Could someone please explain to me why rap and hip-hop are so popular? The former I am especially dumbfounded by; it's all almost the exact same thing over and over again, what with all the talk about drugs, sex, profanity out the ass, and the frequent use of a certain 'n' word.
So why in God's name is it as popular as it is?
Oh boy. A nerve has been struck here but I'm gonna not let that influence me and I'll just stick to a brief answer.
First of all, saying rap is all the exact same thing shows an ignorance of the genre. It would be like me saying all pop music is about love. Rap is as diverse a genre of music as any other and takes a certain talent and appreciation for music to truly succeed at. Great rap is an art. When you have an MC who can flow atop a great beat while giving lyrics that make you think, it's another level. I'm not sure why sex or drugs are seen as a negative stereotype of rap music when rock music has been doing it for far longer. Even the Beatles wrote songs about drugs and sex. Rap, like any genre of music, is as much a platform for its artists as anything else. Yes there are rappers that sing about "the lifestyle" and having enough disposable cash to throw on sex, drugs, cars, whatever. But that's just surface stuff there and it's the kind of argument that people bring up because they hear someone like mush mouthed Chief Keef or something.
I suppose I haven't really explained the appeal but it's a difficult thing to express because everyone has different tastes. That said what I'm gonna do instead is provide some examples of rappers, some famous and some not, who aren't just about the lifestyle. Who are examples of the talent and skill that make great rappers or at least very good ones.
Guru was a damn poet and this song is an inspirational track about getting back up when life gets hard and it's delivered in a unique way thanks to Guru's gift with lyrics and the beat provided by Premo. This song is a great example of what rap can really do: inspire, uplift, be thought provoking, and be powerful. The way Guru flows with the beat...it's a work of art, truly.
Four Women was a song written by Nina Simone which was a song about the lasting effects of slavery via the stories of four women. Here, the song is re-imagined into a song that is just as powerful and resonant. It keeps the soul of the original and adds a new level of heart. A lot of rap music came from a place like this, with poets using their words to speak out about their reality. When rap was violent with its lyrics, it was in response to violence within communities - it's not that dissimilar to a group like, say, Rage Against the Machine which used rap and guitars in order to have more political minded messages in their songs.
If you're starting to see a pattern, congrats. If not, I'll just spell it out. While beats are important in creating a good rap song, what really makes a rap song great is, of course, the lyrics and with it the flow. Nas is one of the all time greats and One Mic is one of the greatest songs recorded, any genre. It's an incredibly powerful song dealing with real issues within the community that people like Nas came from, the hook in this song, how he just needs one mic, speaks volumes alone.
Yes, there are rap songs about fucking and getting money, but rap is a powerful tool for bringing up social, economic, and political issues. But that's just one side of the coin.
It's real easy for people to piss on Kanye West and sure, he invites a lot of it, but you can't deny the man knows what he's doing when it comes to putting together a production. He didn't get infamous just with his ego alone. Even if you ignore the lyrics, which why would you when they're so strong and is a rarity in that it's a exultation on spirituality, listen to the production, the music, the beat. The tempo makes the whole song sound like a marching band or a military cadence. It is things like that, the care in the craft of the song, that made Kanye West so successful even before he was known for his lack of awareness and his arrogance.
This isn't even Missy's best song but it does perfectly exemplify how diverse rap is as a genre. While the previous songs have had powerful lyrics and memorable beats, this song created a unique style (something Missy does all the damn time) and created an absurdist, futurist anthem. It trades drum and bass for synth and jungle beat and cemented Missy as a surrealist and someone who evolves the genre. Hell, she's reclaiming the word bitch even.
This song speaks for itself. When this song came out, Em was at the top of the entire game and for great reason.
Li'l Wayne, like Kanye, is an easy target for people that really don't listen to a lot of rap. And sure, some of it is deserved and I'm not the biggest fan of his but A Milli is what people call a banger and it's one the songs that proved how Li'l Wayne was on a different level from a lot of his contemporaries at the time. It's lyrics are chock full of entendre and multi-meanings that turn a song that, on the surface, sounds like the anthem of a kid that 'made it), into an anthem of a rapper who is staking his claim and making others take note. The thing about Wayne is that while he may not have the most consistent flow (but when he's on, he's on) he does have genre defining beats. Now some can argue that the shift to harder beats is what is ruining or ruined rap but beats have evolved with the times. Even Straight Outta Compton had a hard beat and that's one of the greatest songs of all time.
I just wanted an excuse to put another Kanye track on the list and to show that even in the present era where people like to complain about the content of rap, there exists a song like New Slaves.
Rap can even get deeply personal, not in the political or social way but in the actual self reflection and introspective way. Case in point is this track. Fatlip was never exactly popular and here is a song where he goes into his feelings and his depression. It's one of the realest songs you can get because here's a song from a guy that didn't really ever "make it" in the same way as damn near everyone else posted did.
I could go on but I kinda think I've done a poor job anyway and have just been indulging myself. But what I'm trying to get across is that rap is an incredibly diverse genre that constantly evolves. It has old voices speaking up and new voices steering the conversation. Yes, there are songs that are popular and bad and are vapid, but that's selling the entire genre short. It's fine not to like rap. It's not a genre made for a lot of people. But it does speak to a lot of people and often has been the voice of the voiceless. Hip Hop evolved from the funk era of the 70s and 80s and rap evolved from there. It's still evolving and changing. Even with the rise of 'gangsta' rap it brought about things like G-Funk which was an evolution of the roots of the entire thing.
I have to stress again that thinking rap is about money, drugs and bitches is wrong on every possible level. But even taking the songs that
are about that or at least include it, like the song Lifestyle by Rich Gang, is it so wrong for people to want to express their happiness at finding success? For a lot of rappers they started poor and found success with their words and music.
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