posted
Go back 5-15 years and listen to hip hop then. During the early to late 90s hip hop went through a golden age pretty much, and most of the music that was played back then was good. If you read my first post in this thread you know exactly who I was talking about when I said that 95% of hip hop is gold. During the 90s both the underground and mainstream scene in hip hop flourished. The rappers I mentioned in my first thread are a good place to start. I would like to see who you consider influential if you do not consider Nas, Rakim, and NWA influential.
Posts: 1158 | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
If we're going back in time and counting all those artists as part of the same movement, then that is a different thing. I was under the impression that we were talking more specifically about music from the last 5 years or so- as the style and focus have changed in that time. I listened to hip-hop in the 90s even more than I do now, and I don't know what you're talking about. A little of it was good, but that was a lot of crap then just as there is now. I think it's easy for your to say because you can mentally edit out all the garbage you can barely remember, and you can stack up a pretty good list of the best artists from that time. However, since we're talking about a genre with music currently being produced, you have to make a distinction between your "golden age" favorites and who is influential in the short term. I do think those people were influential, but I think that their direct influence is not as strong as it once was. This is to say that they effected the genre, but that many don't go directly to their music anymore.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Launchywiggin: Now I love hip-hop (Snoop, OutKast, Streets, Ludacris), but I also recognize that 95% of hip hop falls into the "obvious" end of the spectrum between simple and complex. I still like it--but there's just not much there musically.
Your listening to the wrong artists... its more like 95% of hip hop is gold, just that the other 5% is the only thing that is played on the radio.
I don't think I was clear. I have listened to a lot more hip hop than just those listed--I listed them because they were my favorites (which, to you, are "wrong"). My point was that most rap music (not just what's on the radio) from 15 years ago AND today, is really simple musically. The rhythms, harmony, and even the high-end mixing and production of today is really quite simple. I'm not saying it's not good--I like most of it.
Posts: 1314 | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote: Isn't this true of all popular music, ever?
I had a crack team of scientologists work on this problem, and they assure me that before rap, the ratio of good to bad music was about 60/40, compared to today's dangerously high levels of 99/1.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
Rap now is trash, back then it was good. You might have to do some searching for some modern artists that are good now, but back before hip hop transformed into the club music that it is now, most of it was gold.
Posts: 1158 | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
