You know why I never could get into rap music? Being the delicate flower that I am (wink wink), rap music was always too harsh for me. When I was growing up, all the stuff I used to hear from the rap artists who were out at the time, like KRS-1, NWA, Wu-Tang, Dr. Dre, Tupac, Biggie, Nas, NWA, Snoop, Ice-T, Eazy-E, Public Enemy, etc., was always full of so much violence, cursing, hatred, and disrespect. I'm sure not everything that these artists put out there was like that, but they really used to pull my mood down. Their stuff was so dark! Why would I want to play a CD (tape cassette) full of gun shots, foul language, and women-hatred? No wonder my parents didn't allow me to buy their merchandise. I wouldn't want that mess in my house either! It was too much.
All of that leads me to say, "Pardon me.... Little Brother?.... Where have you been all my life?"
Who would have thought that I could enjoy hip hop as much as I do with Little Brother in my ear. I don't mean, It's Hot, or That's Fire, or That Joint Is Viscious types of sentiments. I mean true enjoyment which goes 10 feet deeper. I feel like I can breathe!
My preference of LB albums
1. The Listening
2. The Minstrel Show
3. The Chittlin Curcuit
4. Connected - The Foreign Exchange (Phonte and Nicolay)
(Sleepers will be added/inserted once I take a listen)
To be honest, I used to feel bad for not liking rap music. I felt like I was turning my back on black culture. I felt like I was the only one who couldn't feel the gangsta rap revolution that seemed to be taking over.
Question: What's the difference between rap and hip-hop? I feel like I know but maybe someone who's a little more versed can shed some insight according to their opinions and experiences.
When I think of hip hop, I think of Mos Def, LB, Talib, Slum Village...
When I think of rap, I think the rap artists of G-Unit, Disturbing the Peace, Flipmode Squad...
Is this right? Are Jay-Z, Kanye, Memph, etc. hip hop? I would like to say yes, but not the same type of hip hop as what I've listed above. I guess hip hop needs two categories. "Commercial Hip Hop" and "Real Hip Hop". Or is this whole thing just one big happy family? They all rhyme...so they're all rappers....which means it's all classified as rap...? I mean...technically that's correct. Techinally hip hop is just the culture. But what is it to us?
Comment/Respond Please.
Reference Information:
I just looked up the definition of rap - to utter sharply or vigorously, to critize sharply, to arrest detain or sentence for a crime, a quick smart or light blow.
The dictionary defines rap music like this:
a style of popular music, developed by disc jockeys and urban blacks in the late 1970s, in which an insistent, recurring beat pattern provides the background and counterpoint for rapid, slangy, and often boastful rhyming patter glibly intoned by a vocalist or vocalists.
According to the dictionary, Hip Hop is just a subculture and not a genre of music - the popular subculture of big-city teenagers, which includes rap music, break dancing, and graffiti art.
3 comments:
I don't even think you can simplify it that easily because you have true hip hop sounding stuff that still talks about killing, disrespecting women, etc. but in a more tactful way. It's too diverse, in my opinion, to simplify it. Even with one artist, things switch up. 2Pac's a good example. "Dear Mama"/"I Get Around"?
Peace,
Kep.
I ask the same question myself.
However, I do know garbage when I hear it.
I would consider rap music to be more like songs by: Ying Yang Twins, 50 cents Young Joc, etc.
I would consider hip hop music to be more like songs by: Tupac, Nas, Jay Z, BIG, The Roots, Common, etc.
But to add to Kep’s comment even those two Tupac songs had substance. Men will always talk about men "stuff". The contrast would have been worst had Tupac created a song like “salt shaker” and then “Dear Mama”
Even "how do you want it", wasn't as simple as "I know you see it".
Different people look at the question differently. I think the easiest way to look at it is how you stated it at the end. It's all hip-hop culture just different aspect of that and what the artists are doing is rapping over beats so it's all rap music. People try to make a difference in hip-hop music and rap music because they don't want to categorize Talib with Jay-z or LB with G-Unit but when it comes down to it they are all making rap music which is an expression of their hip-hop culture. I think the commercial artist versus the non-commercial artist is ridiculous also. Talib Kweli said how can one of us be commercial and not the other if we are all selling records in the same store trying to make money...I was so happy when he said that. Pretty much quelled that argument for me.
Hope this helps some. Glad that you finally got the LB stuff...make sure you share it with someone who doesn't know about them. They have another mixtape coming out in the fall and an album next year too.
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