do you consider rap to be music? IF YOU LIKE RAP DONT COME IN HERE

[farplaner]

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.

[Shoeberto]

Undergroup rap started to gain notoriety in the '70s, actually.

[NorthernChaosGod]

I've heard that Rap is an acronym for "rhythm and poetry" which if it's true, then no rap isn't music. Because if it was, then stupid beatniks reciting poetry to some bongos would have to be considered music too.

And while I do like very few rappers, I don't really listen to it.

[Dynast-Kid]

I listen to rap because that's the music I was born into.I've listened to rap,hip-hop,R&B all my life and won't change now.But I agree underground rap and the old stuff are great while the new mainstream songs are just getting worse...I remember at sunday school one sunday our teacher referred to the rap culture as a "dying culture".Which it is.

What happened to the days when rap was fun and lively?

Now it is all about women,drugs,money,the streets...Nowadays,as long as a song has a good beat,it's considered a hit.No one cares about the lyrics,or the message it is sending.

Rap is a form of music,it's just,fading away...

EDIT: I totally forgot to add in this post that not all rap music is bad.

[BakerMan]

I rarely listen to rap unles it randomly comes onto the radio or something but usually I can't stand it. The only rap I think is good music is when it's not about druggies, busting caps, and all that stupid, immoral stuff.

[SnoopyG]

I rarely listen to rap unles it randomly comes onto the radio or something but usually I can't stand it. The only rap I think is good music is when it's not about druggies, busting caps, and all that stupid, immoral stuff.

Theres actually more songs thats not about those things than you think.

[Mitch]

Rap is music. It is released by companies that make and distribute music. It is written in a musical format. It is intended to be listened to as music.

Music can be made from so many different things. That is why it is so amazing.

Different forms of music are great. Rap is music. Outkast are awesome.

[feona17]

Like many others have stated, rap is music. Let me take glance into my trusty encyclopedia. It says that "music is an art form consisting of organized tones in a coherent sequence of sounds intended to elicit an aesthetic response in a listener".

I gather that lovehurts was trying to say that because lyrics of popular rap is rather crude and usually promotes sex, violence and drugs, rap can't possibly be music. I don't know about that.

Rap songs, are still songs are they not? Music doesn't need nice lyrics to be classified as music. Music is simply sounds put together, it's not how good a message in a song is.

I agree with you, lovehurts, that popular rap of today, specially gangster rap is often promoting the worst messages whilst so gracefully corrupting the minds of children (eheh, adults too) and our language.

But rap is music, and like others have said, not all of it is bad. Before jumping to conclusions and basing opinions on what's popular, check out all areas first. Who said popular music is any good, anyway?

[Avarice-ness]

Well.. I like the older stuff better, seeing as I'll randomly listen to Coolio for no apparent reason. But yeah it goes with the definition so yes.

[daggertrepe]

Rap is good to dance to. I really like Kayne West. He has some good raps.

But overall, I think most people in the world would agree that rock music PWNS all.

[BizarroSephiroth]

Rap sucks! Unless it's with bands like Linkin Park or Rage Against the Machine. People like 50 Cent and Jay-Z and Eminem and all the other <img src="/xxx.gif"><img src="/xxx.gif"><img src="/xxx.gif"><img src="/xxx.gif">y rappers just don't know what music is

METAL RULES ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Arrianna]

I've heard that Rap is an acronym for "rhythm and poetry" which if it's true, then no rap isn't music. Because if it was, then stupid beatniks reciting poetry to some bongos would have to be considered music too.

:laugh: Yes, and no one argues that beatnik freeform is music but it was never so popular either. If it had been you can be sure that there would be claims it was. It is as if by saying it's music they somehow become "legitimate". I just don't see the point. Why not accept what it is and rejoice in it? It's not like it is lessened by not being music, only by how it is expressed. Oh, how popular expression lesses it every year.

[Zeldy]

Rap is just talking speeded up rediculously. The backround "music" is usually computer generated, and has a girl singing speeded up so it sounds alien.

Rap is pathetic.

[BizarroSephiroth]

Rap is just talking speeded up rediculously. The backround "music" is usually computer generated, and has a girl singing speeded up so it sounds alien.

Rap is pathetic.

Yes, yes it is. Every song sounds exactly the same and usually has to do with the same things too. I wish for a rap saying how <img src="/xxx.gif"><img src="/xxx.gif"><img src="/xxx.gif"><img src="/xxx.gif">ty rappers are like 50 Cent and all his little folk. If rap wasn't made, the music world would still be all.......

METAL!!!!!