Re: Hip Hop Is The Music Of Dumb Americans

Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 11:08:10 -0500
Newsgroups: rec.sport.boxing
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On Wed, 26 Feb 2003 14:19:09 -0500, Todd Hildreth <email-address-deleted>
enlightened us:
>Hip hop is today's urban folk music. It serves the same purpose that
>the blues did in the early and mid part of the 1900s. There is a big
>difference in how the music is presented, given that the music
>industry milks hip hop in a way the blues was never milked, but true
>hip hop expresses the lifestyles, trails and frustrations of its
>practioners just as the blues did back then.
>
The blues are still struggling to find their place today. Only a
handful of blues artists are recognizable by the mainstream. Nearly
everyone knows who B.B. King and Bonnie Raitt is. Some might even
know who Kenny Wayne Shepard, Jeff Healy or Stevie Ray Vaughn are.
Hardly anyone knows who Johnnie Lang or Susan Tedeschi are. And
forget about knowing any of their songs or who the old masters of the
blues were. Where hip-hop has succeeded is due directly to the
artists and record labels using the recording industry politics and
marketing and making the most of it. More emphasis on packaging than
content in most cases. The blues artists and their record labels
sternly stick to putting out the best content that they can and are
less about the packaging.
>As for rap's primitivism, wasn't this the criticism of the original
>rock and rollers? The dip in sophistication from Duke Ellington, Nat
>King Cole and Benny Goodman to Elvis, Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly is a
>far greater dip from any current pop or rock performer to Snoop Doggy
>Dogg or Dr Dre.
>
This is true. That some groups have even combined rock and rap (Kid
Rock probably being the best of a small group) shows that.
>And you would be surprised at how many people just cannot rap. There
>is a distinct rhythmic vocabulary to rap that many white and older
>black folks just can't cop. It's not really that simple, nor is the
>creation of the hip hop tracks.
>
You may not believe this but I love M&M. I have both of his CDs and I
listen to them often. He is one of a few rappers I can actually
relate to what he is saying because he writes/sings raps that make
sense. His rapping and beats are put together with more than just
some DJ scratching and has some very good music embedded in it. It
slays me that year after year M&M wins rap album or song or performer
of the year while all the brothers and their posses go wanting.
>Years from now, looking back on the folk music of today, we'll find a
>lot of crap in today's hip hop, but also very pertinent, poignant
>social commentary and musical conviction. Select rappers will hold a
>place alongside great folk artists of the past 100 years.
>
>Todd
Hard to find in hip hop the good stuff due to the amount of garbage
around it.
Regards, //// (o o)
-oOO--(_)--OOo-
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Steve