Why Rap and Music On The Whole Sucks, Rex's Analysis
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Maximus Rex
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WARNING: HELLA LONG READ
There's isn't band class in public schools anymore. That in a nutshell is why music on the whole sucks. ? aren't playing instruments, nor do they know how to make or read music. Basically what you have now is a bunch of "producers," that make tracks with the assistance of programs like Fruity Loops. Even though rap producers did use samples, there was some ingenuity involved in use of the sample. Produces would take use a two second, four second, or even a eight second sample. Producers would speed up or slow down the loop or use a myriad of ways to the make the loop unique and different. Plus when you took the loop, producers would have to make a cool beat for it. Nowadays these ? can't even program a beat machine properly. What band class did it was to teach you the fundamentals of music. The hows and whys and music production. Though you may not like the like the music of the people you were studying, at least you knew why did what they did and the student would have a solid foundation to make his own music. If the student was to "break the rules," at least he knew why he was breaking the rules in his attempt to make a new sound. If you're poor band class was how poor kids got exposure to music. Music lessons are expensive and many parents just can't afford the lessons. Kinda like why you don't see blacks, Hispanics and other poor people in sports like swimming, gymnastics, diving ice hockey, etc. The equipment and the fees to join those leagues are cost prohibitive.
Rap sucks simply because lyrical ability isn't stressed anymore. This however wasn't the case. Up until the emergence of Master P and the No Limit Family, all rappers wanted to be one thing, the best lyricist ever. Everybody in the street were using lyricists like Rakim, Cool J, The D.O.C. Kool Moe Dee, Ice T, Cube, Scarface, Willie D, etc. as bench marks to what a M.C. was suppose to be. Dudes would get into ciphers, freestyle, and battle other rappers in a test to see who had the best lyrics. The goal of any rapper, anywhere, in any genre was to be acknowledged as lyrically tight. It's this reason why gangsta rappers of the late 80's until the I say til the late 90's are lyrically better than gangsta rappers now. They focused on their lyrics and flow. They wanted to be regarded as the best rapper ever. There's no doubt in my mind if asked at time of the apex of their popularity Cube, Ren, Willie D, Scarface, Ice T, DMX, The Lox, Biggie, Bun B, and other rappers from this time period would've said, "yeah I'm the best rapper out here. I'm a lyrical monster." There were exceptions though, every so often a Young M.C., Vanilla Ice, M.C. Hammer or that "Rico Suave," ? would filter through. Unlike today, these "rappers," had no credibility and were quickly disregarded by the Hip Hop community at large. Eventually those with no lyrical skill faded back into obscurity. Even rappers outside of the gangsta genre as Kid n Play, The Fresh Prince, Doug E. Fresh, The 2 Live Crew, and EPMD focused on being lyrically tight.
For example, I can make a very strong argument for Will Smith being one of the greatest rappers ever. Even though Will Smith's subject matter is light in nature, there's straight lyricism behind those songs. Take a listen to "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble," "Summertime," and "I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson," those songs have a strong lyrical base and Smith has a hot flow. In addition Smith WROTE those raps. There were exceptions, notably Eazy, Dre, and Puffy, but if I'm from a place where if word got out you didn't write your raps, your career would be over. Another thing in The Fresh Prince's credit, he took chances with his music, and made rather asinine topics into pretty good songs. The mark of a lyricist is the ability to rhyme about anything over any beat.
Then Puffy came out with his album. Puffy had this weird effect on rap. Yeah, he obviously didn't write his on raps, (some say he didn't even make the beats on the No Way Out Album,) but the product was undeniably a classic album. How can you album brick when Biggie, the Lox, Ma$e and Black Rob are on it? I think the "No Way Out," singled the acceptance of ghost writing.
Contrary to popular belief, Percy Miller didn't appear mysteriously out of a void. That ? put in a A LOT of hard work to get here he is today. Twenty years ago, Master P was trying to make a name for himself in the Bay Area rap scene, Richmond, California to exact. P was one of the the many rappers who was trying to build his fledgeling company, No Limit Records, (which started out as a record store on San Pablo Ave, in San Pablo, CA.) I'd say from about '91 til the time P left he would put out an album about twice a year. Thing is every single album was wack. I mean straight up garbage and on every tape their was always a new set of "The Real Untouchables." Eventually Master P left (or according to rumor was ran out of Richmond by associates of local rapper Lil Ric,) to go back home to New Orleans. Some say that while in the Bay, Master P would employ "shady business dealings." Anyway...
