[Spouter]

Here are some lyrics to a rap song that has been popular lately. For some reason, it fills me with rage.

Man, I been did that, man, I been popped off
And if she ain't trying to give it up she get dropped off
Let me bust that U-ie, bitch bust that open
Might spend a couple thou' just to bust that open
Rip it off no joking, like your name Hulk Hogan
Niggas move weight in the South but live in Hoboken
Bitch, I spit that crack, like I'm in that trap
So if you need a hit then I'm with that bat

What is this illiterate nonsense? "I been did that." The rapper is female, and her attitude towards women in general has to be described as deeply misogynistic. "If she ain't trying to give it up she get dropped off." And are we really comfortable with popular music, chanted enthusiastically by millions of children, which uncritically glorifies, not just doing drugs, as in some Rock and Roll songs, but actually selling drugs. "I spit that crack." I thought I was pretty open minded when it comes to art and music, but this rap nonsense makes me feel like a cranky old man. What happened to our society?

And my god, the way they grossly wallow in material excess, the way they boil all of the intricacies of life down to just one thing: money. It is disgusting! Don't get me wrong, I myself am a materialist. I enjoy the finer things in life. A good drink, a good meal, a nice suit of comfortable and well made clothes. But the materialism in these songs is like a madman's frenzied hallucination. It is expressed with something like desperation, as if you will simply die if you don't acquire these specific material items. And the quality of the item is not even considered, only the "brand" of the item is important. You get the idea that they would prefer a disgusting and harsh cigar, for example, to a better smoke, just because the nasty one is more expensive. As the rapper says in another one of these "songs": "I'm wearing all my favorite brands, brands, brands, brands."

And what happened to musical instruments? Black people almost invented modern music: whole genres that never existed before, like ragtime, jazz, blues, rock and roll. And they did it with their own hands: geniuses like Robert Johnson, Coltrane, Jimmy Hendrix. Guys who had completely mastered their instrument. Now it all comes out of a computer. And it sounds horrible. The repetitive banging of the bass. To me, this is the sound of madness.

I worry for my society. This music can't be a good sign. I'm trying to find a good spin on all this, but I can't.

[RhetoricThug]

Yes, there seems to be powers at work busy numbing the masses. Hence why mainstream music usually is like a bad synthetic drug being pushed by the company with the most money.

Though, I've seen illiteracy and materialism spewed from almost all genres of music. I don't believe its hip hop's specialty. The young/thug crowd seems to latch onto it, I'll give you that.

You have to realize that there is more, how do I put it- intellectual rap out there. The main problem is the radios won't play it, and most people don't get exposed to it. One of those ignorance is bliss deals, I suppose. So, the sheep that play songs like lil wayne and nicci minaj ah' billion times on Youtube may not know any better.

Check out Deltron 3030

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7_jbluF0qo

Or Hilltop Hoods

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAV7g1jN130

Maybe Revolution of the mind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWDQs6voB44

Don't worry, its all about exposure. Thats why media blitz breeds destruction and keeps people in the dark

[QatzelOk]

Commercial culture - which includes most rap music that you and I have heard of - is at the service of capital, not of the listener.

It sells you an identity that requires many purchases.

And it drives down you self-esteem in order to make you vulnerable to quick fixes from items you can buy.

Mass media has made us a sick society, but the cure is to stop consuming it. Which isn't hard when you realize how trashy and stupid it is.

But it takes distance and solitary thought to realize this.

[redcarpet]

Most things in 'pop culture' are purely for money & benefit of the companies that provide them. Not the cheering audiences on the TV.

So the X Factor and all these singing contest shows are NOT about art, skill or entertainment. But for advertising & other money grabbing sh1t.

[p0nder]

Honestly, why trouble yourself with it? If you don't like that kind of music, then don't listen to it. As long as you can still get the media you want, why is it any concern of yours what other people like?

[Beren]

What is this illiterate nonsense?

A poem maybe?

[QatzelOk]

Most things in 'pop culture' are purely for money & benefit of the companies that provide them. Not the cheering audiences on the TV.

This includes Christmas, Mother's Day, Halloween, suburbia, cars, malls, Hollywood, television, and many university educations.

They were all created to concentrate wealth accumulation. NOT to enrich the people who participate/consume/are consumed by them.

