Can Rap really be considered a style of music?

Question

How can a "style of music" that relies (For the most part) on crude samplings, Stays in one tempo, and uses bass and drums above all other instruments be considered a style of music? To say that rap is music is like saying that a drum roll or a power chord is music;It's too one dimensional.A revolutionary vocal technique that can be used to compliment legitamit forms of music? Yes.A form of urban street poetry, and thus, a valid artform? most certainly. But music? I hightly doubt it..............Your thoughts please.

Loving resistance and D money have both made a very lucid counterpoint in defense of Rap.I do believe that music does in fact follow a specific form and IS mathematical in some respects.Rhythm,orchestration, melody, harmony-these things should be present in order for a genre to be classified music.Nevertheless, I would be willing to listen to underground rap artists that actually play their own instruments (Well, along WITH sampling as I am a fan of Industrial Metal and some electronica-must be fair)If either of you have some suggestions.

Answer 1

Those people who support the narrow view that one music form is better than the other by saying things like "retards attempting poetry" and "rap will die" lack a fundamental understanding of music as a whole and the role it plays in society.

As one critic put it "hip hop is a revolution of sound - not music" and as a sound platform it stands hand in hand with the post-punk decontructionist experimental period of 1978 - 1984.

Any music or art form does not exist in a vacuum. Hip Hop came about as a fusion of ideas taken from various strands of music and art, much in the same way rock and roll came about and much in the same way every other music or art form has come about.

Music and art almost always build on a template produced by a previous generation, either as backlash against it or as a continuation of it. Hip Hop has been around since as far back as the early 70's and based on your question music forms like the Oi! and hardcore movements should also not exist. So too music movements like the minimalist and experimental artists of the late 60's to 70's.

We all fight about music. We argue, discuss, rant and definitely rage. We love our music. Discussions from different points of view have led to (sometimes anyway), new genres springing up and coming to the fore. But, when healthy music discussion turns to personal attack there is a problem.

Quarreling means trying to show that the other person is in the wrong. Moreover, there would be no sense in trying to do that unless you and that person had some sort of agreement as to what Right and Wrong music forms are. This means appealing to some kind of standard of behavior, which you expect the other person to know about.

Blind faith and following of an idea, regardless of whether it is right or wrong, always leads the practitioner of the aforementioned into believing it is a universal truth. In some cases, it is just that, a universal truth but, in other cases, it is not a truth but an opinion and, opinions will differ from person to person. Taste and opinion are things, which change all the time as we as human beings have constant changes in taste across the board – throughout our lives.

Now hating a different genre of music is common practice amongst us all. I understand this, after all, there are quite a few genres floating around which I am not fond of at all. I don’t think this is behaviour we should be practicing unless the said person has done something personal and morally reprehensible to you – like sleeping with your girlfriend or killing your dog. But if we practice this behaviour merely because someone does something artistically different from you and your tastes it doesn’t make sense and goes against the foundation of freedom the artistic music movement was initially based upon. Now some of you might argue that you do so for the love of this movement – a concept I very well understand but some of you do so merely to succor your ego. If you are doing so for the former reason, it is understandable and even acceptable to a point but, unfortunately, not many of us can separate our egos from the equation. That is how someone who plays music we do not like all of a sudden becomes hated – as if the music he plays is somehow a description of his character and that the said person is somehow devoid of integrity.

You might not like the music someone plays – fair point, we all have different tastes. However, because someone plays music you don’t like does that make him a bad person? After all, the music spectrum is made up of numerous genres (with more being invented along the way) - not just one. A considerable danger to the wellbeing of the arts and music movement is when people take up their own personal opinions regarding genres and set it up as a thing/genre everybody ought to follow at all costs and that everything that differs from what they like is therefore wrong purely because it does not conform to what they like.

This is not mathematics – there is no right or wrong, only varying opinions. Anything of an artistic nature has never been subjected to the rules and rigors of exact science purely because, in most cases, it’s a very personal thing and springs from the artist’s own experiences and influences and interpretation thereof – things which will always differ from person to person. No one’s influences will always be identical to another’s. If there were exacting unbending rules and regulations laid down in the fabric of the universe governing “right” and “wrong” forms of music that stated these are the only forms of music allowed to exist then you would have an excuse for saying someone is playing the wrong music but, this is not so.

Answer 2

I think that there really needs to be a seperation as to the diffrent kinds of rap thats out there now. A group like The Roots who is a live band & can put on a great live show is not music because they are rappers? It's others that use actual musicians on their albums & shows so it's not really fair to say that rap isn't music. So if a person samples jazz, then it's not music because it's a sample?

Now, on the other hand, with this mindless stupid garbage that's getting played on the radio right now (Young Jeezy, Lil Jon, D4L) i can understand why people can make this argument. I'm a rap listener & this stuff is so terrible that it's HARD to make a valid argument as to why this is music. Some make music, some make stuff from "crude samplings" & repetitive notes. But the real music is getting buried by the garbage.

Answer 3

Rap is not music, it's terrible and when you've heard one you've heard them all. The emphasis on a repetitive, computer generated 'tune' and drumbeat is not creative and the 'singers' do not sing, they recite very bad poetry. Personally I think all 'Rap' should be consigned to the dustbin where it belongs.

Answer 4

it is obvious that everyone elses opinion is WACK bewcause rap is a style of music and havent you ever wondered why rappers are so rich. its because people like it and pay money to hear what these other fags call cra@p...

Answer 5

well considering that it is considered a style of music there really isn't much else we could call it other than what it is

Answer 6

It could be...what else would Snoop Dogg do?...sing opera?

Answer 7

If you can dance to it its music.

Answer 8

It's not music. It's ****.

Answer 9

of course not
its crap

Answer 10

its not RAP its CR@P!