A Dissertation On Why Hip-Hop Needs To Go

[Ogres Have Layers]

I realize that this is a subject that may be touchey for some, but it needs to be elaborated upon. As you may have gleamed from the title of this thread, I feel that the musical genre of hip-hop (also known as rap, dubstep, etc.) needs to go. I feel that the negative themes that are integral to the genre's sound make it unlistenable-to for the average person. Almost every song is about either "weed" (marijuana, which is illegal), murdering (which is illegal, not to mention immortal), and calls woman "ho's" (slang term short for "whores"). I live near a strip club, and every night I'm forced to hear the loud baselines coming from the building, and it keeps me wild awake (like wide awake, but you can never get to sleep). I feel that the Beatles should be the goal standard for music of all genres. They never swore, and never had gratuatous sexual themes in their music. Paul McCartney, Ringo Star, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney are the greatest songwriters of probably all time. It may sound corny, but I believe that I was born in the wrong generation when it comes to music - this generation's music is over-produced, and focuses too much on base. And the lyrics are awful (case in point: "Baby baby baby, oh"? What does that even mean?). Yes, I realize, to each's own, but sometimes a line has to be drawn. We don't need murder in our music. We don't need to draw undo attention to girls' butts. We just need to get rid of hip-hop and get back to plain old good music.

[PaperLuigi]

[Lizard Dude]

What the.

Grandpa, who taught you how to use the computer?

[Luigison]

Extensive revision required.

dis·ser·ta·tion
1. A long essay on a particular subject
2. A lengthy, formal treatise, especially one written by a candidate for the doctoral degree at a university

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE2Vdcv9Q_o" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE2Vdcv9Q_o</a>

[TheMightyThor]

murdering (which is illegal, not to mention immortal)

what
I
what

never had gratuatous sexual themes

They had a song whose lyrics consisted entirely of asking the listener if they would have sex with them in a road. (I guess they never technically specified that, but what else does "do it in the road" mean?)

[BriGuy92]

to each's own
...
undo attention

You're doing this intentionally, aren't you?

[Ym9iYnlzcTEzMzc equalsign]

but what else does "do it in the road" mean?

to play street hockey

[The Chef]

I like the Beastie Boys. :(

[Weegee]

diamonddozencopypasta.doc

[Ninjap00]

all of your opinions are wrong.

[Clowny]

No no no, you've got it all wrong.
Sure, some modern hip hop (and probably some old ones) have some bad references, but the instrumental stuff doesn't, and should stay.
I hate weed violence and disrespect of women, but this doesn't deserve to go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJzgs4J0W_M

[Ogres Have Layers]

I don't listen to memes unless they're Shrek memes.

What the.

Grandpa, who taught you how to use the computer?

See, I always get this same response whenever I state this opinion on the internet! Just because I like the greatest band of all time doesn't make me some sort of old person. Lizard Dude, maybe you should have a stop-and-think before you insult other peoples' ages.

diamonddozencopypasta.doc

I'm glad to see I'm the only person who has had trouble uploading files! They should fix that.

all of your opinions are wrong.

Don't troll me or try to, I'm untrollable.

No no no, you've got it all wrong.
Sure, some modern hip hop (and probably some old ones) have some bad references, but the instrumental stuff doesn't, and should stay.
I hate weed violence and disrespect of women, but this doesn't deserve to go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJzgs4J0W_M

I'm not even going to justify your crazy response by clicking that video!

[TheColonelKR]

I hear a lot of people accusing hip-hop for being the source for much of the racism, sexism, and misogyny in America, but having studied some classes in music history, I would say that hip-hop didn’t create the racism, sexism, and misogyny we have today; it reflects pre-existing racism, sexism, and misogyny.  Hip-hop is basically people who spring primarily from America’s urban poor darkly satirizing the evil things with which white, middle and upper class men are associated.  As a white, middle class guy, I don’t like being reduced to the stereotype of “What can I do with my crotch or my cash?”  All in all, hip-hop boils down to a matter of art imitating life and life imitating art.  If we improve our image as non-racists, non-sexists, and non-misogynists, hip-hop artists probably won’t satirize us middle classmen anymore.

[BriGuy92]

I don't listen to memes unless they're Shrek memes.

I'm glad to see I'm the only person who has had trouble uploading files! They should fix that.

10/10, would rage again.

I'm done. See you next mission.

[TheMightyThor]

I don't listen to memes unless they're Shrek memes.
[...]
I'm glad to see I'm the only person who has had trouble uploading files! They should fix that.
[...]
Don't troll me or try to, I'm untrollable.

This guy's better than Puqtd.

[The Chef]

Just because I like the greatest band of all time doesn't make me some sort of old person.

But everybody likes Queen.

[BP]

But are you unogreable

[Ultima Shadow]

But everybody likes Queen.

But everybody likes One Direction.

[PaperLuigi]

That reminds me. I was playing Xbox today and some guy sent me a message saying One Direction was better than Nirvana (my name is PennyroyalTea93). And then I remembered that Polly Hudson had written a satirical article about how One Direction are better than the Beatles.

[Luigison]

But everybody likes Queen.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESq27B9YI4Q" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESq27B9YI4Q</a>

[Ogres Have Layers]

10/10, would rage again.

I'm done. See you next mission.

Someone needs to chill down.