[Spouter]

Honestly, why trouble yourself with it? If you don't like that kind of music, then don't listen to it. As long as you can still get the media you want, why is it any concern of yours what other people like?

In all honesty, I have to describe myself as a fan of this "music." I feel attracted to it by the same unconscious urge that causes us to ease up on the gas pedal when we drive by the scene of an accident. It's like an atomic bomb went off in the mass mind, and I'm flipping through the snuff photos of melted clocks, charred corpses, and man-shaped shadows burned into walls. I want to look away, but I can't.

It's like the Zapruder film. It is a disgusting sight to see a man's skull fly apart like that, but there is something fascinating about it also.

One thing that fascinates me in particular is how the social forms of slavery are so faithfully translated into a modern form by rap music. Anyone who has read A Renegade History of the United States knows what I am talking about.

Another thing that fascinates me: Helmholtz made a very clear distinction between noise and music, which almost anyone could understand (god bless those meticulous German scientists). However, this modern rap seems to blur the distinction between noise and music. It seems to be classifiable as both at once. These kinds of fringe phenomena have a certain natural appeal.

Here is a question I wish someone could answer: I have identified a number of characteristics that set this "music" apart, and I would like to know where they come from, and why the cultural zeitgeist has settled into these particular forms. These tropes seem to be common to everything comprehensible under the genre of popular, contemporary hip-hop (Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Two Chains, Future, etc.).

I. "Halloween Music" : It is always in a minor key, and except for the repetitive shock of the thumping base, we could be listening to the theme song of any number of horror movies (Halloween, the Exorcist, and so on). In so many of these songs, almost all of them, the main thrust of the lyrics is an ecstatic celebration of material wealth. The foreign cars, the jewelry, stacks of cash so fat that the rubber bands pop off! You would think that major chords would be appropriate - something joyous and triumphant. Instead, we get the menacing minor chords of horror movie soundtracks.

II. Bells : This one seems to be related to the latter identifying marker. At some point in the "song," bells are struck. One instantly thinks of the famous Tubular Bells of Friedkin's notorious splatter flick. But why are they trying to evoke this threatening atmosphere of apocalyptic doom, and why do the consumers of this "music" find it so enjoyable?

III. "Devil Voice" : I am beginning to sense a theme - One line of the chorus will invariably be altered by computer to have a deeper pitch, as the voice of HAL began to sllooowwww ddooowwwwnnnnn, in that excellent death scene from 2001 ("What are you doing, Dave? I honestly think you should sit down, take a stress pill, and think this thing through...").

All of these characteristics can more or less be grouped together, along with a number of disarming secondary effects, such as sirens that evoke air-raids and police chases, or indistinct voices shouting through bull horns (listen to the words shouted by "Fuzzy Jones" in Kanye's "Mercy"). The whole point is to evoke an atmosphere of impending doom, as far as I can tell. But there is more.

IV. Conspicuous Autotune : Presumably Autotune was developed to help mediocre singers sound better, but in order to create such an illusion, the effect must be used sparingly. It's like using makeup to cover a scar or blemish - if you layer it on too thickly, the person trying to draw attention away from the blemish actually draws attention to themselves, with their clown-like appearance. These hip-hop artists tend to layer it on so thickly that it sounds like robotic harmonicas trying to simulate a human voice. Some of these "singers," like Future, actually sound worse because of this computer "enhancement," like the screeching of an injured cat. The reasoning seems to be that Autotune is good, therefore more is better. Pour the Autotune to the brim - don't stop until it is unrecognizable as a human voice!

There are more characteristics, I am sure, but these seem to be the most prevalent. Can someone explain them to me? Why do they layer on the Autotune so thickly? Are they purposively trying to make their "music" sound like it was produced by incompetent amateurs? I am aware of avant garde musicians who go for this effect, like the rock band, Pussy Galore, but this hip-hop "music" is designed to be popular (and it is!).

And why the horror-movie music? The themes we find in the lyrics are all about the joys of material consumption ("All my cars is foreign!"), or sex, or the consumption of drugs. These are joyous themes, I would think. But, the emotional atmosphere that this "music" evokes makes you anticipate a random attack by unknown and invisible entities.

