Disco died pretty quick...why is Rapp still alive?

[Ken]

It should be called Rip ! Rips off real artists' music.

You are absolutely correct '55. But, Pat Boone 'ripped' off Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti". Pearl Jam's Mike McCready was asked about the source of inspiration for the guitar solo in "Alive". He said that he essentially ripped it off, note for note from Ace Frehley's (Kiss) solo from the song "She". When they asked Ace about it, he laughed hysterically, stating he lifed that solo from Robbie Kreiger's work in the Door's "Five to One". Everybody rips off everybody. Rap is no different. I'd say at least that most rap artists are creative with what they lift. Pat Boone's cover of Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" is a blatant rip, only 'whitified' and awful. Little Richard was high-voltage, in-your-face, attitude and swagger and KNEW he was getting ripped without being compensated for it.

[OLD 55]

Yes, it's a timeless practice Ken. Even Tutti Frutti was a "dirty ditty" that Little Richard and his band used to kick around. I forget who it was, but they had him clean up the lyrics and made a Hit out of it.

And I like Pat Boone's ballads, but his insipid covers of Little Richard and Fats Domino 'rockers' was laughable really.

I was really just stirring my Mate Batman.

[Kevin]

Careful , Batman , Aussies ' mate ' for life ...

[OLD 55]

I've already mated and we had 5 cubs, all of them older than Batman.

[Kevin]

Nothing to stop you from making a line of 'intellectully like mates ' , though , is there , ... you demon .

[invisible_r]

interesting article

[Farin]

That's interesting. I never thought US rap didn't have political songs. In Germany we have both. There are your stereotyopical 'Gangster' rapper who make songs about violence, well endowed women etc. But the last two singles of "Fettes Brot", one of the most famous hiphop bands criticised the media/war and the problems of parenthood respectively.

[OLD 55]

See what's happened ? Ice Ice Baby is in the Songfacts Weekly Top Ten. The Under Pressure intro must have gotten it there.

[Jenny]

Just want to print some misogynistic and violent rap lyrics from a very popular song I heard on the radio today (Okay, a few curses, but that's not unusual):

Where'd You Go? - Fort Minor

Where'd you go?

I miss you so,

Seems like it's been forever,

That you've been gone.

She said "Some days I feel like s**,

Some days I wanna quit, and just be normal for a bit,"

I don't understand why you have to always be gone,

I get along but the trips always feel so long,

And, I find myself trying to stay by the phone,

'Cause your voice always helps me to not feel so alone,

But I feel like an idiot, workin' my day around the call,

But when I pick up I don't have much to say,

So, I want you to know it's a little f***d up,

That I'm stuck here waitin', at times debatin',

Tellin' you that I've had it with you and your career,

Me and the rest of the family here singing "Where'd you go?"

I miss you so,

Seems like it's been forever,

That you've been gone.

Where'd you go?

I miss you so,

Seems like it's been forever,

That you've been gone,

Please come back home...

You know the place where you used to live,

Used to barbecue up burgers and ribs,

Used to have a little party every Halloween with candy by the pile,

But now, you only stop by every once and a while,

S**, I find myself just fillin' my time,

With anything to keep the thought of you from my mind,

I'm doin' fine, I plan to keep it that way,

You can call me if you find that you have something to say,

And I'll tell you, I want you to know it's a little f***d up,

That I'm stuck here waitin', at times debatin',

Tellin' you that I've had it with you and your career,

Me and the rest of the family here singing "Where'd you go?"

I miss you so,

Seems like it's been forever,

That you've been gone.

Where'd you go?

I miss you so,

Seems like it's been forever,

That you've been gone,

Please come back home...

I want you to know it's a little f***d up,

That I'm stuck here waitin', no longer debatin',

Tired of sittin' and hatin' and makin' these excuses,

For why you're not around, and feeling so useless,

It seems one thing has been true all along,

You don't really know what you've got 'til it's gone,

I guess I've had it with you and your career,

When you come back I won't be here and you can sing it...

