[JRace]

There is much to rap than just the gangsta stuff you normally hear about.
I myself have just discovered a whole other rap genre.
Look up "nerd core".
White guys rapping about comic books and computers.
Now that I can relate to!

[SteveFord]

As always, Weird Al is a step ahead of the rest of us:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9qYF9DZPdw

[Rclark]

Rap is such a large volume of work now, there is ab enormous amount of variety.. And talent.

As far as being vulgar, mean, and nasty, maybe it was called for  .

And I've heard pleeeenty of rock, blues, Country, old bluegrass,etc, that was plenty mean too. And predating rap by miles.

Hip hop shares a lot of parallels with country music, punk rock, etc, in that it tells a story. Often about real life, which ain't always rainbows and unicorns.

Plus the baselines can be some of the most satisfying way to hear your subs.

[Æ]

Plus the baselines can be some of the most satisfying way to hear your subs.

Yep, rap certainly is debasing, just like the artificial beat of a drum machine.

[Rclark]

Some of it is, sure. But hardly all of it. Much of it can be very positive. Some not so much, some of it's just plain old music.

But no doubt they came out swinging.

[Rclark]

And that whole drum machine thing, a lot of hip hop artists these days are backed by some immensely talented bands. Watch anything by the "Roots", actually, Jimmy Fallon's house band IS them.  And they are totally a hip hop act.

[neekomax]

Quest Love (Roots) = One of the best and most innovative drummers playing in any genre.

[Letitroll98]

Bringing it back OT a bit, so, just for arguments sake, I say because you listen exclusively to Rap (of course I know you don't really), you aren't qualified to comment on the quality of an audio system, you wouldn't take issue with that statement?  Yet I could argue that because you haven't had exposure to live, unamplified music, you have no reference to judge audio systems.  You don't know what voices or instruments sound like without a mic and amps between you and the music.  (Again, I don't mean you personally, it's just an academic argument)

Pretty silly, right?  Yet I'm amazed at how many young people have never heard an opera voice a few feet away from you, a string quartet in a small venue, a piano, even a guitar player at a coffee house.  The power of this kind of music can leave you breathless.  Makes you think your vaulted stereo system is a poor reflection of reality.  I'll take an older reviewer with this kind of experience over a kid who listens to Jay-Z and Big Sean all day.

[Rclark]

That's not entirely fair because a lot of it these days, is real music, like the Roots and numerous other groups, I defy you to listen to Wyclef Jean( listen to his song called Gone Till November), etc, and suggest otherwise. The day of the simple programmed drum beat and some samples effectively died in the early 90's.

 I don't listen to hip hop exclusively, but I have a very very large collection in addition to what amounts to music from pretty much every genre. Im musically omnivorous.

[Rclark]

And as far as lil John, etc, that rowdy loud rap music is nothing more than the modern day chuck berry, Elvis, etc. Party music for young people. It's no more offensive now than Elvis swinging his hips was then. Things change, instead of doing the wop they drop it like it's hot. It's the style now and maybe not for you, that's all.  But that music doesn't represent all of it.

[Letitroll98]

Yes, I tried to say that I know you personally listen to a wide variety of music, just from the cuts mentioned in your posts.  And I like some music with a hip hop beat, I don't like Rap.

But do you see the point that I'm trying to illustrate is what musical experience really is and why it's important, and perhaps more important that raw hearing acuity.  I'm not a big opera fan, but hearing a girl with a trained voice a few feet away in a music room practicing Puccini can bring tears to your eyes and change forever how you think about music.  You can't substitute techno pop at a club for a live symphony orchestra, now matter how much fun the club might be.    Without a foundation of musical experience, there's no way to effectively use those young ears. 

[Rclark]

Oh I got that. Yes, in that context, I think an audio reviewer, of fine audio gear, wouldn't use music that is generally easily reproducable.

I think the holy grail is realistic reproduction of a full symphonic orchestra, right? I used to play the viola, so I definitely have a taste for classical as well. I have a pretty good collection of that.

[Rclark]

Ae is now too busy downloading Wyclef songs to answer 

[wushuliu]

RAP is a cultural music, born in the inner city, but has spread to the farmland. It isn't a racial culture, rather a lifestyle anthem type of music. Most is filled with what I (as an outsider)feel, is filled with immorality, violence and non-tolerance. It is also filled with vulgar language and vulgar acts, or at least descriptions of vulgar acts. It's downright mean and nasty.

Now turn the clock back 60 years, replace the word 'rap' with 'rock and roll' and these words sound all too familiar.

[Photon46]

And as far as lil John, etc, that rowdy loud rap music is nothing more than the modern day chuck berry, Elvis, etc.

There's truth in this and there's truth in Wayner's sentiments. Simplistic thinking blames the "corrupting influence" of popular culture for a devolution of popular mores, but culture at large and popular entertainment are in a feedback cycle of influence. If you're inured to the coarsening of discourse that's gone on for the last 60 years, one could say the lyrical content of today's most extreme rap is "no more offensive now than Elvis swinging his hips was then." I think we can say that because it takes more and more to shock us, just like it takes ever better audio quality to impress us, as we get used to a given baseline of quality (or lack thereof.) Saying the meanest rapper's expression of thug mentality is no "worse" than Elvis shaking his hips is like saying today's porn is no "worse" than the first glimpses of bare legs on the beaches during the thirties when people started taking off their woolen bathing suits. For better or worse, it's taking more and more to impress, startle, titillate, and entertain us. 

[jimdgoulding]

By us I think you mean the youth culture which seems to have become progressively more disenfrancised since the 50's.

[macrojack]

Every time anyone asks for advice or assistance in choosing audio gear we all insist that the only way to make a safe, informed decision is to listen for oneself, preferably in our own room with your own ancillaries.
If this is true, then why get all in a lather about a reviewers bona fides or his preference in music. Anyone who intends to follow that advice and listen for himself is going to be limited to those things he can locate within his shopping radius - for most of us that does not include the whole country, much less the whole planet.
Though I can't say whether I'm smart or lucky, I can say that I buy most of my gear having never heard it and always come away happy. Either way, I have little use for reviews.

P.S. I had rap explained to me a couple of years ago - the "c" is silent.

[jimdgoulding]

P.S. I had rap explained to me a couple of years ago - the "c" is silent. 

[Wayner]

Now turn the clock back 60 years, replace the word 'rap' with 'rock and roll' and these words sound all too familiar.

I have all the LPs from back then. There are no references to "cop killing" or "doin' yo mama".

Wayner

[Diamond Dog]

Ever notice how while it's all too common on AC for folks to lean forward in their rockers and start waving their canes around and gettin' all shouty at the very mention of hip hop or rap, you never see the people who like those genres getting in the faces of the folks who enjoy jazz or classical or cave rock ? 

Just sayin'...

D.D.