Is it a law for almost ALL Rap/R & B artists...

[Guest Downhome]

I'm just currious as to where this started, and why it is. Can so many of them not come up with ANYTHING other than their own life, that they are foced to just rap it all of the time? Have it be Eminem, J-Jo, P. Diddy, Limp, or WHOEVER THE HELL, it seems like they all do it. Am I the only one irked by this, or am I simply alone?

 

If anyone knows, can you please explain this to me? So many are doing it now, I'm just waiting for more rock/country/etc... singers to start doing this.

 

Sincerely,

...Downhome...

[Guest Incandenza]

It sounds as if you're judging rap based on whatever crap they play on the radio/MTV/etc. Groups/rappers like the Roots and El-P deal with a wide variety of issues, little of which (if any) deal with their own alleged greatness.

[Guest IDrinkRatsMilk]

Yeah, there's lots of good rappers out there, but the pop ones all do that. I once decided that "Gay With Myself" would be the perfect name for a rap album.

[Guest Downhome]

It sounds as if you're judging rap based on whatever crap they play on the radio/MTV/etc. Groups/rappers like the Roots and El-P deal with a wide variety of issues, little of which (if any) deal with their own alleged greatness.

I have nothing else to talk about, so either stay on topic or not. I only know what's on the radio, because I am not that big of a fan of the music. Don't fault me for only knowing that.

[Guest IDrinkRatsMilk]

Attempting to go a bit deeper here...

Rap is one of the most strongly cultural forms of music out there, perhaps the most so since reggae. It's a testament to the experience of urban poverty. If you looks back to rap's origins in the early 80s, it was largely party music in the spirit of the funk of the 70s, which was it's predecesor. It served as a form of escape of the harsh realities of ghetto life. In the late 80s and early 90s, gangsta rap hit the scene, which was a celebration of those same harsh realities. It was a more honest form of rap, with songs about things the performers saw every day. It was shortly after this that rap exploded commercially. If you look at rap today, it's all money and bitches. Still things the performers see every day, except now they're living a different lifestyle. Now they're rich. So, after wallowing in urban depravity for close to two decades, today's rapper is full of pride, for having crossed over that. They can get the cars, and the women and all that stuff now. So they rap about it. They rap about themselves because that's the most important aspect of their everyday experience. If nothing else, rap is a very honest form of music.

Of course, you have to take into account all of the rip offs, posers, and hangers on that sprung up every step of the way.

That's my opinion anyway.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

I have nothing else to talk about, so either stay on topic or not. I only know what's on the radio, because I am not that big of a fan of the music. Don't fault me for only knowing that.

Well, in answer to your question then, no, it's not law. It's just practice.

 

Lots of rappers do write actual songs. You don't see it as much in what makes it to the charts, because I think in rap music moreso than in any other genre short of straight electronic, the beat and the overall sound of the song takes precedence over what's actually being said. Rap began as party music and it still has a lot of that, even in the more gangsta stuff you hear in the forms of Jay-Z or any other really successful commercial MC. In a lot of cases, it doesn't matter to a lot of buyers what the rapper is saying, as long as it sounds cool while he says it.

 

Nas is a great example of a really successful rapper who isn't entirely "I'm the best, look at my gold." He's definitely got a fair share of that, but even some of his bigger singles have been more along the lines of poetry and idea music. "One Mic," the biggest radio hit off of "Stillmatic," was actually a pretty damn solid piece of existential yearning. There's a fair share of rap out there that's more like this; it might seem like boasting about cars and dollars and cents, but there's often a lot more beneath the surface.

 

And sometimes, there's shit like "Back That Ass Up" that is absolutely as you contend.

[Guest ant_7000]

Attempting to go a bit deeper here...

Rap is one of the most strongly cultural forms of music out there, perhaps the most so since reggae. It's a testament to the experience of urban poverty. If you looks back to rap's origins in the early 80s, it was largely party music in the spirit of the funk of the 70s, which was it's predecesor. It served as a form of escape of the harsh realities of ghetto life. In the late 80s and early 90s, gangsta rap hit the scene, which was a celebration of those same harsh realities. It was a more honest form of rap, with songs about things the performers saw every day. It was shortly after this that rap exploded commercially. If you look at rap today, it's all money and bitches. Still things the performers see every day, except now they're living a different lifestyle. Now they're rich. So, after wallowing in urban depravity for close to two decades, today's rapper is full of pride, for having crossed over that. They can get the cars, and the women and all that stuff now. So they rap about it. They rap about themselves because that's the most important aspect of their everyday experience. If nothing else, rap is a very honest form of music.

Of course, you have to take into account all of the rip offs, posers, and hangers on that sprung up every step of the way.

That's my opinion anyway.

I completely agree with your comment, rap is the honest form of music IMO. Rappers talk about hardships that the audience can relate to. But thats just a part of rap, theres different styles of rap:

 

Battling: its all about who's the best as far lyricism goes. Think of it as Battle of the bands in Rock.

 

Consicous: Rappers that talk about social issues about everything and how it effects everyone. Example: The Roots, Mos Def, and Talib Kweli

 

Gopsel Rap: about the Spritual and some Hardships and how they overcame that.

 

Party/Mainstream Rap: Original form of rap, songs are just about having good time Example: Nelly, LiL Jon and the Eastside Boys and The Bling Bling stuff

 

Gangsta/Hardcore Rap: This to me is reality rap right here

 

What makes a good Rapper to me is:

 

Storytelling

Lyricism

Wordplay

Punchlines

Vocablury sp?

 

But I think Mainstream and Label Execs are killing rap and that pissing me off, because one rapper comes out with a hot style then they want rappers sound like that when its not the rappers style. Thats why the Mos Def's and the Common's don't get the attention that the Ja Gay Rule's and the Nelly's get eventhough they are better then them.