Where'd you go?

I miss you so,

Seems like it's been forever,

That you've been gone.

Where'd you go?

I miss you so,

Seems like it's been forever,

That you've been gone,

Please come back home...

Please come back home...

Please come back home...

Please come back home...

Please come back home...

[daslied]

Fort Minor, of course, is made up of the rapper from Linkin Park.

[Jenny]

Really? Okay, didn't know that ...but the lyrics (except for the curses) are pretty atypical of what most people think rap is.

Next time, I'll do some Will Smith lyrics or something.

[daslied]

Nooooooooooo!

[Batman]

(Describing hip hop in the U.S.)

"They don't really want to hear about your opposition to George Bush - they'd much rather hear about what you want to do with George Bush's wife"

LOL

[jman14141414]

I'm going to add my 2 cents here....

Almost every genre of music has sexiest themes, heck even classical music does(The Rite Of Spring is about a pagan ritual sacrificing a young girl).

It's nothing new in music, if you're going to say only hip-hop artists are misogynistic, then you're just choosing to ignore the fact that 80%(of course I'm just pulling that number out of the air) of every other classic rock bands use misogynistic lyrics. Of course I'm not saying it's good that other bands use misogynistic lyrics, I'm just saying that hip-hop artists aren't the only ones.

Yes there are good artists in hip-hop and yes there are bad artists in hip-hop, just as in every other genre of music. Just because most of the hip-hop that gets played on MTV or the radio sucks, does NOT mean that ALL hip-hop sucks. Just like Kenny G, does not represent all of Jazz.

[/rant]

[Steel2Velvet]

Because so much about rap is self-serving and gratuitous, I always question the "musician's" motives. Do they want to share a vision with others or are they on a quest to accumulate?

A prophetic song from about 1970:

Hey girl, I bet you

There's someone out to get you.

You'll find him anywhere

On a bus, in a bar, in a grocery store.

He'll say "Excuse me, haven't I seen you somewhere before?"

Rap, rap, rap, they call him the Rapper.

Rap, rap, rap, you know what he's after.

So, he starts his rappin'

Hoping something will happen.

He'll say he needs you,

A companion, a girl he can talk to.

He's made up his mind.

He needs someone to sock it to.

Rap, rap, rap, they call him the Rapper.

Rap, rap, rap, you know what he's after.

He's made an impression,

So he makes a suggestion.

"Come up to my place

For some coffee or tea or me."

He's got you where he wants you.

Girl, you've gotta face reality.

Rap, rap, rap, they call him the Rapper.

Rap, rap, rap, you know what he's after

The Rapper by the Jaggerz

[RonJonSurfer]

I love that song....

[Tenacious_Peaches]

Do they want to share a vision with others or are they on a quest to accumulate?

The wonderful thing about rap, as with every other genre of music on the planet, is that there is room for every facet of it, including the two mentioned above. Just because there are rap songs about big booty ho's doesn't mean there aren't rap songs about viable social issues that promote peace and growth and rising above one's situation. It's a big world, people, and just because you don't like it or understand it doesn't make it any less important or relevant.

Ron, I certainly don't mean to attack you in any way. This is just a general statement about rap and the same arguments I hear over and over about it. It's just that every time this subject comes up I feel like I have to defend it. It's the mother in me.

[Farin]

I agree wholeheartedly with you Peaches

BTW I'm just listening to The Streets, and really enjoying it (as far as I understand it )

[blind-fitter]

Indeed.

Now time for a lyrical interlude...

