Rap Music, and the Discussion of It

SoDeepPolaris · Post by **SoDeepPolaris** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 4:09 pm

I listen to straight edge music.

We beat people up according to Geraldo Rivera.

Original Sin · Post by **Original Sin** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 5:08 pm

blackcat wrote: But as far as vulgar references go, in the lyrics of songs, there is a lot of emo/punk music about people that cut themselves or whatever, so I guess what I mean is that rap isn't really the only genre that influences people in certain ways. Music does not control my life, personally. I like to listen to music, but I don't go by their examples. So, I listen to rap, but do the lyrics influence me? No.

You're also old enough to make that distinction. A lot of rap fans aren't. They're brought up to idolize these thugs, for lack of a better term, and seem to think that acting like a complete, disrespectful fool is proper behavior.
Sure, 'emo' music is an influential things at the moment as well, given how much mainstream publicity is has, but when you look at it...emo bands aren't preaching about carrying guns, killing people, and being, in general, disrespecful....they just preach self loathing and bad fashion sense. Bad for self esteem, sure, but at least it's not glamorizing murder.

SoDeepPolaris · Post by **SoDeepPolaris** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 6:16 pm

That's not emo music.

Original Sin · Post by **Original Sin** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:01 pm

Well, someone's on top of shit, aren't they.

SoDeepPolaris · Post by **SoDeepPolaris** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:38 pm

Original Sin wrote:Well, someone's on top of shit, aren't they.

I'm quick like lightning.

ZOOOOOOM.

chocobojoe · Post by **chocobojoe** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:29 pm

Emo would be better if it wasn't for the fashion that went with it.

Original Sin · Post by **Original Sin** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 11:39 am

OrangeLounger wrote:Emo would be better if it wasn't for the fashion that went with it.

'Emo' was fine until it went super mainstream, and record labels started pumping out copy cat bands and everyone decided to sound depressed and deep to cash in on the scene. There's nothing wrong with emotional music, I love my music to be moving...but I also like it to have good instrumentation, and be a little deeper than middle school romance.

And yes, the 'scene' fashion is also....well, ridiculous. It's like some sort of bastardization of the 80's....I don't mind 80's fashion, unless it's on a bunch of whiney pre-teens who hate mommy and daddy and think they might be bisexual.

Potter · Post by **Potter** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 11:43 am

what i always thought was lol were these bands like my chemical romance and all those other shit bands, they take their music real seriously, and they go to play a live show, and the entire audience is 13-14 year old girls. that must make them feel so dead inside, i love it.

SoDeepPolaris · Post by **SoDeepPolaris** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 12:44 pm

Potter wrote:what i always thought was lol were these bands like my chemical romance and all those other shit bands, they take their music real seriously, and they go to play a live show, and the entire audience is 13-14 year old girls. that must make them feel so dead inside, i love it.

Hannah Montana.

AND I LOVE THRASHIN' ME SOME SCENE KIDSSSSS.

Original Sin · Post by **Original Sin** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:00 pm

Potter wrote:what i always thought was lol were these bands like my chemical romance and all those other shit bands, they take their music real seriously, and they go to play a live show, and the entire audience is 13-14 year old girls. that must make them feel so dead inside, i love it.

What's real funny are the bands that were 'emo' bands, like My Chemical Romance, who are now all of a sudden playing heavier music. Seems rather convenient. When they got popular, whiney music was in full swing, but now, metal is making a 'comeback,' so a lot of the whiney bands are trying to fit with the new trend.

SoDeepPolaris · Post by **SoDeepPolaris** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:13 pm

Original Sin wrote:
Potter wrote:what i always thought was lol were these bands like my chemical romance and all those other shit bands, they take their music real seriously, and they go to play a live show, and the entire audience is 13-14 year old girls. that must make them feel so dead inside, i love it.
What's real funny are the bands that were 'emo' bands, like My Chemical Romance, who are now all of a sudden playing heavier music. Seems rather convenient. When they got popular, whiney music was in full swing, but now, metal is making a 'comeback,' so a lot of the whiney bands are trying to fit with the new trend.

They're still whiny and not metal at all. Their first albums were heavier than their newest anyways.

It all sucks, though.

Soma · Post by **Soma** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 3:09 am

You really can't discredit a band for following convention; the minute you sign major you acknowledge that you're in it for the money. I think that as long as you're creating something new then they're doing their job. Just like any other job, making music is tied to money. The minute it stops being a hobby is the minute that you can discredit a band. 'Pure' music is a rarity nowadays.

