[quote]SSC wrote:
It’s funny you should refute the intelligence claim. As far as rap itself is concerned, I’m not sure if there’s any direct correlation. There have been actual studies, though, that suggest that music on the radio is geared more towards the simple mind. Think, almost every song you hear in the mainstream follows the exact identical formula:
Intro/Verse
Chorus (Major scale shift)
Verse 2
Chorus 2 (Still Major, but segways into dramatic)
Bridge
Chorus
End
Through most of these songs, they follow the same type of pattern in terms of major and minor tonage. In other words, because most songs follow this pattern, it’s difficult to shift away from these set patterns. That’s why it’s seemless for many people to switch from Top 40 Pop to Top 40 Country, it really is all the same shit.
This goes two-fold in metal, actually. The bands I mentioned rely heavily on power chords and similar scale shifts. Power chords, if you didn’t know, are quite possibly the easiest thing to perform on a guitar.
Maybe I’m just a dick, arrogant or pretentious, but I can’t understand how someone can have at least average intelligence and listen to the bullshit that they mass-manufacture on the radio. I can respect that others may not judge the quality of music by its originality or complexity, because not everyone’s a musician or has a background in music.
Now I really have no clue how much you know about music or its theory, so I’ll take nothing for granted in this debate.
And thank you for using the label “backpack rap” numerous times in your post, it offers a lot of credibility.[/quote]
That’s not news. They will cater to the lowest common denominator, and that’s as much a function of record labels who have only wanted songs that run for 3:50.
Appealing to the most people means getting the most money, and that’s what the labels (and the artists) are after.
But I don’t know how you can bash bands like AC/DC who got famous using the same three chords- their shit sucks now, but their early stuff was great. It wasn’t crazy and inventive, it was just good music.
I don’t play an instrument, and I don’t know much about music theory. But just because something is complex doesn’t mean that it’s good.
For instance, I’m a writer. I’ve read all kinds of shit, from every genre, and all kinds of authors. There are some authors, like Foucalt or Kant, that have complex, extraordinary ideas… but good luck getting through it. No one wants to read shit that they can’t understand.
And then take a journalist like Hemingway, who expresses the same complex ideas in the simplest way possible in a manner that all people, from the bottom of the barrel to the cream of the crop, can understand. Does that mean that the people that like him aren’t as intelligent? Hardly.
As far as intelligence goes, I’m above average. By alot. And like I said, I take the music for what it is- music. If I hear the “Crank that” remix when I’m working out, it’s fine. The rhythm works well with boxing, there’s guitars that are loud, and I’m cool with it. But I’m not expecting anything other than something to listen to.
TI is the same way. Is it all meaningful stuff? No. But I am a published poet, and rhyming “revolutionary”, “extraordinary”, “legendary”, “hereditary” and all of the other rhymes and near rhymes he litters in his verse in “Swagga like us” is fucking hard. That shit doesn’t just come up from nowhere. So he’s more skilled than fuckin soulja boy, but not nearly as much as Nas or Kanye. Their raps are far more intelligent and deal with actual political problems, social issues, etc. while using fantastic metaphors, imagery, and all the rest.
What I’m trying to say is that unless you have a serious interest in music, you’re not going to care about the complexity and the makeup of the song- if it catches your ear and you dig it, then it’s all good. Intelligence has nothing to do with it… some of the most intelligent people in the world have absolutely no affinity for any type of music. Big fucking deal.
In short, yes, you’re an arrogant dick.
