Rain

Chregg


@ rain, krs one broke down hip hop culture as : rappin/mc'ing/beatboxing, dj-ing, break dancing, graphitti art, street knowledge/wisdom, street trade/business,entrenpreneur

Thanks. I guess it's just that when you try to figure out the culture it's mostly the less glorious aspects of "street knowledge/wisdom, street trade/business,entrenpreneur" that grab the public attention. 

I watched a really interesting documentary a few weeks ago, narrated by Ice T. It was all about how the crack business in the *early* 80s ended up defining a lot of the look and sensibility of hip hop in the *late* 80s. It made the point that in the really poor and run down neighbourhoods, the kids who were into rapping and DJing were probably seen as a bit silly, and the *real* neighbourhood stars were the crack dealers; expensive sportswear, flash cars, jewellery and so on. So you get this phenomena of the young kids starting to imitate the look of the crooks, as that's what people associate with success. But in reality, very few rappers, including the ones who explicitly define themselves as gangster rappers, actually have a criminal past.

There's even a rapper who passes himself under the name of Ricky Ross, after the LA crack kingpin Freeway Ricky Ross. It's now out in the open that he's not the same person, but for several years he did claim to be. In actual fact, he's an ex-prison guard. A lot of this stuff is total fantasy.

Yeah, I know bits of it. I like Giggs and some of those kind of guys.

I understand the whole "outside signs of success thing" - in fact, it's an intuition I had. But I'm still not sure I get the part about posing as a gangster. Not because it's hip hop. It seems silly for starters, doesn't help me taking the artist seriously. 

The same would be true of someone who systematically promotes weed because he plays reggae, or getting drunk because you're a rocker...
I have dwelled on the dark electro/goth industrial scene for years - not too far from what Chregg mentions, coke-heads and all - to know that there is such a "culture" of course. But I guess I'm too uptight or individualist to adopt an attitude that'd let anyone believe that I condone that culture. As a matter of fact, a lot of the material I wrote somewhat ridiculed the "culture". 

Rain heres what ive got to put with lol Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Chregg


Rain heres what ive got to put with lol Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Good one. :)

I don't know how many times I've told girls when we started dating that there was nothing especially romantic about being a songwriter and a musician - but yet they usually insisted, and figured it out by themselves...


Especially these days w/ DAWs - from an outsider perspective, dating a musician isn't that different from dating a gamer I guess. 


Luckily for me I married a singer. She gets it when she sees me walking around the room with a chart, listening to sine waves, taking notes and talking to myself.

I once approached a recording studio my lyrical content was very conscious minded they said that they liked my music but they wanted me to sound like another artist who had no lyrical morality.

As I did not want to succumb to the her butt looks big kind of lyrics. I refused their offer.

The music industry sells an image to a particular section of society, rappers or supposed to talk about or reflect what goes on in society with the use of poetry. (this has always been the case in any civilastion) someone who can exactly portray what is happening around them.

When some tribes in Africa went on a hunt and they brought back the prize they would gather together in celebrations and an MC would freestyle the days activities.

Nothing wrong in that, but when the music industry wants to sell sex, drugs, slackness and poor morale standards either you succumb to it or you don't!

I chose not to succumb to what type of lyrics the record company wanted me to preach to the youths who are looking for some sort of identity.

Hip Hop though I used to like it I do not have a passion for it, just like I don't have a passion for the morally corrupt songstyle of country and western, Metal and those seemingly demonic style of songs.

If you have listened to alot of the gangsta rap it is highly syncopated, other rap styles are not so syncopated. Is that because the producers cannot play or they merely sample, or is it what the music industry which is mostly white want?

Alot of artist do not want to be signed up these days because of the bent towards drugs and sex and commonly being changed by the musical monster who has no regard for integrity within the industry.

So yes Hip Hop was found by UROY and Brigidir the teacher. (A Jamaican MC/DJ) who brought it to america. (Patois style rapping) The Americans decided not to rap with a west indian accent but in the street styled bronx style accent.

So Hip Hops roots is in the blues styled reggae adopted to suit the youths of the areas that are built up. it was used to bring communites together and give them a better outlook on live with positive words to inspire creativity. As it moved and was recognised as a musical genre it has been corrupted by the record industry and has been used to bring low morales and standards.