For whatever reason, those down South ? really liked that No Limit ? . The only I'll ever give P props on is his business acumen. That ? found a way to successfully market garbage. More importantly not only did he find a way to successfully market garbage, he parlayed what was initially regional appeal to a nationwide phenomenon. Remember, though the years, 96-99, No Limit had it on lock. Once No Limit albums started getting 3.5 a 4 mic reviews in The Source and P graced it's cover, in my opinion this is what started the snowball down the the hill to garbage ? product we have today. P didn't "? ," rap. He was just the untreated malignant tumor.
P also ushered in the era of wack ? getting air and video play. This generation of rappers, your Wacka Flocka, Gucci Mane's Jeezy's and other garbage southern rappers grew up on Master P. Instead of their frame of reference for making hot hip hop tracks being Dre, Ice T, Cube, Rakim, Cube, Hiero, Cypress Hill, KRS-ONE, P.E. and OutKast, they look to people like Master P, 3 6 Mafia, Silkk, and Trina. Youngstas think these artists are hot simply because they get airplay, go platinum, and the people like Flex drop bombs while playing their records. The songs these people make aren't good in they're own merit, they're "good," because everybody else thinks so and nobody's willing to think outside the box. It's analogous to saying McDonald's has the best hamburgers simply everybody goes there and they served over a billion people. Youngstas today have no idea what true lyricism is because they've never been exposed to it. It's a damn shame if you ask me. You would never hear a guitarist question whether or not Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, or Eddie Van Halen are ? legends, but on here you have people question and argue the point that Ice T, M.C. Ren, and Melly Mel aren't some of the greatest lyricists of all time.
Eventually what happen was program directors decided that featuring songs by people who has no talent whatsoever was a good thing. Like the untreated malignant tumor it worse, worse, worse, and worse, until we ended up with Hurricane Chris, Rich Boy, and the worst rapper, with the worse song of all time that got major airplay, Soulja Boy with Crank That. I dare that even six months but Crank Dat came out Soulja Boy wouldn't of gotten a deal. He sure as hell wouldn't have gotten one a year before the song debuted. Five and ten years ago A&Rs would've gotten fired for trying to green light a Soulja Boy project. This is assuming an A&R wouldn't of immediately thrown that ? in the garbage once he heard it.
It's on us the consumers to stop supporting this ? that the program directors force upon the masses. ? have simply have to stop buying and downloading inferior and garbage products. Being that radio refuses to play classic rap records other than Biggie, Snoop, and 2Pac, it's up to us to expose the younger generation to true lyricists. If this is done then maybe, hopefully rappers will not matter what the genre will go back to trying to be the best lyricist ever.
There's isn't band class in public schools anymore. That in a nutshell is why music on the whole sucks. ? aren't playing instruments, nor do they know how to make or read music. Basically what you have now is a bunch of "producers," that make tracks with the assistance of programs like Fruity Loops. Even though rap producers did use samples, there was some ingenuity involved in use of the sample. Produces would take use a two second, four second, or even a eight second sample. Producers would speed up or slow down the loop or use a myriad of ways to the make the loop unique and different. Plus when you took the loop, producers would have to make a cool beat for it. Nowadays these ? can't even program a beat machine properly. What band class did it was to teach you the fundamentals of music. The hows and whys and music production. Though you may not like the like the music of the people you were studying, at least you knew why did what they did and the student would have a solid foundation to make his own music. If the student was to "break the rules," at least he knew why he was breaking the rules in his attempt to make a new sound. If you're poor band class was how poor kids got exposure to music. Music lessons are expensive and many parents just can't afford the lessons. Kinda like why you don't see blacks, Hispanics and other poor people in sports like swimming, gymnastics, diving ice hockey, etc. The equipment and the fees to join those leagues are cost prohibitive.