Artists: Stop the Violence All-Stars:

KRS-One, Stetsasonic, Kool Moe Dee, MC Lyte, Just-Ice, Doug E. Fresh

Heavy D, Public Enemy

Album: Self Destruction 12"

Song: Self Destruction

Chorus: Self-Destruction, ya headed for Self-Destruction 2X

[KRS-One]

Well, today's topic, self destruction

It really ain't the rap audience that's buggin

It's one or two suckas, ignorant brothers

Trying to rob and steal from one another

You get caught in the mid

So to crush the stereotype here's what we did

We got ourselves together

so that you could unite and fight for what's right

Not negative 'cause the way we live is positive

We don't kill our relatives

[MC Delight (Stetsasonic)]

Pop pop pop

when it's shot who's to blame?

Headlines, front page, and rap's the name

MC Delight here to state the bottom line

That black-on-black crime was way before our time

[Kool Moe Dee]

Took a brother's life with a knife as his wife

Cried cause he died a trifling death

When he left his very last breath

Was I slept so watch your step

Back in the sixties our brothers and sisters were hanged

How could you gang-bang?

I never ever ran from the Ku Klux Klan

and I shouldn't have to run from a black man

cause that's

Chorus

[MC Lyte]

Funky Fresh dressed to impress ready to party

Money in your pocket, dying to move your body

To get inside you paid the whole ten dollars

Scotch taped with a razor blade taped to your collar

Leave the guns and the crack and the knives alone

MC Lyte's on the microphone

Bum rushin and crushin, snatchin and taxin

I cram to understand why brother's don't be maxin

There's only one disco, they'll close one more

You ain't guarding the door

so what you got a gun for?

Do you rob the rich and give to the poor?

Yo Daddy-O, school em some more

[Daddy-O, Wise (Stetsasonic)]

Straight from the mouth of Wise and Daddy-o

Do a crime end up in jail and gotta go

Cause you could do crime and get paid today

And tomorrow you're behind bars in the worst way

Far from your family, cause you're locked away

Now tell me, do you really think crime pays?

Scheming on taking what your brother has?

You little suckers.. you talkin' all that jazz.

[D-Nice]

It's time to stand together in a unity

Cause if not then we're soon to be

Self-destroyed, unemployed

The rap race will be lost without a trace

Or a clue but what to do

Is stop the violence and kick the science

Down the road that we call eternity

Where knowledge is formed and you'll learn to be

Self-sufficient, independent

To teach to each is what rap intended

But society wants to invade

So do not walk this path they laid.

It's

Chorus

[Ms. Melodie]

I'm Ms. Melodie and I'm a born again rebel

The violence in rap must cease and seckle

If we want to develop and grow to another level

We can't be guinea pigs for the devil

The enemy knows, they're no fools

Because everyone knows that hip-hop rules

So we gotta get a grip and grab what's wrong

The opposition is weak and rap is strong

[Doug E. Fresh]

This is all about, no doubt, to stop violence

But first let's have a moment of silence

*Fresh beatboxes*... swing

Things been stated re-educated, evaluated

THoughts of the past have faded

The only thing left is the memories of our belated

and I hate it, when

Someone dies and gets all hurt up

For a silly gold chain by a chump; WORD IP

It doesn't make you a big man, and

To want to go out and dis your brother man, and

You don't know that's part of the plan

Why? Cause rap music is in full demand.

Understand

Chorus

[Just-Ice]

My name is Just-Ice a man not a prankster

I was known... as the gangster

But believe me that is no fun

The time is now to unite everyone

You don't have to be soft to be for peace

Robbin and killin and muderin is the least

You don't have to be chained by the beast

But party people it's time I release!

