Eyes on Final Fantasy Forums > General > The Lounge > do you consider rap to be music? IF YOU LIKE RAP DONT COME IN HERE

[lovehurts]

Originally Posted by Vikeve ^

Some people who dont have anything has rap its another way for them to escape their lives. I hate and thinks it funny when someone who has everything they need still thinks they understand wher some rapers are coming from and act like they belong on the street but there nothing but posers. For some its all theve got, for other its entertainment.

I think itrs music i love some songs but some suck others prevoke violence and some are just plane retarded. I heard a rap song about Area codes WTF!

I hate it when people stereotype people who like rap songs were all human beings so if you think listening to violins and watching ballet then your dead wrong. Some "Gangsta" people from my school get better grades than i do. Its just another form of music. Some groups at my school hate rap and love rock but still gets crapy grades. Its just a different group dont hate.

But i can understand my brother got involved in the popular rap group and did pot and got into huge trouple and that changed his life plus he became a selfish bastard as a result but theres good and bad for eveything. I just love to love.

Yes some of it is fun. I change my mind.

[Arrianna]

Let me start by saying I like Rap, or at least I did when it first came out. Most of the Rap these days is obscene drivel and not worth my time.

Rap is not music. It is an element of music. Combined with other elements it can be used to make music but by itself it is not music.

Music is "The art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre." To have music you need a composition (The combining of distinct parts or elements to form a whole) of these things. Just two will do. The only thing Rap has is rhythm. That's it. It doesn't even have timbre since that would require them to use more then one pitch. If you combine Rap with Timber and a Melody though.... then you have music and in the right hands it can be a wonderful experience.

Even so, Rap in it's essence is not music.

[lovehurts]

One more thing, just so I dont get hate mails and have to continously defend myself in wars...I have changed my mind some rap is pretty good. Im listening to it now.

[El Bandito]

To me, saying rap isn't music is like saying a drum isn't an instument. Just because there's not an abundance of notes doesn't mean that maintaining different rhythms and volumes takes talent and evokes emotion.

Rap isn't just talking. If it were that easy, everyone and their mothers would be spitting verses like it was nothing. To keep rhythm and pace to your lyrics takes just as much effort as singing. That's why, just like singing, anybody can attempt to rap, but it truly takes talent to keep with a beat and actually make songs that people would want to listen to.

Also, like different drums, the different tones and approaches of voices convey completely different feelings. Listening to the booming voice of Chuck D from Public Enemy demands your attention and perfectly conveys the politically-charged songs PE deals out. Whereas someone like Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest has a smooth, relaxed tone that matches the jazzy vibe that ATCQ songs offer. "Rap" is just as general a term as "Rock". Within each there are completely different subgenres and to not like one shouldn't lead to an entire dismissal and generalization of the main category.

The only thing Rap has is rhythm. That's it. It doesn't even have timbre since that would require them to use more then one pitch. If you combine Rap with Timber and a Melody though.... then you have music and in the right hands it can be a wonderful experience.

Exactly. And this is where DJs/Production comes in. A great MC is nothing without great production to back him up. Though since he mentioned the beats I assumed he was dismissing the final product.

I have changed my mind some rap is pretty good. Im listening to it now.

I'm glad you've found the right style to match your tastes. Hopefully you can find a bunch of artists you like. Happy hunting!

[Materia Hunter Yuffie]

No, I don't really consider it to be music.
Generally I don't like it, but there are a few that are okay.
Like Crazy in Love and Where is the love and a couple of other one's I can't remember the name of.

[Arrianna]

Originally Posted by El Bandito ^

To me, saying rap isn't music is like saying a drum isn't an instument. Just because there's not an abundance of notes doesn't mean that maintaining different rhythms and volumes takes talent and evokes emotion.

So close. Drums can make music but they are not music. If I took a single drum and beat on it with no change to the tone or timbre that would not be music, it would be a beat. Nothing more nothing less. When you combine it with something then you have music. Rap is like that drumbeat.

Originally Posted by El Bandito ^

The only thing Rap has is rhythm. That's it. It doesn't even have timbre since that would require them to use more then one pitch. If you combine Rap with Timber and a Melody though.... then you have music and in the right hands it can be a wonderful experience.

Exactly. And this is where DJs/Production comes in. A great MC is nothing without great production to back him up.

Exactly.

[farplaner]

Originally Posted by Arrianna ^

Let me start by saying I like Rap, or at least I did when it first came out. Most of the Rap these days is obscene drivel and not worth my time.

Rap is not music. It is an element of music. Combined with other elements it can be used to make music but by itself it is not music.

Music is "The art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre." To have music you need a composition (The combining of distinct parts or elements to form a whole) of these things. Just two will do. The only thing Rap has is rhythm. That's it. It doesn't even have timbre since that would require them to use more then one pitch. If you combine Rap with Timber and a Melody though.... then you have music and in the right hands it can be a wonderful experience.

Even so, Rap in it's essence is not music.

When, exactly, did rap first come out?

Rap is music. Granted, it's not a style I like to listen to.

Timbre describes the distinctiveness of a particular sound; it's what allows us to distinguish between a violin and a cymbal crash, for example. Pitch doesn't matter in determining timbre.

That definition of music is lame. "Continuous"? Silence is a part of music. "Unified" and "evocative" are relative terms. They change depending on where the music comes from- from what period, from what culture. Anyway, most rap incorporates other sounds: keyboards, vocal song, etc., etc.

That aside, I can't tolerate most rap...that is, most rap I hear (which is limited to whatever is on the radio or TV before I can hurriedly change the station.) Basically, it's just the mentality that's so often presented in rap that really annoys me. Also, mindless dance anthems like "Let ya' shoaaaalda' lean" are really irritating to me- not to mention sitting in my car (despite my windows being rolled up) hearing about how some gentleman spends his time "robbin' niggas, and beatin' ho's down" and what not.

I know there is plenty of rap out there that has nothing to do with all of this, but in general I prefer rock and classical, to name a couple of genres.

[Moon Rabbits]

Listen to Diamonds by Kanye West, if a piano solo isn't music then what is

Also, listen to We Run This by Missy Elliott, if the saxophones and bongos in the background aren't music then what is

Listen to Kick Push by Lupe Fiasco, there's a whole mix of instruments in that one /playing music/


EDIT :

When, exactly, did rap first come out?

I've been under the imperession that rap first gained popularity in the 80s.