[RhetoricThug]

Jesus man... Get a grip. I respect all that meticulous examination- BUT! the only place I can firmly agree with you is the "Beat of the music"
Rap, Hiphop is built on lyricism. The popular trend has NOTHING to do with low key or "Underground" dubbed artists. Take a listen to this anti-everything hiphop song by a hiphop artist. I'm sure you'll get a kick out of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRVOOwFNp5U

There is a war on your mind being waged, but not entirely being done by one genre.

[Rei Murasame]

The themes we find in the lyrics are all about the joys of material consumption ("All my cars is foreign!"), or sex, or the consumption of drugs. These are joyous themes, I would think. But, the emotional atmosphere that this "music" evokes makes you anticipate a random attack by unknown and invisible entities.

They are doing that on purpose, that is actually part of the message. It is not joyous. It is in some kind of half-way position between the two.

It serves the same function as when you see those bridges in British pop rock or American country music or those breakdowns used in Symphonic Death Metal where the curtain is pulled back and the demolished and weather-beaten landscape is revealed in full. (especially when you remember where that sound came from.)

It's supposed to create that clash of feelings. Most pop genres have the ability to signal that clash in some ways, just Hip-Hop does it the most blatantly and obviously, that's all.

[Spouter]

It's supposed to create that clash of feelings. Most pop genres have the ability to signal that clash in some ways, just Hip-Hop does it the most blatantly and obviously, that's all.

I agree with this assessment, to a certain degree. I definitely agree that the various effects "clash" with each other, and they are meant to.

To me, it seems like an expression of narcissism. We find in this hip hop "music" a celebration of material wealth and pleasure, but it is unlike the pure hedonism we would find in a materialist with a stable ego and a secure sense of boundaries, in his own mind. A true materialist enjoys the pleasure he receives from certain physical commodities, such as an expensive automobile. With these hip-hoppers, the pleasure that comes from the commodity is secondary. Kanye does not buy a Lamborghini Murciélago (and then proceed to write songs about it) because he honestly desires this vehicle for its own physical properties. He has to have this car, and only this car, or his unstable ego will precede to rapidly dissolve. There are other high-end automobiles that might be more suitable for purposes of comfort and other factors of physical pleasure, but this one is the most expensive of them all, and so that is the one he has to have. If he doesn't acquire this object, then he is a complete and unmitigated loser who really does not deserve to live. Hence, the threatening minor chords of horror movie music. The psyche of a narcissist is never secure from the threat of dissolution, even when he surrounds himself with commodities of "all his favorite brands, brands, brands."

Is it possible that popular hip hop music perfectly captures the zeitgeist of 21st century Western Capitalism?

Now, your comments on the use "bridges" in pop/rock/country music are interesting, but I don't quite comprehend them completely. Are we operating with the same definition?

The bridge is often used to contrast with and prepares for the return of the verse and the chorus.

Your assertion is very interesting, that this moment in the song is like the moment when "the curtain is pulled back and the demolished and weather-beaten landscape is revealed in full." But your next link, to a Wiki article, suggests... what exactly? That this technique in musical composition was invented by Gaelic society? Even if that is true, what does it prove?

[Rei Murasame]

Basically yes, we are using the same definition. What I'm saying is that this goes back much further than just 21st century capitalism, since the roots of these genres are extremely old.

This is why I only half-agree with what you are saying. Basically these artists are not outright materialists, and that is why they keep juxtaposing material boasting with a coded sound that talks about an experience that goes back centuries and continues on into the future.

For instance, Hip-Hop is not about consumerism, because the sound describes a particular way of being in the world which may or may not involve material possessions. For example, you mentioned the Lamborghini Murciélago, but note that Nicki Minaj has a rap where she delivers these lines (and lots of other interesting lines):

Fuck your lambo
Fuck your murcié
I've got more money
In my fucking purse

But note what chant Lil Wayne is running the background when he enters with his boasting session at the end of the track: "It is a weeping and mourning and a gnashing of teeth..."

All of these things have meanings, including the sound, it's just that it's not immediately obvious to us because we are outside their culture.

It was easy to see it in Pop Rock because we are used to that and so we can 'feel' it, but with Hip-Hop it's like a different style completely so it seems foreign until decoded.

[RhetoricThug]

Haha, once again OVER EXAMINATION

Lil wayne, Minaj, Kanye, yes- They all infuse lifestyles and hardships into their music. It sells very well. As they hope it will when they are targeting an audience.

