In Praise of Hiphop and Rap

[+ quoththeraven]

I've been away for awhile (a month or so), but one of the things I've wanted to do was address sniping -- mostly in passing -- I see here of hiphop and rap. It's something I've seen elsewhere, including in a public radio interview with Art Garfunkel, who bemoaned the dearth of "real songs" and the predominance of rhythm over melody. He didn't say the words "hiphop" or "rap," but it was clear that's what he had in mind.

 

Much of this comes from lack of familiarity with the genre. While it's true that hiphop and rap build on rhythm and beats rather than melody, that doesn't mean it's unmelodic.

 

My first example of melodicism in hiphop/rap is Frank Ocean's "Bad Religion," a song about his unrequited love for another man. Yes, there's a queer/bisexual male artist who's considered on the cutting edge of US hiphop artistically and who's largely been accepted by others in the industry. He's also a good vocalist (somewhat unusual for most hiphop artists) and a poetic lyricist - something else rap and hiphop are not given credit for. In fact, these lyrics remind me most of (tada) the work of Paul fucking Simon but written in a more experimental rhyming/syllabic format than Simon does.

 

 

Also please notice the instrumentation/arrangement, which is not what most people typically think of when they hear the words "hiphop" and "rap."

[+ quoththeraven]

More Frank Ocean:

[+ WilliamM]

Wonderful, @quoththeraven

[+ quoththeraven]

And because I can't leave without giving you an example of the most melodic hiphop and hiphop-influenced music in the world, "Nan Arayo (I Know)," the 1992 Seo Taiji and Boys song that kicked off modern K-pop and cycles through disco influences, uncleared samples of US hiphop artists, new jack swing, rap, heavy metal and melodic pop balladry, written by the former bassist for the South Korean heavy metal group Sinawe.

Just as Frank Ocean's music challenges Western preconceptions of masculinity, so does "Nan Arayo"; the chorus translates as follows:

 

"Oh my dear, please don't go.

I really should go.

Oh my dear, please don't go.

Right now, I'm crying." (source)

 

I dare you to listen without at least nodding your head.

 

P.S. K-pop falls squarely in the West Coast hiphop tradition.

[+ WilliamM]

I am playing Ocean's album via Amazon. But, I might have to listen with ear phones. The highs and lows are too much for my speakers. Great album.

 

Very happy @quoththeraven.

[+ quoththeraven]

I am playing Ocean's album via Amazon. But, I might have to listen with ear phones. The highs and lows are too much for my speakers. Great album.

 

Very happy @quoththeraven.

Which album, Blonded or Orange Channel?

[+ WilliamM]

Which album, Blonded or Orange Channel?

 

 

Orange Channel

[+ Cash4Trash]

Netflix has a documentary "Hip Hop Evolution" that fills you in on the history - the people, the places, etc.

[+ quoththeraven]

Netflix has a documentary "Hip Hop Evolution" that fills you in on the history - the people, the places, etc.

I'll put that on my Netflix list.

 

Other than seeing Kanye West on the Grammys in the 2000s and "Fight the Power" from Do The Right Thing, most of what I know about hiphop is a result of leaving Western pop music for K-pop, which is significantly influenced by hiphop, mostly because Seo Taiji listened to it.

[+ quoththeraven]

2Pac Shakur's "Dear Mama." His mother was one of the Black Panthers acquitted after a lengthy trial in New York in the early 70s just a month before Tupac was born.

Yes, not all of 2Pac's oeuvre is gansta! And not every rapper appreciates his mom. Eminem (Marshall Mathers, aka Slim Shady) dissed his in his early work.

[+ quoththeraven]

Not to diss Eminem either; his music is melodic and he can tell a spellbinding, albeit scary, violent and homophobic story. But he deserves props for showing a male fan who is as obsessed with a male artist as Stan is toward Eminem.

"Stan" has now entered the dictionary as a synonym for "dedicated fan" and "to be a dedicated fan of" (as in "I stan BTS").

[+ quoththeraven]

Epik High's song about dangerously obsessive (sasaeng) fans is like a cross between "Stan" and Stephen King's "Misery" (without the maiming) and is one of the greatest (and scariest) music videos of all time. Instead of throwing a pregnant girlfriend in the trunk of the car and driving it into a river, as Stan does in Eminem's music video, the fan tries to launch her beloved into the heavens."You are my star, I'm you're number one fan. Baby, please take my hand."

A live version of "Fan" with traditional Korean instruments, which is fun because the audience that is bopping along is composed of K-pop stars who know what it's like to have obsessive fans. Don't worry, receiving the bonsang award for the album on which "Fan" appears, which precedes the performance, doesn't take long.

Another live performance. This is a demanding song to rap; it's very fast and requires a lot of breath control. The guy in a gray t-shirt dancing around in the middle is Epik High's DJ Tukutz.

[+ WilliamM]

I read Ron Chernow's book "Hamilton" before seeing the musical. Very glad I did & and that I live in Philadelphia so could visit many of the sites mentioned in the book.

 

"Hamilton" the musical was difficult for me, not the music, just the words. Even after listening to the album, I have mixed feeling about seeing the musical again.

[+ quoththeraven]

Epik High's "Rocksteady" featuring Korean-American rappers Kero One, Dumbfoundead and MYK (Michael Young Kim) and Rakaa of Dilated Peoples, all based in LA. 99% of the lyrics are in English. (Okay, maybe 95%....)

I own the CD of the album and the lyric booklet doesn't include all of the English in the chorus or any of the Korean rapped by Epik High member Mithra Jin and I haven't found a lyrics video (I haven't looked for a non-video translation yet), so I sympathize with @WilliamM about the difficulty of understanding lyrics.

 

There's a Korean version of "Rocksteady" too - same beat, different rappers, different lyrics, (mostly) different language. (There's English sprinkled in here and there.) Featuring Paloalto, Dok2, Beatbox DG and Beenzino. Comparing the two shows why Korean is such a great language to rap in. With soft consonants and lots of ending vowels, it's easier to maintain flow than in English.

[+ quoththeraven]

"Despacito" is reggaeton, but it also qualifies as hiphop; Daddy Yankee is a rapper, after all, and "Despacito" is the catchiest, most infectious tune of 2017.

(I've never listened to the Justin Bieber version of this song, so I have no idea what it's like.)

 

For those of you who are curious about the lyrics,"Despacito" is all about slow sex. ("Despacito" means "slowly.")

 

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/7873132/despacito-lyrics-translation-english-meaning

[+ quoththeraven]

Netflix has a documentary "Hip Hop Evolution" that fills you in on the history - the people, the places, etc.

Season 2 of Hip Hop Evolution is out. It's well worth watching.