sharke
 
Here in New York I sometimes work with my window open, and every 30 seconds or so an SUV drives by slowly with modern rap blaring, and from the lyrics I manage to make out there is invariably the n-word and the b-word and references to one of the following themes: violence, intimidation, jealousy, disrespect, wealth. 

Rain

sharke
 
Here in New York I sometimes work with my window open, and every 30 seconds or so an SUV drives by slowly with modern rap blaring, and from the lyrics I manage to make out there is invariably the n-word and the b-word and references to one of the following themes: violence, intimidation, jealousy, disrespect, wealth. 

This brings back livid memories of living on 42nd... :)
 
I guess it goes hand in hand with violence, intimidation and disrespect that people who listen to that stuff often listen to it as loud as possible. 
 
I don't remember hearing much Jimi Hendrix or Gloria Gaynor coming from cars on 42nd nor do I remember feeling my rib cage shaking from the excess of bass because someone was listening to Mozart or Nick Cave too loud in East Village... 

jamesg1213
If I had to pick one artist who manages to straddle all the genres and comes up with very 'satisfying' material that I can listen to over and over again, it would be Mark Knopfler. Since Dire Straits split his solo stuff encompasses rock, folk, country, blues and pop, and his lyrics are always 'about something', never just a throwaway lyric for the sake of a rhyme.
 

I was listening to Spotify radio in the gym the other day and the song Brothers In Arms came on. What a NICE sound that is! The guitar tone is to die for. And the notes he plays are beautiful. Me and him went to the same school too (not at the same time though, obviously) 

sharke

jamesg1213
If I had to pick one artist who manages to straddle all the genres and comes up with very 'satisfying' material that I can listen to over and over again, it would be Mark Knopfler. Since Dire Straits split his solo stuff encompasses rock, folk, country, blues and pop, and his lyrics are always 'about something', never just a throwaway lyric for the sake of a rhyme.
 

 
I was listening to Spotify radio in the gym the other day and the song Brothers In Arms came on. What a NICE sound that is! The guitar tone is to die for. And the notes he plays are beautiful. Me and him went to the same school too (not at the same time though, obviously) 
 

dubdisciple
Sharke and rain. Not once did I mention anything about thugs or anything related. I said that conversations on such tend to bring out statements with racist elements. Not once did I say not liking rap or liking rap by white rappers made one racist.

Craigb. One of the sad things about what you said about most of the popular "thuggish" type rap coming from uneducated, etc is that many of these so called thugs DO know better. Many are educated and choose that path because it is financially lucrative. When rap was confined mostly to poorly educated people it was not "gangster" at all. It was mostly spontaneous party chants and variations of Jamaican toasting. The next phase saw a rise of "concscious" rappers. The likes of public enemy, krs-one, tribe called qwest were big for a bit. It was when rap became pop product for mass consumption by people of all social and economic backgrounds that it became so negative. There are Juliard graduates making songs about hos. Like you said..we are not the demographic for the music. Just like our parents were not tbe demographic for Sid Vicious or many other acts deemed highly offensive in their day. I recall how appalled my grandmother used tobe at acts now reverred today. She hates rap too.

dubdisciple
I actually checked the current top 10 rap songs at the moment. Cant say I liked one of them but again it illustrates that often the criticisms are based on stereotypes and selected anecdotes that ignore the reality. Not one was created by a sample loop with an 80's riff. Ironically you are MORE likely to find songs based on sample loops among underground rappers with more positive lyrics who are "critically acclaimed" but far less popular to the masses. In fact, the more ignorant the rap the less likely it is to be composed of sample loops. With that said, I'm not trying to claim trap beats that contain no loops are exactly high art but merely that the dominance of such totally shatters the stereotype. Loop dominated rap scores a hit once in awhile but repetitive synth driven rap rules at the moment. If you don't believe me peep Billboard.

dubdisciple
I really hate to post something like this, but since yiou asked for it , this "lovely" piece of art comes from a production team headed by a product of Julliard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dchF_dbYCaA
 
I'm not trying to claim Julliard is regularly cranking out this type of trash and the rapper himself certainly not a product of Julliard. My whole point was that rap passed the point of being made by mostly non-musically trained urban youth long ago.  The typical rap producer these days is college educated and from a middle class background even if what the end product is tends to not reflect that.  Many high profile names in rap are not what they appear and assume the "thug" persona because middle class America eats it up.  Rick Ross was a corrections officer and portrays himself as some kind of drug dealing kingpin.  Wocka Flocka graduated with honors.  I would rather eat boiled cat food then listen to either of these two, but it's because I simply don't enjoy their music. 

dubdisciple
Sharke and rain. Not once did I mention anything about thugs or anything related. I said that conversations on such tend to bring out statements with racist elements. Not once did I say not liking rap or liking rap by white rappers made one racist.

Craigb. One of the sad things about what you said about most of the popular "thuggish" type rap coming from uneducated, etc is that many of these so called thugs DO know better. Many are educated and choose that path because it is financially lucrative. When rap was confined mostly to poorly educated people it was not "gangster" at all. It was mostly spontaneous party chants and variations of Jamaican toasting. The next phase saw a rise of "concscious" rappers. The likes of public enemy, krs-one, tribe called qwest were big for a bit. It was when rap became pop product for mass consumption by people of all social and economic backgrounds that it became so negative. There are Juliard graduates making songs about hos. Like you said..we are not the demographic for the music. Just like our parents were not tbe demographic for Sid Vicious or many other acts deemed highly offensive in their day. I recall how appalled my grandmother used tobe at acts now reverred today. She hates rap too.

Rain
 
A whole lot of pop music these days leaves me feeling as if the singer was clinging to me, wrapping their legs and arms around me with their face an inch from mine and yelling for attention and not letting go for a second. There's no room to breathe for the listener in modern pop mixes.
 

jamesg1213
Just to interject with some prog for Craig ;
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WHCdHAJsR0
 
LOVE this band.