Once upon a time, Kanye, was making mixtapes and preforming at a different level of lyricism then what he delivers today. By level I mean message. When he was on the streets, young, dumb, chasing a dream, he made music that would catch the ear of local Bootleggers and street goers- NOT RECORD COMPANIES. Obviously once you blow up as a MC- you have to change your tone to get mainstream media attention. Who plays the music on your local pop station, or owns it??? Kanye is very Narcissistic, as many entertainers have HUGE egos they balance in order to perform.

Minaj is a classically trained (don't twist the classical) performer- like Lady Gaga, had professional assistance in obtaining a level of skill to entertain. Since she was little she has had acting, voice, etc lessons. Let alone holding very typical business esque jobs where she interacted with people constantly. She, like Kanye eventually made mixtapes- following suite in a change of style once she signed with YOUNG MONEY records (Lil Wayne's company)

Wayne- Haha, essentially a hiphop artist robot. He was taken in and raised by fellow MC "Birdman" everything he has been taught is to grab attention, including his rasp in the voice. Unique style mixed with a typical "I don't give a F" (which was pioneered by early G-rap) catapulted him to the top. Plus, Wayne rode a wave of fallacy claiming most of his songs were not written, rather infused with Freestyln sessions. That gave him a popular edge to anyone listening for talented lyricists.

All of these artists are interested in materialism and illiteracy, if thats what will get people to tune in.

Most of today's mainstream artist's know how to evoke an emotional response... Of course, its not for them to code a hidden meaning or message, or deliver a piece of art that lives on throughout the ages- Its to simply sell their record. Both of you have over examined Hip Hop.

To sum it up, the majority, uneducated egos with a passion and drive to live a wealthier life. Did I mentioned some are thugs... Check out Gucci Mane and his gang of bandits. Waka flocka is a made up persona, yet got radio time...

Once again- the artists that stay off the scene are the ones who want to make art and have their music have real meaning, where examination like yours can be applied. Mainstream, and what you two have said- its unfortunately a complete waste of time pondering.

My cliche- Though, I do think Tupac was poetic and did use conflicting elements that were implemented on purpose (like you have elegantly debated) to show a violent side of hiphop's lifestyle and fame. Very talented mainstream artist. Too bad he was shot. and shot again...

I encourage the depth you two have used above, use it on artists who deserve it. YES I AM THE DICTATOR OF THOUGHT ALLOCATION deal with it

Deltron 3030, or any other alias, sorry, stage name he uses
Hilltop Hoods
Some (very limited) Eminem
The Coup
R.A. The Rugged man
Strange Music record label Artists
Rhyme Sayers record label Artists
Revolution of the mind
Megarandom
Jedi Mind tricks
Army of the Pharaohs
Esham (founder of acid rap and horrorcore)
Immortal Technique

Theres more, but that will get you started

[Rei Murasame]

Duly noted, I'll take a look at the list you've given, and see what happens. Bear in mind though that Hip-Hop isn't usually the genre I listen to, so it may take me slightly longer to get around to it than it'd take someone who has that as their top genre.

[RhetoricThug]

Duly noted, I'll take a look at the list you've given, and see what happens. Bear in mind though that Hip-Hop isn't usually the genre I listen to, so it may take me slightly longer to get around to it than it'd take someone who has that as their top genre.

Very understandable. I enjoy NPR classical MN radio, otherwise I stick with my hip-hop. I see lyrical talent and word play on the same intelligence field as the harmonic symphonies of some of the greatest notes played upon the piano & any other instrument out there. My friends point to metal for modern combination. My ears just don't align well with that particular genre, so I get how we have our tiers. Hope you find at least one of those artists suit your interests.

And may I ask, do you have any suggestions for me? Possibly broaden my medley

[quetzalcoatl]

Hold and praise your nearest superstar
I shine bright and shed light from afar
93 million miles to be explicit
(8 light minutes if you're planning a visit)
See I'm the big daddy and this is his system
My turn to burn so keep on listening
I give light when all around is dark
Your choice get sparked or mark my remarks


Decade is null, decade is null, decade is null
Check it out while I burn your skull

[youtube]9eGdIUO4kZk[/youtube]

[RhetoricThug]

Very awesome, Thanks for the listen. checking out more.

