One of you guys suggested to me that I write more posts on "the music scene" that's kinda' vague... but I will deliver! And what's a hotter topic in the music scene right now than rap? Oh right, Dubstep... well, maybe I'll tackle that later.
Rap is still seeing a lot of hate after all these years. Mostly from the white community. You know why? Because white people don't listen to nearly enough rap. I should know. It's a typical "fear of the unknown" deal. These people haven't seen the wide varitey of enjoyment rap has to offer, and so assume it's all like, I dunno, N.W.A. or something. Some of Kanye West's stuff is kinda messed up. You get the idea. Shooting people, doing/dealing drugs, the like. Well, in the first place, people should be able to write about whatever they want. But I don't think I would be interested if that was the true message of all rap and hip-hop. It is so much more of an array. There is a rap about almost any topic you can think of.
I used to see rap as just another thing self-obsessed jerks could wave in my face, like some kind of proof that they were arrogant jerks, just like what I saw rappers as. But now I know there are very few rappers like that. And even then, it's a release, it dosen't neccessarily mean you're like that.
Now to talk about the first rapper I liked. A gateway rapper, if you will. MC Frontalot. The first nerdy rapper to rap about the nerdiest of topics, from RPGs to old-school video games to goth girls to Penny Arcade. Stuff that, realistically, his audience can actually connect to. All things I'm interested in. So, lots of fun. And that's how I learned about MF Doom, the closest thing to Frontalot, only black. He's rapped about video games, comics, and made entire albums about the adult swim cartoons. Like Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which is so so awesome. I friggin' love this guy. He makes nerdy stuff cool. And he's very self-aware (by the way thats him in the picture, he wears that mask all the time: Dr. Doom from fantastic four homage). He realizes the stereotypes associated with rappers and critiscizes them for it. So cool. So yeah, I love him. Uh... as they say in the hood, "No homo!"
Now I can actually appreciate rappers like Snoop Dogg (Well, Snoop Lion now, he's still not completely done with rapping though), Ghostface Killah, and even Insane Clown Posse... kinda.
My advice for anyone who still views rap as I once did: look for your way in. Find someone who raps about something you like. You could get used to it, And trust me, it's a lot more fun to like music the more genres you can respect.
Rap is still seeing a lot of hate after all these years. Mostly from the white community. You know why? Because white people don't listen to nearly enough rap. I should know. It's a typical "fear of the unknown" deal. These people haven't seen the wide varitey of enjoyment rap has to offer, and so assume it's all like, I dunno, N.W.A. or something. Some of Kanye West's stuff is kinda messed up. You get the idea. Shooting people, doing/dealing drugs, the like. Well, in the first place, people should be able to write about whatever they want. But I don't think I would be interested if that was the true message of all rap and hip-hop. It is so much more of an array. There is a rap about almost any topic you can think of.
I used to see rap as just another thing self-obsessed jerks could wave in my face, like some kind of proof that they were arrogant jerks, just like what I saw rappers as. But now I know there are very few rappers like that. And even then, it's a release, it dosen't neccessarily mean you're like that.
Now to talk about the first rapper I liked. A gateway rapper, if you will. MC Frontalot. The first nerdy rapper to rap about the nerdiest of topics, from RPGs to old-school video games to goth girls to Penny Arcade. Stuff that, realistically, his audience can actually connect to. All things I'm interested in. So, lots of fun. And that's how I learned about MF Doom, the closest thing to Frontalot, only black. He's rapped about video games, comics, and made entire albums about the adult swim cartoons. Like Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which is so so awesome. I friggin' love this guy. He makes nerdy stuff cool. And he's very self-aware (by the way thats him in the picture, he wears that mask all the time: Dr. Doom from fantastic four homage). He realizes the stereotypes associated with rappers and critiscizes them for it. So cool. So yeah, I love him. Uh... as they say in the hood, "No homo!"
Now I can actually appreciate rappers like Snoop Dogg (Well, Snoop Lion now, he's still not completely done with rapping though), Ghostface Killah, and even Insane Clown Posse... kinda.
My advice for anyone who still views rap as I once did: look for your way in. Find someone who raps about something you like. You could get used to it, And trust me, it's a lot more fun to like music the more genres you can respect.
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