why is modern day rap so popular?

[Kurohana-Aiko]

Can't we argue the same for most music?

Country listeners tend to wear cowboy hats or boots.
Emo kids dress, well, emo.
Gothic and metal tend to have black clothing on.
Disco gives people really big hair.

Sure it's stereotypical, but the argument isn't any different. Music has a tremendous impact on a person's individuality. Clothing is often an exterior expression of what comes through the ears.

Personally, I don't like rap. It's become a mainstream phenonenon and I'd rather listen to anything else. But why single out rap?

Yeah, Rap isn't the only thing that effects people in that way, but (next to 'emo'-I mean the people that actually call themselves emo & flaunt self-destruction that they did because they're SOO deep and hard to see through) I'd have to say it is in my opinion, the worst effect possible. Just because the mainstream rap listeners anyway, all become brain-dead, wannabe stereotypical African Americans (the white listeners anyway). I say stereotypical, only because some people tend to think the dumb mainstream hip-hop is a reflection of their culture as a whole and it's not.

Anyway, I just wanted to say something else to go with the 'music preference effects personality and clique' thing. I somewhat have the 'emo look' and yet I tend to listen to stuff like Soundgarden, RHCP, Primus, etc. (and of course, the actual 'emo bands' although they don't resemble the original 'emo music' at all).

I'm waiting for a musical interest stereotype discussion or something along those lines, but then again I suppose a thread about modern rap was born to become something close to that...lol.

[dlisapussy]

Modern day idiots...





duh.


I respect rap, though. And I actually listen to GOOD RAP. You should find some.


Disco gives people really big hair.
I'm pretty sure that one is more like a fact than a stereotype...

[Kurohana-Aiko]

Modern day idiots...





duh.


I respect rap, though. And I actually listen to GOOD RAP. You should find some.


Disco gives people really big hair.
I'm pretty sure that one is more like a fact than a stereotype...

The closest thing to actual rap I have enjoyed is Immortal Technique. That's about it.

[xenopherus]

I respect rap, though. And I actually listen to GOOD RAP. You should find some.

Good rap? ...No such thing. Rap never should have progressed beyond the silly songs of the 80's like Genius Of Love by The Tom Tom Club, or any song by the Fat Boys.

[Seattle_Sound]

Good rap? ...No such thing. Rap never should have progressed beyond the silly songs of the 80's like Genius Of Love by The Tom Tom Club, or any song by the Fat Boys.

Well there used to be good rap. It was called Public Enemy, they actually pushed a message and were political activist. Kinda like the REM of rap. Too bad REM influenced people and Public Enemy was soon replaced by Snoop Dogg. Nowadays rap is just a big crapfest. Soulja Boy must be in the top 10 worst songs ever. GRUNGE REVOLUTION!!!!!

[rebelace]

I liked rap way back in the day when it had actual lyrics but now I hate it. It is complete crap and btw it was said earlier that the rap on mtv was stupid. Well what mtv are you watching because I haven't seen a music video on there in I dont know how long.

My younger sister likes to listen to all that new crap (get it crap /corny joke) and I always tell her to turn it off and listen to something with some actual depth instead of feeding the stupid idiot market. I mean seriously if I had no self respect and all I wanted was money and I knew I could just make a beat and repeat any stupid thing (that chicken noodle soup song for example) I wanted and be a millionaire I would do it. So I don't really blame the rappers I blame the stupid kids who think they are cool or thugs because they listen to it.

[WiredRacing]

Interesting.

I'm not sure what defines "Modern" rap. But I'm guessing it's the **** I *don't* listen to these days. Guys like Kanye West, Diddy, Jay-Z, etc. (and they're the "good" ones right now).

Yeah I agree with an earlier post that this is the symptom of an established genre that's now going through growing pains. The irony now is that a lot of these rappers really are hard-core *******s when 10-15 years ago the guys talking hard, were sporting college degrees (did you know Ice Cube has an architectural degree?) Ice-T today says a dream day is laying in bed watching TiVo with the wife. So yeah... it's the group of *******s 10 years ago that misinterpreted what rap was about, the corporations got a hold of it and commercialized the **** out of it and now it's watered down. As a result the music is soulless, as are a lot of the "artists".

I will say though, DoggyStyle is one of the best hip-hop albums of the past 15 years (which came out... almost 15 years ago), though it would seem a lot of that is due to Dr Dre, who's been on the scene for almost 25 years. Not sure I would call G-Funk part of the "modern rap".

[battle_axe_of_doom]

doggystyle is as far away from modern rap as possible. modern rap is basically the "veterans" of yesteryear (50 cent, jay-z, diddy, etc) with up and coming young *******s who usually have ****ty names like yung buk and lil' something. like its been said in the past 9 pages there is good rap being produced nowadays but its just not as popular as the mainstream ****. for instance aesop rock is known for having "smart" lyrics as opposed to the stupid **** that 50 cent produces. if the pieces of **** who go to the club to dance and **** and listen to music and don't understand wtf the singer is talking about they ain't gonna like it

but whatever its all been said before so whatever

oh and about jay-z once upon a time he was actually good. check out his debut album reasonable doubt

[Vigorousjammer]

this post definitely brings up a lot of good points, first of all, i'd like to say that I agree, not all rap is bad... i've definitely been a fan of most old skool rap... any rap that actually has some sort of lyrics with meaning is nice for a listen...

someone said Eminem was crap... I did like Eminem around the time of Slim Shady LP and Marshall Mathers LP, but after that it just went down hill... not saying Eminem's rap has a GOOD meaning... but not all of my music has to be loving and caring ****...
as far as some other rappers I like... Biggie is good, as well as 2pac, Dre, Snoop, and pretty much most of the other popular rap from the 80's and 90's...

