit, is very few, but still more than I would have liked), is definitely not art.

Anything that predominantly talks about "nig****, *****es and hoes", and which, in their videos, shows nothing but scantily clad women dancing provocatively can't be art, in my definition of the word.

Re: OT: An A Legend Is Gone
 

It is art, it's just art about *****, *****es and Hoes(not very apealing, and possibly destructive in some senses and very simple or shallow but art none the less).

Also it seems to be there are certain sub genre's within rap depending on the type of beat, lyrics and style of the atists just like with rock(me, I want to punch evanessense, 30 seconds to mars, avril and most of that 'i'm angsty because my hair is black and I wear earrings where they don't go and have a pale powder white complection' genre in the throat, but that doesn't mean I can't rock to Metallica or Sponge if I want to).

I don't have much experience with rap, it's like land mines in CD format, mostly certain catchy songs from tv shows or videos I like, stuff I know is good going in, but there is some good, fun stuff out there. I do like Cee Lo, the Danger Doom album, Gnarles Barkley, and some of the free stuff they used to post on adultswim.com(some is catchy, some is funny, other stuff is just good poetryand it was free), but not much of it focuses on the *****es and hoes aspect. The N word however seems to be a staple though, hard but not impossible to get away from, but then most rock at one point or another makes refference to motherf***ers, s**t, drugs, and probably degraded women as much as or more then rap did, so you can accept some vulgarity as a part of the lyrical content, approaching it with a sense of humor or intellectually or go listed to christian rock. I don't get the double standard or why it is somehow acceptable when said with the A instead of the er at the end or how it became some sort of term of empowrment[reminds me of how the brittney/paris/lohan generation of girls is somehow sexually 'empowered' by being ****teases wearing ****ty outfits with 'spooge bucket' printed on their too tight short skirts, but thats a paradox for a whole nother topic...] , but however or whatever it has lead to some very interesting if not vulgar works. Give Cee Lo green and His Perfect Imperfections a spin, it's the one that won me over, n-word and all, not much of the *****/hoe references and much of it seems to defy the genre.

As for James Brown, he sang, he danced, he innovated, he entertained, he owned, and I kinda wish some ofthe artists nowdays would get some more "influence" from him then they currently seem to. Here's to the Old School....

Re: OT: An A Legend Is Gone
 

There are several really good RAP based songs available that I enjoy listening too. While I am not at all into the ever increasing racist anti-white RAP, many songs from earlier times do appeal to me.

Is it art, well its an art form of music to be sure, but art is often held in the eye of the beholders so I leave it to each person to make up his or her own mind.

95% of RAP is crap. But that 5% that remains is usually very good music.

Re: OT: An A Legend Is Gone
 

Kinda on topic, Is it me or did we seem to lose alot more famous people this year then in the previous few years?

Re: OT: An A Legend Is Gone
 

We need a dead pool for next year.

Re: OT: An A Legend Is Gone
 

Well at least Saddam is dead too Sorry but that bastard deserved worse

Re: OT: An A Legend Is Gone
 

I am a firm believer in the idea that celebrities die in threes. If a famous person dies I fully expect two more in a short time. So James Brown dies (James Brown is dead. Isn't that the lyrics to some song I hear occasioanlly?). Then Gerald Ford died, so I wondered who next? I guess if they are hung it still counts, so I guess famous people are safe for a little while.

Re: OT: An A Legend Is Gone
 

We lost President Ford, wasn't that number 2?

Re: OT: An A Legend Is Gone
 

Re: OT: An A Legend Is Gone
 

There's nothing wrong with rap - the problem is the rappers. How about some rap that attacks the racism, sexism, materialism and ignorance of the rest of the genre?

Read some of these lyrics:
http://www.completealbumlyrics.com/s...Miss+Dynamite/
and maybe pick up some of the songs. "It takes more" is probably her biggest hit yet, but I always liked "put him out."

Or, for something a little more light-hearted, look up the Goldie Lookin Chain. They are crude, unsophisticated, about as subtle as a housebrick but they are refreshingly silly, occasionally hilarious and they do like to take the piss out of many rap conventions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldie_Lookin'_Chain

Also, although I disagree with a lot of his lyrics, I find it impossible not to respect Eminem- When he really lets go, his talent with words and rhythm is nothing short of breathtaking.