What does everyone listen to in a good song? What are they really hearing? Is it the beat, the melody and the rhythm or the lyrics? Is it fair to generalize this art that some call rap music into one category? Is it fair to insist that all rap/hip-hop artists seem to talk about is superfluous wealth, uncouth, unfaithful women and murder?
The funny thing about the strength of a human being is that it comes in its full effect while that being is in a state of suffering, a state of oppression and depression. Emotions influence and motivate us to find certain talents that might not have been discovered otherwise. Emotions drive a person to make that song, to express that feeling that he has deep within him.
When a person wants to share how he feels about his environment, writing is a way to accomplish that feat. I believe all verbal music is rooted very much in the origins of poetry and non-verbal music. That is how the music now came to be.
Rap/hip-hop music has become the source of this new generation, the strength of the modern day music. Its beats seem to amplify feelings.
However, the beats were there to encourage, entice and ensure that the artist could lay his words down with the same fury and vengeance implied in the song. Sure, some could stand alone on their separate plateau, but emotions and the expression that tie the lyrics and beats together in order for the artist to make it his own, as does a painter with a canvass and paintbrush.
There are many ways for a rap/hip-hop artist to do this, some more effective and benign than others.
Some underground artists stay back in their music, not willing to share their creativity on the radio. Everything in the underground is about what is real. Cars and clothes that you have are irrelevant. Underground is pure, unadulterated rap music without the eccentric banter that you get with mainstream.
Underground is, in itself, spoken word poetry that is still rap music. If you really enjoy rap music and want to explore every realm of it, you must partake in the unrefined, gritty, unconstrained underground sound.
Beware, however, that there is only a few good underground artists that have any talent at all. A few talented underground artists are Quasi Modo and Madvillian.
Next, is the lyrical and dramatic beat throbbing mainstream rap/hip-hop music. In this home of playas, stunnas, pimps, gangstas and killas, there reside two major essences of this representative branch of hip-hop.
There is the hardcore gangsta rap of artists, such as 50 Cent and Dr. Dre. Then, there is the smooth, poetic soft-core hip-hop of such names as Kanye West and Jay-Z. In this genre of hardcore rap, it is believed that putting up that gangster image will enable one to acquire more money.
I believe the record labels and the people in the background want them to recite their life in that form of those atrocities, so that it can feed that whole gangster mentality.
Nevertheless, it is the way one incorporates his lyrics and the bass of the beat that makes the song good to listen to in this genre. In gangster rap, subjects are limited, due to the image. Gangster rap, which is the forefront of rap music, is why all rap music is viewed in such a bad light because of its content.
Also, the beat of the song that can turn gangster rap into a club banger. Sure, it all may sound the same and the artist may say the same thing, but gangster rap, because of its bass and energetic slurs, is for the man of action, the thug in all of us.
Gangster rap is the beat of rap/hip-hop music. Soft-core hip-hop on the other hand is a different kind of style to mainstream. It is a style that incorporates different lyrics, versatility and the ability to change invariably.
Soft-core rap artists tend to branch out and work with every type of artist from every genre of music, not just rap and R&B.
For instance, Jay-Z has done songs with Lenny Kravitz, Linkin Park and Chris Martin. The soft-core rap is a lot less beat and a more symphonic sound. Last but not least, the lyrics of soft-core rap are phenomenal and force you to sit on a rock and think about what the artist is portraying. Kanye and Jay-Z for the most part, rap about something related to someone. If not, they are rapping about themselves, conceited as one should be or they are rapping about something deep like Kanye’s “Gold Digger” or Jay-Z’s “Minority Report.”
Soft-core, which represents the meaning of rap/hip-hop and its creativity, is essentially the music for the thinking man, something to lean back and just listen to, while bobbing your head. Maybe that is why it is overlooked next to gangster rap. Anyway, soft core represents the meaning of rap/hip-hop and its creativity.
Sure, there are other minor genres that are growing more and more popular each day. There are the club bangers, the snap music, the dance music, the smooth hip-hop/R&B, among others.
Many artists go from genre to genre seeking a new sound for their music, which makes rap/hip-hop so versatile. I have to say rap/hip-hop and R&B have the most collaborations than any other genre of music.
However, rap music will continue to be misunderstood and people will fear it because of their prejudice and stereotypes.
Me, I will continue to bump my Young Jeezy, listen to Madvillain and bob my head to my Jay-Z, because I understand the struggle of emotions that rap/hip-hop is coming from.
I encourage you to keep your ears and mind open and listen to the words of a real rap song the next time you hear it.
