Now of course there was ’gangster rap’ that emerged in the 70’s but from that came the ’Neo Soul’ movement which was a subset of (gangster) rap which got it’s start in the mid 80’s. In this particular genre those young kids brought back the cafe style of rap as a softer form of rap where poetry, books, coffee and wine was shared amongst like minded folks.

They even had a snap your finger technique they would do after each person’s rap of poetry. And yes, sometimes it was with backing bands and sometime it was not.

You never hear about that subset of rap because it didn’t make the evening news. Nevertheless, it was massively important to the community because it brought us these young musicians and for a short time there was a New York city based form of rap called ’New Jack Swing’. And out of the out of the ’New Jack Swing’ era we got a type of music that these new artist called ’Neo Soul’. And this movement gave us artist such as:

Erykah Badu

D’Angelo

Lauryn Hill

Floetry

Jill Scott

The Fugees

And many, many others. Was this Rap persay? Yes, because they not only rapped but sang too. It was all connected and this was the first time musicians played live and studio sessions with instruments over recorded music ’samples’ or what some call ’beats’ today.

Rap has evolved just like any thing else, and it’s a shame that only the bad things are remembered, by some. And I will admit that some of this so called rap music that some put out is straight garbage. But I will not let an entire genre of music music be categorized, judged and generalized by some of that garbage.

@mahgister I’m trying not to be rude. This rap stuff is a long part of my history, culture and community and I think I may know more about it than you do.

No offence!

You are right and knowledgeable more than me about Rap meanings and history...

My point is about the mechanization of music , musicians and the public... The point made by Beato...

There is genius poets in jazz music and songs as there is in all genre rap included...Even nowadays for sure...

My point stemming from Beato video is about mechanisation and manufacturing of lyrics and music ...

I had my taste but i am not deaf...

I did not like blues for example till i listen Hooker and Waters and few others...

There is genius everywhere...

But there is also by the industry growing monster a mechanization of mind and public...

And this mechanization reach a point of great power over artists and public molding their minds in the last 30 years...

It is my opinion but i am not an informed musician...

We need frogman ...

'While some interpretations of the song would like to see it primarily as a celebration of a drug counterculture, any pretence the phrase “Brown Sugar” is other than a reference to a black woman falls away in the final lyric of the studio album.'

I won't argue with that; I was only remembering what someone who was theoretically an "insider"  stated in a book.  

Disclosure - I'm a 70 year old boomer and I'm becoming crotchety in my old age.

@8th-note , you've got five years on me, but how did your dad feel about Dylan and The Beatles?  I remember that my dad did not like either of them--not at all.  

I [...] mostly treat the vocals as another instrument.

I also like music that have vocals in languages I don’t understand

@oberoniaomnia is making an excellent point about the relative importance of lyrics.

I grew up listening to music in a language I did not understand, so I too treated the voice as an instrument. Those voices conveyed feeling and emotion, but about what? I did not know, and that was okay.

Later, I discovered that songs I really liked actually had embarrassing lyrics and I had to stop liking them, and the other way around.

To this day, I enjoy listening to music in languages in which I am not fluent or that I don’t understand at all.

I like darkwave too, and I don’t know why darkwave artists insist on singing. A good example is Hante., her lyrics are terrible (she writes in English, a language she obviously does not know well) and her voice is awful, but she’s a fabulous DJ. If only she kept her music instrumental.