I used to think that rap was anything with harder beats, and hip-hop was anything with lighter ones. But now I think that’s all bullshit.
If you’re going to draw a line, hip-hop could be called more of a culture, the beat-boxing, graffiti(ing?), block party culture, which started with the very firsts, DJ Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Lost Poets, Afrika Bambaata, and died out with the huge upsurgence of gangsta rap in the early 90’s with Snoop and Dre. It’s back now, on a smaller scale, with Blackalicious, Jurassic 5, Mos Def, Common, and those guys.
But as a genre of music, if you’ve got bass and drum heavy sampled beats behind someone rapping, it’s all one and the same. I think the first ever used term for it was rap, but I like to call it hip-hop. Either way, the music is the same, the culture, maybe that’s a bit different.
Think of this. Public Enemy were definitely hardcore rappers. But are they hip-hop, or rap?[/quote]
You bring up some good points and i’m not really going to argue against you. I don’t know how to classify rap vs. hip-hop really.
[quote]PGA200X wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Justin Timberlake may come across as “pop” as far as his style, but the guy can sing and people would be lying to say otherwise. Some of those songs on his solo album sounded like what Micheal Jasckson might sound like if he hadn’t become an alien. However, even with Timberland backing him I think most would still classify his music as “pop” just because of his personal image.
I’ve actually played with him on Xbox Live. He’s a cool cat. He’s definitely into the hip-hop culture. I wouldnt classify him as a wannabe. Maybe just a tad but he can definitely pass in the hip hop culture. He can sing his ass off there is no doubt about that.[/quote]
[quote]Kuz wrote:
PGA200X wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Justin Timberlake may come across as “pop” as far as his style, but the guy can sing and people would be lying to say otherwise. Some of those songs on his solo album sounded like what Micheal Jasckson might sound like if he hadn’t become an alien. However, even with Timberland backing him I think most would still classify his music as “pop” just because of his personal image.
I’ve actually played with him on Xbox Live. He’s a cool cat. He’s definitely into the hip-hop culture. I wouldnt classify him as a wannabe. Maybe just a tad but he can definitely pass in the hip hop culture. He can sing his ass off there is no doubt about that.
Get out! How in the world did that come about?[/quote]
He just joined a game I was playing. This was back during the beta testing days of Live. He was a tester also.
[quote]blackartsviper wrote:
OK I’m going to drop knowledge and end this confusion of what is Hip HOP. Rap is Hip Hop Music-the reason why it was called Hip Hop Muisc is because it emerged from the hip hop culture of 1970’s South Bronx. Thus rapping was called Hip Hop. As we all know there are four core elements of Hip Hop:
B-Boy Dancing
Mcing/Rapping
Graffiti
Djing
However when Hip Hop Music emerged into the mainstream culture it was quickly labelled as only-Rap Music and Hip Hop Music was co-opted and confused for R&B music. That is why you have people calling groups like Destiny’s Child and TLC as Hip Hop Groups even though they are clearly not. Same thing happened with B-Boy Dancing (when it was labelled as Break Dancing). The Hip Hop as R&B label is mostly a result of the media’s willingness to brand something (much like when Seattle Punk Rock was labelled as “Grunge Music”).
However, in recent years certain cats have started to use the Rap and Hip Hop labels to differentiate between the commercialization of the music and culture. That is why you have cats calling the shucking and jiving that we see on the radio as “Rap Music”. It represents the labelling by corporate media and the mainstream media. While we hear dudes bragging about lyricists such as Doom, Common, or Mos Def as “Hip Hop artists”, because they represent essence of the having fun positivity of the origins of the culture. [/quote]
Thanks, that helped clear somethings up for me. Appreciate it.
Anyone ever listen to Camp Lo? Uptown Saturday Night was a pretty good album.
[quote]blackartsviper wrote:
OK I’m going to drop knowledge and end this confusion of what is Hip HOP. Rap is Hip Hop Music-the reason why it was called Hip Hop Muisc is because it emerged from the hip hop culture of 1970’s South Bronx. Thus rapping was called Hip Hop. As we all know there are four core elements of Hip Hop:
B-Boy Dancing
Mcing/Rapping
Graffiti
Djing
However when Hip Hop Music emerged into the mainstream culture it was quickly labelled as only-Rap Music and Hip Hop Music was co-opted and confused for R&B music. That is why you have people calling groups like Destiny’s Child and TLC as Hip Hop Groups even though they are clearly not. Same thing happened with B-Boy Dancing (when it was labelled as Break Dancing). The Hip Hop as R&B label is mostly a result of the media’s willingness to brand something (much like when Seattle Punk Rock was labelled as “Grunge Music”).
