Rap Music Is Hard To Defend

I first heard this phrase from Chris Rock. The idea has been with me since I was 8, when I weekly heard what is now Ryan Seacrest’s “American Top 40”. I do not normally go to Chris Rock for the words to expresses my ideas but I can appreciate a comedic sketch that has a point, aside from cheap giggles.

Rap songs are simple, which is not a bad thing. Good rap songs are simple and not simplistic. A given rap song will have a background and rapping. The background in rap music, unlike other forms of music, tends to be repetitive (many times the background is a looped track). This repetitive nature does not detract from the music; in fact, it tends to thrust focus onto the rapper, serving to make the rappers message more interesting. There are exceptions to this blatant genrezation (Yes, I made the word up. An explanatory post will come soon) of rap music for sure.

Mainstream rap has slowly degraded since its beginning days. In 1982, Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five released a song entitled “The Message” (video, lyrics) The background does not make this song (though it has been sampled many times), but rather the rapping (which has also been sampled):

I dance to the beat, shuffle my feet / Wear a shirt and tie and run with the creeps / Cause its all about money, ain’t a damn thing funny / You got to have a con in this land of milk and honey

It’s a great rap song! Firstly, it is original. Sadly, few rap songs put out today are original. Secondly, it forces you to think about a greater idea. Why is it that America is focuses so heavily on money? Is that good or bad? Why not end the problem and adopt communism? It is delivered so simply: “cause its all about money”, but that one idea forces you to think about how that is effecting America and whether America needs to change. And the song does not resort to sex appeal to interest listeners. Throughout the whole song, you get the impression that each word was chosen intelligently. It is easy to defend music when it is intelligently created, no matter how weird.

In April 2007 Soulja Boy released his knockout of a song “Crank That (Dat) Soulja Boy” (video, lyrics). The song is boring. It repeats… constantly. If I could understand half of what he said I would count the number of times he says “hoe”. And I’m all for a healthy amount of repetition in music; I could listen to John Coltrane play the same 8 notes for a minute. Soulja Boy is simply unoriginal, uninteresting and seemingly inattentive to the music he is creating. His repetitive lyrics don’t lead to any sort of greater idea, at least to those not fluent in his unique vocabulary. How profound is somebody who repeats themselves? He throws out “hoe” and “bitch” to no effect. Maybe appreciating words that have a purpose is puritan. What does this even mean:

I'm jocking on yo bitch ass / And if we get the fightin / Then i'm cocking on your bitch

I am all for coloring your speech with words that upper society might not appreciate. But only when you use choice words with purpose, for a desired effect. When you have no apparent thought behind which words you use you sound stupid.

Good music is intelligent. In jazz music, performers study for years so they are able to sit down and improvise a great song. They intelligently choose every note they play. Kenny G (I’m not a big fan…) plays fast runs because they are impressive to couples making out on Friday night. He puts little thought into the notes that he is playing. The only defense I've heard of Mr. G was, "he is making a lot more money than any other jazz musician ever will"; because your income is reflective of your musical talents...? In classical music performers study for years to be able to perform music that composers write for months. When I listen to out-there classical music, I can appreciate its abstractness because a composer wanted the song to sound that way. Maybe I do not understand the song. I couldn’t expect to understand “The Iliad” written in Greek because I do not understand Greek, even though the work is immensely profound when I can understand it.

The majority of modern rap music is not intelligent though! The artists do not think about what they are saying. Modern rap music fits the same mold of Soulja Boy's killer tune: it is unorginal, repetitive, and unintelligent. How can you defend this:ing.

I'm hot cause I'm fly (fly) / You ain't cause you're not (Mims) / This is why, This is why / This is why I'm hot

I've been spoiled: all of the music I listen to is so good that when I hear junk like this on the radio I'm repulsed.