Opinions on Rap Music

[ACamp1900]

I used to like it in high school... But I grew out of it... Blows my mind some forty something's never do. It's an urban version of boy bands IMO, all image very little substance, if any. There is a lot of this in modern rock also... Basically all modern music totally sucks in comparison to past generations imo

I agree with trev that it has been a contributing factor to our moral decline.... the dumbing down of our youth as well... Strongly agree, though it's one of many factors.

 

[arrowryan]

Lil Wayne, Drake, Eminem, Tyga, and Wiz Khalifa are my favorite. Andre 3000, Young Jeezy, and Mac Miller aren't bad either.

I dont understand how some people think Wayne is destroting rap music. If anyone is destroying it, it is definately the rappers like Soulja Boy

 

[notredomer23]

Lil Wayne, Drake, Eminem, Tyga, and Wiz Khalifa are my favorite. Andre 3000, Young Jeezy, and Mac Miller aren't bad either.

I dont understand how some people think Wayne is destroting rap music. If anyone is destroying it, it is definately the rappers like Soulja Boy

Tyga is good.

Mac Miller I put in the same category as Lil' Wayne. They have one or two good songs and the rest are all garbage. Just my opinion, to each his own I guess.

Wiz's early stuff was sick.

 

[arrowryan]

Tyga is good.

Mac Miller I put in the same category as Lil' Wayne. They have one or two good songs and the rest are all garbage. Just my opinion, to each his own I guess.

Wiz's early stuff was sick.

Wait until Mac Miller reaches his prime. He is still in the eraly stages of rapping. He will be one of the best in a few years

 

[tadman95]

Raised on Rock, will die with rock.... Grateful I didn't have to grow up with rap. Yep, I'm a little dated.

 

[CTIDANDREW]

90's rap>everything

90's rap>everything

Cant Believe no one on this thread has mentioned Big L.
He is a top 5 rapper of all time without question.
Also Wu-Tang clan and Tribe called Quest are so much better than anything out there right now it is almost laughable

 

[Buster Bluth]

America is not being destroyed by rap. LMAO. Only America can destroy America.

Nonsense to debate this issue.

Motherless and fatherless Americans have no guide to what is "values" and "ethics."

Start with people that have no responsible lifestyle:they usually find a catharsis in hate music. Reform them. That's fixes the problem.

Yeah but when I coached in the hood it was pretty obvious that kids had either an absent father or an ignorant father and sometimes both mother and father were just the worst. A lot--no, most--of these inner city kids are looking at rap artists for direction, whether they (kids) even know it or rappers want to admit it.

"I am not a role model." is a copout. You don't ask to be one, you just are one with the territory.

As for rap music, I think most of it is lame and fabricated. I liked what Eminem did ten years ago, and old school early 1990's stuff, but that's about it.

I'd much rather listen to actual music than rap. I don't care for mainstream rock either, and I hate country with a passion. Indie rock/folk is my niche, there's a lot of bad stuff there but that stuff that is good is much better than anything the corporations can conjure up. I'll take Arcade Fire, The National, Mumford & Sons, Frightened Rabbit, The Decemberists and a hundred other real artists and let them make music for my moods before I'll listen to the radio.

Alternative rock from 2000-2006 was fantastic and I'm grateful that bands like The Black Keys and Cage The Elephant are tearing things up.

 

[military_irish]

Wait until Mac Miller reaches his prime. He is still in the eraly stages of rapping. He will be one of the best in a few years

There is a difference between best rappers and popular rappers. Mac Miller falls into the popular category and you are correct, in a few years he may be very popular but he won't be one of the best.

I think a lot of people get things mixed up, not you in particular, between best rappers and popular ones. Most today are just popular, not good.

 

[irishfanjho15]

Cant Believe no one on this thread has mentioned Big L.
He is a top 5 rapper of all time without question.
Also Wu-Tang clan and Tribe called Quest are so much better than anything out there right now it is almost laughable

His freestyles with Jigga from '94 and '95 on Strech and Bobbito's radio show are still some of my favorite songs ever.

For the record my list is as follows:

1. Biggie (Dude was ice cold and he was what no rappers are today, he embodied rap culture, because he made it)
2. Jay-Z (Reasonable Doubt was one of the best rap albums ever; he's grown over the years, his old stuff was ridiculous, lyrically is still one of the best)
3. Talib (Lyrically, dude is light year's ahead of most)
4. Big L (No explanation needed)
5. Reggie Rockstone (African rapper, considered the by many as the greatest rapper of all time; he is the "Reggie" Eminem refers to in his list of best rappers on the song "'Til I Collapse", widely misconstrued that he was referring to Redman)

Honorable Mention:
Eminem (especially early stuff)
2Pac (All Eyez on Me is still a personal fave)
Nas (I'm on the Jay-Z side of this fence, but dude has chops no doubt)
Red and Method
Dre

 

[gkIrish]

People hate on Jay Z, Lil' Wayne, Eminem etc. because they are successful nationally and draw casual followers with top 40 songs. Doesn't mean they aren't good rappers. Go listen to some of a Jay Zs earliest albums like Reasonable Doubt and tell me he isn't one of the best. I agree that some of the newer stuff is more "hip hop" than rap, but so what.