However, in recent years certain cats have started to use the Rap and Hip Hop labels to differentiate between the commercialization of the music and culture. That is why you have cats calling the shucking and jiving that we see on the radio as “Rap Music”. It represents the labelling by corporate media and the mainstream media. While we hear dudes bragging about lyricists such as Doom, Common, or Mos Def as “Hip Hop artists”, because they represent essence of the having fun positivity of the origins of the culture. [/quote]
solid post!
[quote]dannyrat wrote:
Cram you’re quote is one man army, off honest expression, not aml
Has no-one else noticed joss stones’ voice is completely contrived, also. [/quote]
my bad
it was off a Binary Star album I burned from a friend
I assumed it was AML…that track is one of my favorites
[quote]blackartsviper wrote:
I can’t front-I’m feeling that Danger Doom album. I bought it a month ago because my friend told me it was fire. I’m laughing my ass off at some of MF Doom’s rhymes. If you’ve listened to the album you KNOW what I’m talking about-
“Hey If I may interject/ rap these days is like a pain up in the neck/ Cornier and phonier than a play fight/ take two a these and don’t phone me on the late night.”
I laughed for like a minute when I first heard that line. I don’t know how he thinks of these rhymes, but I love it.
[/quote]
Danger Doom is one of his finest. You should really check out his MF Doom stuff. “Rhymes like Dimes” and “Question Mark” are awesome tracks.
His first album as Viktor Vaughn is dark, delicious and deleriously clever.
The album is called “Vaudeville Villain” and is pure genius!
Good to see people recognizing some of the lesser-known talent.
(Although I think Doom is starting to break through a little more)
[quote]dannyrat wrote:
I see your point prof x. Thing is, where she’s from, they talk like the wurzels, and she sings like that. Just an observation [/quote]
I know what you mean. But there have been country music singers who stuttered to the point of confusion who could sing without difficulty. Seal doesn’t have an accent when singing. Accents aren’t always apparent when someone is holding notes out. I personally am amazed a girl that young sounds anything like that. Most of my patients (who don’t have a clue) think it is Aretha Franklin when she comes on.
[quote]malonetd wrote:
Professor X wrote:
If she can really sing she can. Some of Joss Stone’s stuff could possibly classify as Hip Hop or at least new soul.
Funny, she was the first person to come to my mind when that question was asked.[/quote]
The lady ain’t hip hop. At her best, the lady is old-school soul in a Janis Joplin vein. But hip hip she is not.
I haven’t listened in a while (not enough time), but picked up some new shit which is hot:
Big Pooh (part of the backpack crew)
Foreign Exchange (honestly one of the best albums i’ve ever heard)
Anything by MadVillain/MF Doom (some of the most novel beats i’ve heard)
[quote]Professor X wrote:
dannyrat wrote:
Cram you’re quote is one man army, off honest expression, not aml
Has no-one else noticed joss stones’ voice is completely contrived, also.
That depends on what you mean by “contrived”. She clearly bases her sound on earlier 60’s artists. The question is, who doesn’t?[/quote]
She has a truly amazing voice but at the moment is being way over-produced by those execs that want to market her as something a bit more pop. Hopefully as she gets older she’ll gain some autonomy and the chance the deliver the ‘raw’ album that could be the making of her.
To be honest, I’ve got no interest in someone showing me how much more money he’s got than me and that they’re about to fuck all the best looking women on the planet that I will never meet. It’s bad enough in real life that I face to face that stark reality!
That is pretty much what modern rap is for the most part to me. Puff Daddy/P Diddy/Puffy/Sean Combs/Talentless prick living off your dead friend - has a lot to answer for.
In the same way innovative heartfelt angsty alternative rock of the early 90s has been twisted into the fist-clenchy lighter-waving commercial stadium rock of Nickelback and those godawful c***s Evanescence.
Luckily, if you look hard enough you can still find artists of all genres that are keeping it real, rather than just being a triumph of shiny MTV videos over substance.
[quote]1-packlondoner wrote:
To be honest, I’ve got no interest in someone showing me how much more money he’s got than me and that they’re about to fuck all the best looking women on the planet that I will never meet. It’s bad enough in real life that I face to face that stark reality!
That is pretty much what modern rap is for the most part to me. Puff Daddy/P Diddy/Puffy/Sean Combs/Talentless prick living off your dead friend - has a lot to answer for.
In the same way innovative heartfelt angsty alternative rock of the early 90s has been twisted into the fist-clenchy lighter-waving commercial stadium rock of Nickelback and those godawful c***s Evanescence.
Luckily, if you look hard enough you can still find artists of all genres that are keeping it real, rather than just being a triumph of shiny MTV videos over substance.[/quote]
Packlondoner- If you’re having a hard time finding quality Hip Hop I suggest you visit a hip hop website like HIPHOPSITE.com or Hip Hop DX or SOHH. I’m also getting fed up with this lazy bullshit on the radio-I hate say this, but if Public Enemy came out now, there is now way they’re getting any spin on the radio. SAD BUT TRUE!