[Heavy D]

Aiyyo here's the situation: Idio[di]cy

Nonsense, violence, not a good policy

Therefore we must ignore, fightin and fussin

Hev is at the door so there'll be no bum-rushin

Let's get together so we'll be fallin apart

I heard a brother shot another. It broke my heart

I don't understand the difficulty, people

Love your brother, treat him as an equal

They call us animals mmm mmm I don't agree with them

I'll prove them wrong, but right is what your proving them

Take heed before I lead to what I'm sayin

Or we'll all be on our knees, prayin

[Fruitkwan (Stetsasonic)

Yo Heavy D, deep in the heart of the matter

The self-destruction is served on a platter

Makin a day not failing to aniticipate

They got greedy so they fell for the bait

That makes them a victim, picked then plucked

New jack in jail, but to the vets they're a duck

There's no one to rob, cause in jail you're a number

They never took the time to wonder about

Chorus

[Chuck D, Flavor Flav (Public Enemy)]

Yes we urge to merge we live for the love

Of our people the hope that they get along

(Yeah, so we did a song)

Getting the point to our brothers and sisters

Who don't know the time (boyyyee, so we wrote a rhyme)

It's dead in your head, you know, I'll drive to build

And collect ourselves with intellect, come on

To revolve to evolve to self-respect

Cause we got to keep ourselves in check

Or else it's...

Chorus: Self-Destruction, ya headed for Self-Destruction 2X

[Steel2Velvet]

Ron, I certainly don't mean to attack you in any way. This is just a general statement about rap and the same arguments I hear over and over about it. It's just that every time this subject comes up I feel like I have to defend it.

I know you are not attacking me, Peaches. Just as I am not dissing all rap. I realize that as in any artform, there is quality and there is crap. I just find it impossible to listen (and perhaps you do too) to a piece that invokes accolades upon the lyricist. I mean Jim Croce was a great songwriter, but he never once had to tell me so. If the Stones had written as many songs about themselves as Eminem has, I probably would not appreciate the Stones as much as I do. Then there is the women/business/police degradation themes that seem to want to do nothing but incite hatred. If the Grateful Dead had advocated putting a cap in someone, I probably would have thought that group does not deserve a pulpit to preach trash.

The lyrics Blind-Fitter just posted are extremely encouraging to me as one who wants any artform to succeed to unite, not divide. Heck, you know I like rhyme and I have written short raps. I have been to poetry performance forums where rap-like poetry made me feel very exhilarated. But spare me the egoists or snarling dogs who seem to profit from pain while offering little but condemnation to a society that may not be perfect, yet is so forgiving as to bind the blind in chains of gold.

[daslied]

I don't mean to go all Paul Edward on you, but the majority of the themes in rap you hear are dictated by the buying audience - 16 year old kids who are fascinated by that sort of imagery. These kids have the fantasies of the girls, the money and the power, so rap appeals to them. These kids also have self-esteem problems and feelings of isolation, so modern rock appeals to them. It's nothing more than supply and demand.

I'm not saying record companies are totally at fault, and I'm not calling them very responsible people for exploiting such an image. But if people weren't buying it they wouldn't be selling it. You would think it would be easy to try and instigate a change of taste in their audience, with the promotional tools at their disposal. But these companies are way too close to completely disappearing to do anything so radical as be original or innovative.

I blame Johnny Cash and "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die."

[Steel2Velvet]

.... the majority of the themes in rap you hear are dictated by the buying audience - It's nothing more than supply and demand.

As a broadbrush statement, that sure discredits the lyricists. While some may write to appease an audience, I would venture the "majority" of lyricists write from personal feelings and experiences. It is much easier for the audience to find the performer than the other way around. What motivates an audience to gravitate toward a particular artist has more to do with word of mouth, what's in fashion and peer pressure (at the school age level) than with thoughtful shared experience.

I blame Johnny Cash and "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die."

... which is an anthem of how to get into Folsom prison. Meryl Haggard and others predate Johnny Cash in that mournful department:

"I turned twenty-one in prison doing life without parole/No one could steer me right, but Momma tried,Momma tried."

Both of which are a far cry from "Cop Killer" that esteems violence as a source of pride.

