4 ms·

The criticism of rap in the middle of the piece seems both misplaced and undereducated. Some of the most musically complex instrumental music I've heard in the

by aston 17y ago

The criticism of rap in the middle of the piece seems both misplaced and undereducated. Some of the most musically complex instrumental music I've heard in the past few years has come out of the hip-hop world. Take a song like T-Pain's "Chopped and Screwed" [1] and try to pick it out on the piano -- it's got enough 7's,9's and alt chords to make any jazz listener happy. Rap is probably the only pop genre where fans pay enough attention to the background to like a song/artist for the lyrics (Nas) or the beat (Kanye) or both (Jay-Z). [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtP6arjZmzI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtP6arjZmzI

Radix 17y ago
I'm not convinced. The melody sounds simple and repetitious, and the verses, mostly sung by tPain, are similar. The rest is just a fleshing out of these ideas, though, there is rythm and lyrics. I think you'll disagree with me, but I believe that's more because you disagree with me and the authors definitions of music than because I'm wrong. Having said that, would you like to try to send me to some hip-hop I'll like. I've been looking, but when listening to music that has lyrics I have to listen to them, and I don't like these, or most rap for that matter. I've yet to find any particular artist I really like yet. Jack White puts it well. On whether he does or does not particularly like hip-hop: "Not particularly. I find OutKast and Wu-Tang Clan interesting. But I consider music to be storytelling, melody and rhythm. A lot of hip-hop has broken music down. There are no instruments and no songwriting. So you're left with just storytelling and rhythm. And the storytelling can be so braggadocious, you're just left with rhythm. I don't find much emotion in that."
- gruseom 17y ago
  I agree with Jack White. Thanks for the quote. Still, as a very-non-hip-hop-fan, I have to admit: there may be nothing in it that I can appreciate besides rhythm, but that rhythm is often amazing. It's like Monet said about Manet: "Only an eye, but what an eye!" (Actually, that's not true. The other aspect of hip-hop that I can appreciate is its linguistic sophistication. It's not exactly lyrical, though; it's more like verbal variation on the rhythm. So maybe it is the same thing after all.)

by aston 17y ago

Radix 17y ago

I'm not convinced. The melody sounds simple and repetitious, and the verses, mostly sung by tPain, are similar. The rest is just a fleshing out of these ideas, though, there is rythm and lyrics. I think you'll disagree with me, but I believe that's more because you disagree with me and the authors definitions of music than because I'm wrong. Having said that, would you like to try to send me to some hip-hop I'll like. I've been looking, but when listening to music that has lyrics I have to listen to them, and I don't like these, or most rap for that matter. I've yet to find any particular artist I really like yet. Jack White puts it well. On whether he does or does not particularly like hip-hop: "Not particularly. I find OutKast and Wu-Tang Clan interesting. But I consider music to be storytelling, melody and rhythm. A lot of hip-hop has broken music down. There are no instruments and no songwriting. So you're left with just storytelling and rhythm. And the storytelling can be so braggadocious, you're just left with rhythm. I don't find much emotion in that."

gruseom 17y ago
I agree with Jack White. Thanks for the quote. Still, as a very-non-hip-hop-fan, I have to admit: there may be nothing in it that I can appreciate besides rhythm, but that rhythm is often amazing. It's like Monet said about Manet: "Only an eye, but what an eye!" (Actually, that's not true. The other aspect of hip-hop that I can appreciate is its linguistic sophistication. It's not exactly lyrical, though; it's more like verbal variation on the rhythm. So maybe it is the same thing after all.)