Rap sucks simply because lyrical ability isn't stressed anymore. This however wasn't the case. Up until the emergence of Master P and the No Limit Family, all rappers wanted to be one thing, the best lyricist ever. Everybody in the street were using lyricists like Rakim, Cool J, The D.O.C. Kool Moe Dee, Ice T, Cube, Scarface, Willie D, etc. as bench marks to what a M.C. was suppose to be. Dudes would get into ciphers, freestyle, and battle other rappers in a test to see who had the best lyrics. The goal of any rapper, anywhere, in any genre was to be acknowledged as lyrically tight. It's this reason why gangsta rappers of the late 80's until the I say til the late 90's are lyrically better than gangsta rappers now. They focused on their lyrics and flow. They wanted to be regarded as the best rapper ever. There's no doubt in my mind if asked at time of the apex of their popularity Cube, Ren, Willie D, Scarface, Ice T, DMX, The Lox, Biggie, Bun B, and other rappers from this time period would've said, "yeah I'm the best rapper out here. I'm a lyrical monster." There were exceptions though, every so often a Young M.C., Vanilla Ice, M.C. Hammer or that "Rico Suave," ? would filter through. Unlike today, these "rappers," had no credibility and were quickly disregarded by the Hip Hop community at large. Eventually those with no lyrical skill faded back into obscurity. Even rappers outside of the gangsta genre as Kid n Play, The Fresh Prince, Doug E. Fresh, The 2 Live Crew, and EPMD focused on being lyrically tight.
For example, I can make a very strong argument for Will Smith being one of the greatest rappers ever. Even though Will Smith's subject matter is light in nature, there's straight lyricism behind those songs. Take a listen to "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble," "Summertime," and "I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson," those songs have a strong lyrical base and Smith has a hot flow. In addition Smith WROTE those raps. There were exceptions, notably Eazy, Dre, and Puffy, but if I'm from a place where if word got out you didn't write your raps, your career would be over. Another thing in The Fresh Prince's credit, he took chances with his music, and made rather asinine topics into pretty good songs. The mark of a lyricist is the ability to rhyme about anything over any beat.
Then Puffy came out with his album. Puffy had this weird effect on rap. Yeah, he obviously didn't write his on raps, (some say he didn't even make the beats on the No Way Out Album,) but the product was undeniably a classic album. How can you album brick when Biggie, the Lox, Ma$e and Black Rob are on it? I think the "No Way Out," singled the acceptance of ghost writing.
Contrary to popular belief, Percy Miller didn't appear mysteriously out of a void. That ? put in a A LOT of hard work to get here he is today. Twenty years ago, Master P was trying to make a name for himself in the Bay Area rap scene, Richmond, California to exact. P was one of the the many rappers who was trying to build his fledgeling company, No Limit Records, (which started out as a record store on San Pablo Ave, in San Pablo, CA.) I'd say from about '91 til the time P left he would put out an album about twice a year. Thing is every single album was wack. I mean straight up garbage and on every tape their was always a new set of "The Real Untouchables." Eventually Master P left (or according to rumor was ran out of Richmond by associates of local rapper Lil Ric,) to go back home to New Orleans. Some say that while in the Bay, Master P would employ "shady business dealings." Anyway...
For whatever reason, those down South ? really liked that No Limit ? . The only I'll ever give P props on is his business acumen. That ? found a way to successfully market garbage. More importantly not only did he find a way to successfully market garbage, he parlayed what was initially regional appeal to a nationwide phenomenon. Remember, though the years, 96-99, No Limit had it on lock. Once No Limit albums started getting 3.5 a 4 mic reviews in The Source and P graced it's cover, in my opinion this is what started the snowball down the the hill to garbage ? product we have today. P didn't "? ," rap. He was just the untreated malignant tumor.