[Batman]

Funny lyrics:

The Streets

"The Irony of it All"

(When the drinker is rapping, the music is really intense and angry, and the music is timid and quiet when the stoner is rapping)

(Drinker)

Hello, hello. my names terry and I’m a law abider

There’s nothing I like more than getting fired up on beer

And when the weekends here I to exercise my right to get paralytic and fight

Good bloke fairly

But I get well leery when geezers look at me funny

Bounce ’em round like bunnies

I’m likely to cause mischief

Good clean grief you must believe and I ain’t no thief.

Law abiding and all, all legal.

And who cares about my liver when it feels good

What you need is some real manhood.

Rasher rasher barney and kasha putting peoples backs up.

Public disorder, I’ll give you public disorder.

I down eight pints and run all over the place

Spit in the face of an officer

See if that bothers you cause I never broke a law in my life

Someday I’m gonna settle down with a wife

Come on lads lets have another fight

(Stoner)

Eh hello. My name's Tim and I’m a criminal,

In the eyes of society I need to be in jail

For the choice of herbs I inhale.

This ain’t no wholesale operation

Just a few eighths and some playstations my’s vocation

I pose a threat to the nation

And down the station the police hold no patients

Let’s talk space and time

I like to get deep sometimes and think about einstein

And Carl Young and old kung fu movies I like to see

Pass the hydrator please

Yeah I’m floating on thin air.

Going to Amsterdam in the new year - top gear there

Cause I take pride in my hobby

Home made bongs using my engineering degree

Dear leaders, please legalize weed for these reasons.

(Drinker)

Like I was saying to him.

I told him: top with me and you won’t leave.

So I smacked him in the head and downed another carling

Bada bada bing for the lad’s night.

Mad fight, his face’s a sad sight.

Vodka and snake bite.

Going on like a right geez, he’s a twat,

Shouldn’t have looked at me like that.

Anyway I’m an upstanding citizen

If a war came along I’d be on the front line with em.

Can’t stand crime either them hooligans on heroin.

Drugs and criminals those thugs on the penny coloured will be the downfall of society

I’ve got all the anger pent up inside of me.

(Stoner)

You know I don’t see why I should be the criminal

How can something with no recorded fatalities be illegal

And how many deaths are there per year from alcohol

I just completed gran tourismo on the hardest setting

We pose no threat on my settee

Ooh the pizza’s here will someone let him in please

We didn’t order chicken, not a problem we’ll pick it out

I doubt they meant to mess us about

After all we’re all adults not louts.

As I was saying, we’re friendly peaceful people

We’re not the ones out there causing trouble.

We just sit in this hazy bubble with our quarters

Discussing how beautiful gail porter is.

Mtv, bbc 2, channel 4 is on until six in the morning.

Then at six in the morning the sun dawns and it’s my bedtime.

(Drinker)

Causing trouble, your stinking rabble

Boys saying I’m the lad who’s spoiling it

You’re on drugs it really bugs me when people try and tell me I’m a thug

Just for getting drunk

I like getting drunk

Cause I’m an upstanding citizen

If a war came along I’d be on the front line with em.

(Stoner)

Now terry you’re repeating yourself

But that’s okay drunk people can’t help that.

A chemical reaction inside your brain causes you to forget what you’re saying.

(Drinker)

What. I know exactly what I’m saying

I’m perfectly sane

You stinking student lameo

Go get a job and stop robbing us of our taxes.

(Stoner)

Err, well actually according to research

Government funding for further education pales in insignificance

When compared to how much they spend on repairing

Leery drunk people at the weekend

In casualty wards all over the land.

(Drinker)

Why you cheeky little swine come here

I’m gonna batter you! come here---

[TheTallOne]

If rap getting you down, listen to Goldie Lookin Chain. It's garbage, yes, but very funny and successful in mocking the entire hip hop genre.

[Levis]

I don't like the rap that glorifies sex and violence and uses it to sell records. The egotistic, mysoginist stuff that they keep playing. It's unlikely that all rap is bad, but the mainstream stuff is awful and that's what we base our stereotypes on.

I remember liking some of the stuff from when I was a mere babe of 5 or 7.