Unfortunately, the popular rap of today (crunk, etc.) is making me dislike the entire genre... and it makes me not want to listen to a new group if thier music is classified as "rap"...
sure, i'll still listen to some old skool rap... but any new stuff thats classified as rap I would never even think of listening to... simply because... all the "popular" rap makes me think the other rapper's music is garbage, too... even if it's not...

now, as far as modern day rock goes... there's one band that gets it right...
Priestess...
other than that, I don't really care... theres nothing that amazing... except for the new Rush album, Snakes & Arrows, which is one of the greatest rock albums in a long time...

I hate songs like "Hey there, Deliyla" that are crappy but get stuck in my head...
I also hate rap songs that follow in this path... unfortunately, everybody else doesn't...

The thing is... I find the majority of society utterly and completely STUPID!
I know that may sound concieted... but if you think about it, it's true...
I work in a resturaunt, and MOST PEOPLE I DEAL WITH IN MY EVERY DAY LIFE THINK SO SINGLE-MINDED THAT IT DISGUSTS ME TO NO END!

I partly blame the internet... but hey, I use it and i'm not a ******...

Thankfully, the majority of the people in this thread can actually pull a thought from thier mind and ask themselves questions, and give themselves answers...

Pretty much , I don't define "being smart" as "knowing a lot of stuff" which is why I don't like America's public school system, which is the second thing I blame for so many people being so incredibly stupid... the third being TV...

What I definie "being smart" as is being able to ask yourself "why?" and coming up with an answer... on your own... not given to you by someone else... but by taking the context around you and coming up with your own conclusion...

That may seem very simple... but think about it... thats basically what being smart is...
That, and being able to explain something...
If you have a ****ty vocabulary, and you know about an ancient culture's secrets, how the hell are you going to tell anybody else?

Anyways, i'm going off on a completely different tangent here, but I think to answer the poster's question... if you want to have people stop listening to/making retarted modern-day crunk music... then try and educate them to STOP THINKING SO SINGLE-MINDED!

[Seattle_Sound]

this post definitely brings up a lot of good points, first of all, i'd like to say that I agree, not all rap is bad... i've definitely been a fan of most old skool rap... any rap that actually has some sort of lyrics with meaning is nice for a listen...

someone said Eminem was crap... I did like Eminem around the time of Slim Shady LP and Marshall Mathers LP, but after that it just went down hill... not saying Eminem's rap has a GOOD meaning... but not all of my music has to be loving and caring ****...
as far as some other rappers I like... Biggie is good, as well as 2pac, Dre, Snoop, and pretty much most of the other popular rap from the 80's and 90's...

Unfortunately, the popular rap of today (crunk, etc.) is making me dislike the entire genre... and it makes me not want to listen to a new group if thier music is classified as "rap"...
sure, i'll still listen to some old skool rap... but any new stuff thats classified as rap I would never even think of listening to... simply because... all the "popular" rap makes me think the other rapper's music is garbage, too... even if it's not...

now, as far as modern day rock goes... there's one band that gets it right...
Priestess...
other than that, I don't really care... theres nothing that amazing... except for the new Rush album, Snakes & Arrows, which is one of the greatest rock albums in a long time...

I hate songs like "Hey there, Deliyla" that are crappy but get stuck in my head...
I also hate rap songs that follow in this path... unfortunately, everybody else doesn't...

The thing is... I find the majority of society utterly and completely STUPID!
I know that may sound concieted... but if you think about it, it's true...
I work in a resturaunt, and MOST PEOPLE I DEAL WITH IN MY EVERY DAY LIFE THINK SO SINGLE-MINDED THAT IT DISGUSTS ME TO NO END!

I partly blame the internet... but hey, I use it and i'm not a ******...

Thankfully, the majority of the people in this thread can actually pull a thought from thier mind and ask themselves questions, and give themselves answers...

Pretty much , I don't define "being smart" as "knowing a lot of stuff" which is why I don't like America's public school system, which is the second thing I blame for so many people being so incredibly stupid... the third being TV...

What I definie "being smart" as is being able to ask yourself "why?" and coming up with an answer... on your own... not given to you by someone else... but by taking the context around you and coming up with your own conclusion...

That may seem very simple... but think about it... thats basically what being smart is...
That, and being able to explain something...
If you have a ****ty vocabulary, and you know about an ancient culture's secrets, how the hell are you going to tell anybody else?

Anyways, i'm going off on a completely different tangent here, but I think to answer the poster's question... if you want to have people stop listening to/making retarted modern-day crunk music... then try and educate them to STOP THINKING SO SINGLE-MINDED!

True dat............