Am I the only one who doesn't get Hip Hop?

[WDWHound]

Perhaps I'm just an old fogy (I'm 43), but I just dont see anything enjoyable about Hip Hop. This morning, the Today show Featured a concert by LL Cool J. I kow that he is one of the more popular artists, decided to watch it and see if I could learn to appreciate it. It didn't work. As much as I tried to find something of substance there, I couldn't. The lyrics were occasionally creative, but I just didn't sense anthing that I could call music in it. Mostly it just bored me.

I have tried this sevaral times in the past. I really want to learn to appreciate it, but I have never found anything to appreciate in Hip Hop, regrdless of the artist I have listened to.

Now I am not putting Hip Hop down. I know that it requires skill and talent to do well, but I lack the abbility to tell good hip hop from bad hip hop. To me, all Hip Hop artists sound like Mr Jiggy Fly from that Gieco comercial. To me. Hip Hop is just not music, Its talking with background noise. There is little harmony or melody, just liots of rythem

I guess I'm just getting old. I remember that my Parents thought the same thing about the music I listened to. The difference is that they eventually learned to appreciate most of it because rock shares a lot in common with the forms that preceded it. I dont think this is true of Hip Hop.

So, I alone here? It seems like I am the only one in the world who doesn't like Hip Hop.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

I don't like Hip Hop by itself. I don't mind it in a regular song though. (Beyonce's Crazy In Love comes to mind or when P. Diddy did a remake of the Sting song.)

Is Hip Hop the same as Rap?

 

[DoeWDW]

Well, there are at least two of us in this world - you and me!! I just don't get it! I like the way you described it - "Its talking with background noise".

 

[snoopy]

I don't listen to it on a regular basis, but I like it o.k. I like the beat. BTW, I'm 40. My 9-year old hates hip hop and rap music, which is the odd thing, he prefers classic rock.

 

[WDWHound]

Originally posted by Jenn Lynn
I don't like Hip Hop by itself. I don't mind it in a regular song though. (Beyonce's Crazy In Love comes to mind or when P. Diddy did a remake of the Sting song.)

Is Hip Hop the same as Rap?

Thats a good question. I dont think they are the same. I believe Hip Hop evolved from rap, but for the life of me I can't tell the difference. Perhaps someone here with the ability to appreciate these forms could explain the differences to us. I really would like to know.

 

[snoopy]

Here is an explanation:

Differences between hip hop and rap

I always thought hip hop was less agressive/violent than rap.

 

[Robinrs]

Okay, WE hate it, too, we meaning my son and I!!

My sister, who by the way is OLDER than I am, LOVES it! Her daughter does not, though.

I cannot STAND riding in her car, we are prisoners to that music. My son, who listens to lyrics, convicts her regularly as to WHY she listens to that junk....

 

[Bob Slydell]

I like some of it -- I'm in the take it or leave it camp.

 

[Galahad]

Another that doesn't get it......

 

[caitycaity]

i like a lot of it.

do you like electronica, hound?

 

[tkyes]

Like Jenn Lynn I like some songs. I did get Beyonce's CD free from work and I like it.

I used to love 80's hip hop growing up! Boys to Men, Bel Biv Devoe, Bobby Brown, etc.

 

[NMAmy]

Oh, Lord, I hate it. DD insists on listening to it so loudly that to me it's yelling with background music. She drives me BANANAS when I'm trying to drive. I smacked her hand and took the cd out of the player yesterday when I was trying to negotiate a pretty busy street and she kept cranking it up. Shocked the heck out of her. What part of "Quit turning it up so loudly." didn't she understand?

 

[WDWHound]

Originally posted by caitycaity
i like a lot of it.

do you like electronica, hound?

Yes, I like some of it. It gets a bit repetitive for my tastes, but I can find melody and harmony in it.

 

[WDWHound]

Originally posted by tkyes
Like Jenn Lynn I like some songs. I did get Beyonce's CD free from work and I like it.

I used to love 80's hip hop growing up! Boys to Men, Bel Biv Devoe, Bobby Brown, etc.

Boys to Men were Hip Hop?
As for Devo, I always classified them as new wave.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Hip hop to me, sounds like the rap of years past, and ALL the rap of years past, and therefore hip hop to me today, sounds EXACTLY like the Bears Super Shuffle, and I was tired of that by the time their Super Bowl was over, and that was '85/86, almost 20 years ago.

And today's rap, just seems so angry, violent, demeaning and vulgar. Don't really 'get it', but then I just turned 60, so, maybe I am over the hill finally.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

Originally posted by tkyes
Like Jenn Lynn I like some songs. I did get Beyonce's CD free from work and I like it.

I used to love 80's hip hop growing up! Boys to Men, Bel Biv Devoe, Bobby Brown, etc.

I like those people too! I guess what I don't like is Snoop Dogg type stuff.

So is J-Zee rapping in Beyonce's Crazy in Love or is he Hip Hop (ing )?

Snoopy's link confused me! LOL!

 

[onecoolmama]

I like Hip Hop. I dont like Gangster Rap.

 

[caitycaity]

that's bel biv devoe, not devo.

 

[Galahad]

Originally posted by onecoolmama
I like Hip Hop. I dont like Gangster Rap.

Is that like saying someone likes Singspiel but not Opera Buffa?

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Originally posted by Dan Murphy

And today's rap, just seems so angry, violent, demeaning and vulgar. Don't really 'get it', but then I just turned 60, so, maybe I am over the hill finally.

It is angry, demeaning, violent and vulgar. I think that's why teens like it so much. And you aren't over the hill, Dan. I'm close to being 28 and I think rap is ridiculous.

There is a difference between r&b and rap though. I consider someone like Beyonce to be r&b. She actually sings, and quite nicely from what I've heard.

I think it is really sad when people, mainly grown adults, act and dress like people like Jay-z and 50 Cent and speak in the slang rap language. I know grown adults who do this. I have seen young adults come into my office for job interviews dressed like this and talking like this. It's so sad that these people think they can make it in the real world "living the hip hop life" (as one of them told me).

I REALLY hate it when people try to make it about race too. It's not. I personally know more white people than black people who fit the description I gave above. My best friend is a black woman and she does not talk or dress like that nor does anyone in her family. None of my other black (or white, or Asian ) friends dress/act like that either.

So I really hate it when people try to make it a race thing and say if you don't like rap you just don't get what it means to be black in the city. Did my best friend miss something growing up, then?? Did Eminem miss something??

I personally don't care what color a performer I like is, if they are good. But for people who do, there are certainly more talented black artists than Jay-Z and 50 Cent. There are soul and r&b and jazz artists who are amazing. And if I were a black parent, I'd much rather my child look to them as role models than to rappers.

Grrr. Sorry but the race thing - it's just a pet peeve of mine.

Some people think of rap as a lifestyle, and I think that's silly. I think people who live "punk rock" as a lifestyle are pretty silly too. Don't get me wrong, there are some rap songs I'll leave on, but I DO NOT take them seriously, and worry about the large numbers of people who do.

I think the way a lot of rap demeans women and makes drug use and casual sex look "cool" is sickening; esp. since it is popular with kids. I see girls in downtown Boston every day not even bat an eye at being called "hos". I see people using racial slurs against each other, because in rap, it's okay to use those words? I dunno. I really don't get it.

I also think that there is a lot of GOOD rap (De La Soul & Jurassic 5 are among of my favorite cds) out there for people who like the beat & who like the rhymes. But the ones I'm talking about are just the vulgar, demeaning ones. I don't see how anyone can like that stuff and take it so seriously.

I think it's a big problem.

*steps off her soapbox and crawls back into her quiet world*