[Spouter]

Thank you for the list. I am aware of none of it, except Eminem, of course.

I encourage the depth you two have used above, use it on artists who deserve it. YES I AM THE DICTATOR OF THOUGHT ALLOCATION deal with it

Deltron 3030, or any other alias, sorry, stage name he uses
Hilltop Hoods
Some (very limited) Eminem
The Coup
R.A. The Rugged man
Strange Music record label Artists
Rhyme Sayers record label Artists
Revolution of the mind
Megarandom
Jedi Mind tricks
Army of the Pharaohs
Esham (founder of acid rap and horrorcore)
Immortal Technique

Theres more, but that will get you started

I will probably sample some of this material, if it can be found on youtube. What I listen to while I compose these diatribes is rock. A Royal Trux just ended, and a 3D's just started. I like a random playlist of a certain type of rock, while I relax after work (Cat Butt, from a Sub Pop compilation... just switched to Sebadoh), and I am reluctant to experiment with different genres.

At work, we have a different situation. I am already in a bad mood, so why not listen to some Kanye? Waiting at the train crossing, 2-Chains always puts a smile on my face.

My leisure-time music is radically different from my work and commute music. During that tedious commute to hell, I do not want something to relax and unwind - I want something to jar my bourgeois sensibilities, something to put me on edge a little bit. Nothing does the job like Nicki Minaj.

By the way, among those attributes listed earlier (Halloween music, Bells, Devil Voice, Conspicuous Autotune), I have identified a fifth characteristic:

V. Livestock. In all of these songs, there are people grunting and moaning in the background. Sometimes they repeat a mumbled version of the last verse, sometimes they freestyle it. The various exclamations evoke the entire range of life's pleasure and pains, from sex on ecstasy with 3 hookers, to a difficult and life altering bowel movement (like the one that killed Elvis), to a surprising shank attack while confined in a correctional institution. I worked once at an institution for retarded people; they were always jabbering and groaning in the hallways, and it sounded indistinguishable from the supporting vocal track to any of those songs (how would you like to be one of these guy's buddies when they hit it big: "Hay, they will pay you 5 grand just to grunt into a microphone for 30 minutes!").

Perhaps,"RhetoricThug," when I ridicule this commercial Hip Hop, you think that I mean to denigrate your more enlightened Hip Hop? If someone started ranting against Led Zeppelin, I would not be offended. If they started to diss Mudhoney, I might become agitated. Both bands are classified as Rock, however. Do not assume that my rhetorical thrusts at Kanye are aimed at the entire genre.

Kanye represents something terrible in our society.

[RhetoricThug]

.

Perhaps,"RhetoricThug," when I ridicule this commercial Hip Hop, you think that I mean to denigrate your more enlightened Hip Hop? If someone started ranting against Led Zeppelin, I would not be offended. If they started to diss Mudhoney, I might become agitated. Both bands are classified as Rock, however. Do not assume that my rhetorical thrusts at Kanye are aimed at the entire genre.

Kanye represents something terrible in our society.

Thank you for that clarification. I agree 100% with you and your "mainstream" ridicule.

[Spouter]

I have a new favorite "song." Kanye, featuring Big Sean & Jay-Z:

You know white people get money, don't spend it
Or maybe they get money, buy a business
I rather buy 80 gold chains and go ign'ant
I know Spike Lee gone kill me but let me finish

This is the death of the republic. It is impossible to have a functioning republic unless your citizens are sober, responsible, and frugal. Kanye is like, fuck all that shit!

In a way, I admire that. I am not superstitious, I do not believe that invisible entities are keeping a running account of all my moral failings, and so ultimately I am a hedonist who values nothing higher than material pleasure. Hence, when Kanye encourages me not to save my money (like "white" people), but to immediately spend it on the first thing that makes me feel good, I find myself nodding my head in agreement.

I can't figure this Kanye out. In every photograph, he was the same vapid look on his face. His media antics - at the Grammy's, for example - do not indicate the presence of mature deliberation. And yet, this new song, called Clique, seems to have elements of parody and satire. Then again, maybe I am reading it wrong.

When Kanye encourages us to "buy 80 gold chains and go ign'ant," should I take that in a satirical way, or does he mean that literally?

In either case, America seems to be doomed.