Original Sin · Post by **Original Sin** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 6:41 am

I play in a band, and though we are unsigned, we've all agreed we'd very much like to make a career out of it. Not because we want to be rich and famous (though I will admit it may be nice), but because juggling a good band, a full time job, and whatever else life may throw at you is hard work.
However, just because we're seeking to make a career, doesn't mean we're going to write our music to fit convention, just to get signed. We write what we want to write, and we also write in multiple genres. That is what I believe makes a musician....writing, playing, creating music, not writing songs that all fit within a specific genre, just to please a specific group of people.

So, perhaps I shouldn't blame a band for writing their material to fit what's popular...but I will say I do not respect them as musicians, not TRUE musicians anyway. Some bands evolve, their sound changes over time...that's to be expected, but when a huge portion of a popular music scene is 'evolving' in unison, then that's clearly not because all of these bands are feeling that way...it's because they're cashing in on a scene. A few of them may be genuine...but all of them? Quite unlikely.

Sure, I'll listen to some of these bands...sometimes a particular song is catchy, or it has some good guitar work in it, and I'll take it at face value...but, being a musician, seldom do I respect the bands that follow trends.
What I write, I write for me first...There are people out there that respect music for what it is, scenes and genres be damned. If it's good music, someone out there is going to be willing to listen to it. I don't care if I'm selling out stadium shows, and have my face plastered all over MTV every 10 minutes. If I make enough to live comfortably, and sustain my hobbies, then I'm a happy guy. Besides, I'd rather not have a bunch of scene kids drooling over me and my 'deep' lyrics anyhow. I can write a sad, moving song, without sounding like a whiney bitch.

Zeedeveel · Post by **Zeedeveel** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 8:03 am

Original Sin wrote:I play in a band, and though we are unsigned, we've all agreed we'd very much like to make a career out of it. Not because we want to be rich and famous (though I will admit it may be nice), but because juggling a good band, a full time job, and whatever else life may throw at you is hard work.
However, just because we're seeking to make a career, doesn't mean we're going to write our music to fit convention, just to get signed. We write what we want to write, and we also write in multiple genres. That is what I believe makes a musician....writing, playing, creating music, not writing songs that all fit within a specific genre, just to please a specific group of people.

So, perhaps I shouldn't blame a band for writing their material to fit what's popular...but I will say I do not respect them as musicians, not TRUE musicians anyway. Some bands evolve, their sound changes over time...that's to be expected, but when a huge portion of a popular music scene is 'evolving' in unison, then that's clearly not because all of these bands are feeling that way...it's because they're cashing in on a scene. A few of them may be genuine...but all of them? Quite unlikely.

Sure, I'll listen to some of these bands...sometimes a particular song is catchy, or it has some good guitar work in it, and I'll take it at face value...but, being a musician, seldom do I respect the bands that follow trends.
What I write, I write for me first...There are people out there that respect music for what it is, scenes and genres be damned. If it's good music, someone out there is going to be willing to listen to it. I don't care if I'm selling out stadium shows, and have my face plastered all over MTV every 10 minutes. If I make enough to live comfortably, and sustain my hobbies, then I'm a happy guy. Besides, I'd rather not have a bunch of scene kids drooling over me and my 'deep' lyrics anyhow. I can write a sad, moving song, without sounding like a whiney bitch.

I think this is partly why the indie-music scene is so large nowadays. There is a lot of stuff out there that's pushing boundaries and evolving more rapidly then anything you hear on radio. With the advent of technology, home-grown bands are coming out of the woodwork and sharing their music with great quality and ease. You can search endlessly and end up finding a particular artist that fits your personality to the T. It's the people that really care who end up searching for new music and are always looking to broaden their horizons beyond the typical corparate flesh.

You could say that people listening to the radio for new artists are just lazy.

Original Sin · Post by **Original Sin** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 5:33 pm

Yeah, the radio is not a good place to search for new music. Everything on there fits into some sort of mold, as most of the time, the songs that make it to radio are put there by record labels, seeking to sell their music to a particular crowd.

The internet is a good place to find music, especially with sites like Myspace (scene as it may be, blech) offering what is, essentially, free publicity to any musician. Of course, most of the little bands you find on myspace are pretty awful, but if you wade through them long enough, you'll find some interesting things.

My band uses Myspace, though unfortunately only having 4 songs on the player at a time isn't so good, as we have a lot of different styles we play. Our biggest following is for our metal music, so usually, we keep metal on the myspace player, though in the past we've tried to throw one or two of our oddball songs in there at a time. Strangely enough, we have a lot of acoustic songs and ballads...probably the only reason my 'metal' band has so many female fans, I reckon. Ballads seem to make the panties vibrate.