This makes me question the music industry, arts and crafts moral issues and racism and mind control of the recording labels and the control of such. Music as we all know impacts peoples lifes and those that stand at the forefront have experiences that we who are not sold into the music business can never imagine.

Whites, hispanics, Africans are as musically gifted as each other the greatest lryicists of our time Shakespeare (blackman from the West Midlands) is deemed as one of the greatest minds to ever write poetry and plays and so on.

it is a shame that so many music styles are corrupted take for instance OPERA the lyrics that are in some of these songs would even make a paedophile shudder in his shoes.

There needs to be a clear distinction between whether it is the producers of the music style and the difference between what the corporations are looking for.

If you want to make money many artists will follow lyrics less than pleasing to general society to make it. That goes for the quality of music (debasement) and the lack to hold on to pure skilled musicianship. We all should learn to play with skill and have the music take you through a journey. Then the music will inspire but while the general public accept music and lyrics that debase human conscious you will always get a firm supply of horse manure.

Samples or sampling other peoples music meant to be a compliment to the original artist and is designed for music lovers and supposedly brings a person back to when music was good (supposedly) My view is that not only can you replicate but you can advance on the music of the past and continue to create music of a high level.

This takes talent and being a genuis means sometimes cutting yourselve away from the roaring madness to concentrate on what you do best. Which means putting down other music styles is not the way forward (if you dont like a particular genre fine) but all in all insipire creativity in others.

I hope my few words have done that for some of you who have a go at other music styles. Though I do not like all genre's they're one or two artist within a field that i can appreciate and would not feel anyway in saying I like that or this. So in the style of country I may like one artist and feel that the rest is a pile of mess which you can smell coming right of the farm yard near the studio that the country music was made in.

But those are my thoughts!

Soundclick! The point is that they are people who are making nominal hip hop who are musicians who have been to music school. It's not about listening to hip hop or trying to promote hip hop my views on hip hop are nont particularly good to be honest in fact most of it is crap.

What I am saying is that some people are musicians but because of the music industry all you hear is snap, thud snap, snap thud!

Sound click are you having a laugh!

Just shows how wrong you can be, eh.

Rain..thought i would share this for kicks: http://www.youtube.com/wa...ZNK4t4hr4&feature=fvsr it's a 1987 song by MC Shan. "Hip-Hop" was the preferred term long before the mainstream picked up on it.

Nope...I'm just a miserable ol soul who sees the glass as shattered...forget half empty or full:-)

John T


Well, no cigar, I'm afraid. I've played guitar piano and bass for about 25 years. You have somewhat made the same error of judgement here as others in the thread; the assumption that hip hop is made by incompetents who can't do anything else and liked by the same sort of people. I'd put it to you the other way round; I think some people are overly impressed by their own ability to play an instrument, and overvalue the whole "real" instruments thing. But playing an instrument isn't really all *that* remarkable.

I have to depressingly agree to this,yesterday I plugged in my old Frankenstrat Ibanez......what came out?.......bloody Eruption by EVH,not the whole thing, just the tapping part at the end,something that used to impress people no end when I was 20.......Nowdays, its like if your 11 years old, and you haven't worked out the whole piece by tablature,your regarded as "not able to play".


Mind you,the worst part about it is,THAT guitar and my Marshall, my fingers, get THE EXACT sound,feel,as if it IS Eddie,like anything that Iv'e tried to make "My Own Style" completely vanishes!


Sometimes "carefull what you wish for" is scarily accurate,and especially when it's just one teeny piece of the wish,with ALL the rest,just a joke daydream.


It gets worse,but I've already said too much!

i do a lot of rhythm editing and i learned it by spending lots of time with it. there are no short cuts.

if you want to learn to make hip-hop beats I suggest you listen to your favourite tracks and try and copy the sound you hear with your own vst-instruments.

just pus the song as an audiotrack and change the tempo in your project so it matches the hip-hop song and then start building up your own version of it.  

by doing this (alot) you get familiar with how the beats are built up from scratch and you can start picking out what you like from the songs you "copy" and start to develope your own style.