[Kimimaru]

The "Hip-Hop" you hear on the radio nowadays is more like Hip-Pop. Real Hip-Hop is long gone from mainstream attention, and what you hear is just a bunch of wannabes trying to get their 15 minutes of fame. There are still numerous underground artists keeping the real Hip-Hop alive.

Look at stuff from the 80s and early-mid 90s like A Tribe Called Quest, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Nas, and Rakim and you'll see what I mean. They talk about their struggles, political issues, REAL relationships, etc. There are even some rappers back in the day that straight up refused to curse in their songs (C.L. Smooth).

Not only was the song material better back then, but so were the artists. From Kool G Rap's insane multisyllabic rhyming ability to Rakim's smooth flow, the music was pleasing to the ears even if you weren't paying attention to the lyrics. Nowadays all you hear are fakes claiming to be gangsters and growing up in the ghetto when they experienced nothing of the sort. I fail to understand how their meaningless noise got so popular.

[TheColonelKR]

A brilliant analysis, Kimi.

I find that an intelligible (and often comedic) genre of rap for guys who like video games and other varieties of nerds would be Nerdcore rap.  Check out this video and see how many classic text-based game references you can spot (most of them are from Zork):

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nigRT2KmCE" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nigRT2KmCE</a>

[Kimimaru]

Also check out MegaRan (aka Random). He talks about playing video games and uses remixed video game music as his beats.

[BP]

Music of all eras is mostly garbage. And people liked the past's garbage as much as they like today's garbage. You only think past times had a higher percentage of great stuff than today because the garbage doesn't survive.

[The Chef]

^ My dad tells me the 70s had more obnoxious teen pop stars than any other era.

[ShadowBrain]

From what I can tell, he's not far off--in any case, have you seen how many novelty songs were coming out back then?

[Weegee]

^ My dad tells me the 70s had more obnoxious teen pop stars than any other era.

...Because he probably grew up in the 70s. Between about 1959 and 1963, the "Dark Ages of Rock 'n' Roll", most American pop acts fell into the "obnoxious teen pop idol" category. See: Paul Anka, Pat Boone, Ricky Nelson, Fabian, Frankie Avalon, Neil Sedaka, Bobby Vinton, Bobby Vee, Bobby Rydell, Tommy Roe, and Brian Hyland.

The 70s also had its fair share of bubblegum schlock, but at least there was better music to fall back on.

[Kimimaru]

There certainly was some bad music then, but the real difference is the only hip-hop is underground now unlike back then where plenty of quality artists got mainstream attention.

[Luigison]

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rog8ou-ZepE" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rog8ou-ZepE</a>

I just watched this for the first time though I heard the song and Can't Touch This a lot back then.  Now they seem like some sort of parody or something.  I remember listening to Ice, Hammer, etc with my custom built bass system in my Corolla station wagon for a couple of years in high school.  Man, I was such a Napoleon Dynamite back then. 

[Red Lewd Uganda]

I fail to understand how their meaningless noise got so popular.

"Nowadays, these kids just babble. That's all they do."

Let's see here...

Decimate the profit potential, destroy the business model, lower the barrier of entry, and then minimize what little disposable income adolescents might have once had.

Furthermore, part of what you're referring to is merely part of getting older. Less disposable time leads to less tolerance for anything less than great. Plus, people have a tendency to romanticize the past.

[Weegee]

I just watched this for the first time though I heard the song and Can't Touch This a lot back then.  Now they seem like some sort of parody or something.  I remember listening to Ice, Hammer, etc with my custom built bass system in my Corolla station wagon for a couple of years in high school.  Man, I was such a Napoleon Dynamite back then. 

To be fair, "Ice Ice Baby" can be considered a twisted perversion of "Under Pressure".

[The Chef]

That's because it is.

[Kimimaru]

"Nowadays, these kids just babble. That's all they do."

Let's see here...

Decimate the profit potential, destroy the business model, lower the barrier of entry, and then minimize what little disposable income adolescents might have once had.

Furthermore, part of what you're referring to is merely part of getting older. Less disposable time leads to less tolerance for anything less than great. Plus, people have a tendency to romanticize the past.

You're kind of right, but also think of the art itself. Do you hear anything meaningful in mainstream hip-hop nowadays, let alone a decent flow, solid (non-cheesy) rhymes, and actual skill at rapping? I wouldn't complain about it if the style was different and the rappers were actually good, but now people are just using it for their paychecks and 15 minutes of fame.

[TheColonelKR]

Here's somebody who may have the actual rapping skill you crave:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8-8PxNtrdw" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8-8PxNtrdw</a>

[Kimimaru]

More like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twcLQxPypkY :)

Fun fact: This song got the duo signed to a record label.

[Red Lewd Uganda]

You're kind of right, but also think of the art itself. Do you hear anything meaningful in mainstream hip-hop nowadays, let alone a decent flow, solid (non-cheesy) rhymes, and actual skill at rapping? I wouldn't complain about it if the style was different and the rappers were actually good, but now people are just using it for their paychecks and 15 minutes of fame.

Well, I'm glad you kind of understand, but I say again, this time perhaps more bluntly. Less motivation for quality through competition leads to less competition leads to lower quality. Not to say that there aren't those out there doing it as a labor of love. I'm sure there are, but it can very hard to see the stars at night through all that light pollution.