P also ushered in the era of wack ? getting air and video play. This generation of rappers, your Wacka Flocka, Gucci Mane's Jeezy's and other garbage southern rappers grew up on Master P. Instead of their frame of reference for making hot hip hop tracks being Dre, Ice T, Cube, Rakim, Cube, Hiero, Cypress Hill, KRS-ONE, P.E. and OutKast, they look to people like Master P, 3 6 Mafia, Silkk, and Trina. Youngstas think these artists are hot simply because they get airplay, go platinum, and the people like Flex drop bombs while playing their records. The songs these people make aren't good in they're own merit, they're "good," because everybody else thinks so and nobody's willing to think outside the box. It's analogous to saying McDonald's has the best hamburgers simply everybody goes there and they served over a billion people. Youngstas today have no idea what true lyricism is because they've never been exposed to it. It's a damn shame if you ask me. You would never hear a guitarist question whether or not Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, or Eddie Van Halen are ? legends, but on here you have people question and argue the point that Ice T, M.C. Ren, and Melly Mel aren't some of the greatest lyricists of all time.
Eventually what happen was program directors decided that featuring songs by people who has no talent whatsoever was a good thing. Like the untreated malignant tumor it worse, worse, worse, and worse, until we ended up with Hurricane Chris, Rich Boy, and the worst rapper, with the worse song of all time that got major airplay, Soulja Boy with Crank That. I dare that even six months but Crank Dat came out Soulja Boy wouldn't of gotten a deal. He sure as hell wouldn't have gotten one a year before the song debuted. Five and ten years ago A&Rs would've gotten fired for trying to green light a Soulja Boy project. This is assuming an A&R wouldn't of immediately thrown that ? in the garbage once he heard it.
It's on us the consumers to stop supporting this ? that the program directors force upon the masses. ? have simply have to stop buying and downloading inferior and garbage products. Being that radio refuses to play classic rap records other than Biggie, Snoop, and 2Pac, it's up to us to expose the younger generation to true lyricists. If this is done then maybe, hopefully rappers will not matter what the genre will go back to trying to be the best lyricist ever.
Comments
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I somewhat agree with your lengthy titangraph with the exception of two things:
First, your giving sample-oriented porducers a little too much credit. yea the softsynth, music sequencers of today made it to where anybody can get on a computer a make a track, but i know plenty producers who sample that are just as lazy. what u made an allusion to is more of an exception than a rule. yea i too like producers who can chop samples and use them in creative and inventive ways. but i cant tell u how many new crop, and by doing some research even old, producers would just take an approximately 5-10 sec snippet of a song, loop it, and just add drums on top of it. and imo, that's just as lethargic as a person getting on fruity loops and randomly throwing ? together. and this is coming from a musician who can appreciate all approaches to production
Secondly, your completely downplaying how much of a negative impact p.? has had on rap music. he is imo, who i really consider the beginning of the end. that shiny suit ? produced no classic material outside of biggie and the lox. all it did was over-materialize and over-commercialize the artform. say what u want about no-limit, as i wont dispute the fact that it did get to a point of it being quantity over quality, but that era did produce some classic cd's. such as ghetto d, there's one in every family, unpredictable, shell shocked, and give it 2 em raw. and while they did manage to break through to the mainstream, master p would still, for the most part keep the music street and ? . something that made the white corporate music executive a little apprehensive and reluctant to put the marketing machine behind. bad boy and their little metrosexual shiny suit fiasco on the other hand was now that same white corporate executive's ? . the music was uptempo, non-confrontational, and full of braggadocios rhymes which could possibly be marketed to white suburban teen demographic successfully. and what's ironic about this entire point is that during that time i actually listened to no limit to escape and get away from that dribble p. ? was making. which was garbage then and still garbage now -
I agree with you on the sampling thing, just as you had every producer using that ? "ubiquitous Roger Troutman, voice thingy," there was a point in time when it seem like every rap record either had "Atomic Dog," "Funky Drummer," or "More Bounce," as a loop. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the "Grip It On That Other Level," and Mama Said Knock You Out," used "Funky Drummer," twice on the same album. I think the production was better simply because producers had a better musical foundation.
As I stated before, I'm ambivalent towards Puffy. I had no problem with cats "being commercial." After all this is their livelihood and ? should make as much money as humanly possibly. My gripe with Puffy is the use of ghost riders and ? up business practices. What's wrong giving ? their fair share? That's one of the two things I give P credit for P. After he left the Bay, he started dealing with people more fairly and he held on and increased his wealth.
I have to disagree with you on No Limit having classic albums. Those ? with the exception of Mystikal were landfill.
