Is Rap a valid musical form?


This has been way more than the progression away from tubes to SS!

Believe the world of Hip Hop has been around and evolving for around 5 decades.

And for most of that time I have dismissed and avoided that world and its “music”.

So angry, offensive and abrasive. Just a bunch of rhythmic yelling.

I believe my former thread was titled “Why Rap?”.  Through that discussion and somewhat of an understanding that this must be a new art form that engages and entertains millions if not billions. That and a long standing belief that if a type of music or a particular artist attracts many, many fans there must be substance and quality there. Even if I personally don’t particularly like it there must be something there.

Rap and the Hip Hop world was always so foreign and culturally untouchable.

Then my Rap thread and several others at that time got me rethinking my perspective and I watched a video of a group of student performance musicians at Juilliard all exclaiming their fascination with a Rap artist named Kendrick Lemar and his “masterpiece” “To Pimp a Butterfly”. I bought the double LP. Trying to listen to it turned out to be difficult because of my old view of Rap and that of the world of Hip Hop. But it was also becoming clear that this was truly something of significant interest. However, I just listened to the two discs only once-with some difficulty.

Today, after several weeks, I hesitatingly pulled the album out again. And to my surprise and actually delight hearing it with fresh ears it grabbed me and would not let go. I immediately heard the brilliance of a multi faceted, and to me, all new experience in sound. Not unlike great 20th century or progressive Jazz it evolved from section to section with a plethora of fascinating, yes musical, experiences. Tonal, atonal, percussive, rhythmic, breathing combined with incredible, energetic tongue twisting strings of mostly unintelligible words. And not merely angry yelling.

Sure, a ton of F bombs but words that don’t flow over you like lovely other genres but invade the psyche and don’t let go. Not particularly pleasant but gripping and interesting in its complexity. Words delivered with such power and drive which acted as a rhythmic counterpoint. It was impossible to turn away or turn off. 
And speaking of turned off, the experience was the opposite of that. Stories of life undeniable human. Yes, driven by bitterness, anger and raw emotion. Impossible to  dismiss it as not deeply felt.

I do think “To Pimp a Butterfly” is unique. But I also believe that there must be much more in this Hip Hop world that has deep musical interest. Some time ago I heard Drake on SNL perform a song that was amazing though not really Rap. Rather an advanced and unconventional musical form. I hear similar musical threads throughout “Pimp”. I did get a CD of Drake. “Scorpion”. I also could not absorb it in my first listen. I look forward to the next, fresh listen. I did try to hear several YouTubes of some very successful Rap artists. They mostly lacked the interesting musical themes threaded through. “Pure Rap” with just the rhythmic words-not my cup of tea. But a musically valid form none the less.

 

 

mglik
Post removed 

There is no "valid" or "invalid". There is only is or is not. Since it exists it IS.

It is. It seems like a lot of the discussion is premised on taste and subjectivity, versus facts. To discount hip hop as “not music” would be ignoring the facts that at any given moment, hip hop artists or music inspired by hip hop culture take up a number of Top 10 spots in Billboard Top 100 (just looking at the latest and it’s 4) or Grammy noms and wins, that hip hop music does in fact have a mix of melody x harmony x rhythm (not all, obviously, but the same can be said about many artists and songs from other genres), and in general, like any popular music genre, it’s become a dominant force in popular culture today — influencing everything from style to entertainment (think what Kanye did for Adidas or Gap; or 88Rising, a Korean hip hop label, doing all the music for Marvel’s Shang Chi, just to name a few). Not to mention all the academic definitions of hip hop including the word “music” to describe it.

 

Not sure personal preference should be coloring how rap/hip hop, or any music genre, is being objectively defined.

To add to some of the recommendations for those who maybe haven’t found hip hop they like… Also try Kanye West’s album ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’. Try starting with Runaway, Dark Fantasy, All of the Lights, and Power. Expertly produced, a convergence of different music genres, tons of rhythm, melody and harmony. One of the all time greats over the last 10+ years.

 

"There is only is or is not. Since it exists it IS."

Depends what the definition of "is" is.