 

[CTIDANDREW]

His freestyles with Jigga from '94 and '95 on Strech and Bobbito's radio show are still some of my favorite songs ever.

For the record my list is as follows:

1. Biggie (Dude was ice cold and he was what no rappers are today, he embodied rap culture, because he made it)
2. Jay-Z (Reasonable Doubt was one of the best rap albums ever; he's grown over the years, his old stuff was ridiculous, lyrically is still one of the best)
3. Talib (Lyrically, dude is light year's ahead of most)
4. Big L (No explanation needed)
5. Reggie Rockstone (African rapper, considered the by many as the greatest rapper of all time; he is the "Reggie" Eminem refers to in his list of best rappers on the song "'Til I Collapse", widely misconstrued that he was referring to Redman)

Much Much Respect for this List. Thank god people like yourself are out there

 

[irishfanjho15]

Much Much Respect for this List. Thank god people like yourself are out there

Thank you sir. I'm just a 27 yr old white kid from middle America but the impact these people have had on hip-hop/rap culture is undeniable. Fact.

IMO, Jay-Z gets a bad rap though because he is in his 40s. Dude grew up in Brooklyn with Biggie. Those two were tight, they hustled together, they rapped together. Biggie was on Reasonable Doubt with Jigga back in '96 ("Brooklyn's Finest"), it was one of the last songs Biggie was ever on. That's what people lost when Biggie died at 24, he was a beacon for the rap game. He was a huge reason Jay-Z worked to slow his flow and morphed into the type of MC he became. Jay-Z took over the mantle that Biggie was supposed to have, because of their relationship. Unfortunately in today's world, a lot is lost in translation in the "rap game". Most of the rappers today would have been destroyed by the dudes in late '80s and early '90s.

Edit: One final thing. Today's rap just seems, in my opinion, to be much more about entertainment (which is fine for some). I think older stuff was more expression, feeling, and meaning. I fell in love with the older stuff when I was in grade school lol. Loved hearing the stories and trying to understand a culture I never would of had a chance to understand otherwise.

 

[irishfanjho15]

People hate on Jay Z, Lil' Wayne, Eminem etc. because they are successful nationally and draw casual followers with top 40 songs. Doesn't mean they aren't good rappers. Go listen to some of a Jay Zs earliest albums like Reasonable Doubt and tell me he isn't one of the best. I agree that some of the newer stuff is more "hip hop" than rap, but so what.

Biggie said it best, "mo money, mo problems".

 

[notredomer23]

His freestyles with Jigga from '94 and '95 on Strech and Bobbito's radio show are still some of my favorite songs ever.

For the record my list is as follows:

1. Biggie (Dude was ice cold and he was what no rappers are today, he embodied rap culture, because he made it)
2. Jay-Z (Reasonable Doubt was one of the best rap albums ever; he's grown over the years, his old stuff was ridiculous, lyrically is still one of the best)
3. Talib (Lyrically, dude is light year's ahead of most)
4. Big L (No explanation needed)
5. Reggie Rockstone (African rapper, considered the by many as the greatest rapper of all time; he is the "Reggie" Eminem refers to in his list of best rappers on the song "'Til I Collapse", widely misconstrued that he was referring to Redman)

Honorable Mention:
Eminem (especially early stuff)
2Pac (All Eyez on Me is still a personal fave)
Nas (I'm on the Jay-Z side of this fence, but dude has chops no doubt)
Red and Method
Dre

you gotta put Tupac ahead of Jay-Z IMO.. He isn't my favorite at all but he dropped so many hits in such a short time. Just imagine if him and Big were still alive today. Lil' Wayne and Mac Miller wouldn't even be popular

 

[gkIrish]

Biggie said it best, "mo money, mo problems".

Yuppp

My list

1.Jay-Z
2.Biggie
3.Eminem

i view them as the best and then you have Dre, Big L, Method Man, Drake, Kanye, 2pac holding it up

 

[nsisk157]

Love hip hop... got a few friends that do the club scene.. lots o fun...

sadly, it isn't what it used to be. It's all one liners now, no substance.

Don't get me wrong, Hot97 still is my default, but you miss the late 80s and 90s...

"I start to think and then I sink
Into the paper like I was ink
When I'm writing, I'm trapped in between the lines,
I escape when I finish the rhyme...

I got soul"


Greatest 2+ bars in the history of rap

 

[irishfanjho15]

you gotta put Tupac ahead of Jay-Z IMO.. He isn't my favorite at all but he dropped so many hits in such a short time. Just imagine if him and Big were still alive today. Lil' Wayne and Mac Miller wouldn't even be popular

First and foremost, the list is my opinion and my opinion only. Jay-Z is personally my favorite rapper of all time, while I believe Biggie is the greatest ever. The GOAT, if you will. In response to Tupac.....

Tupac Shakur is and was a great rapper, but he did go to Juilliard. He was not exactly what he preached to be, for all intents and purposes. Much of the feud between him and Biggie, seems to have been fueled greatly by Suge Knight and his propensity to be an instigator and money-maker. Knight was the Don King of the rap game. Biggie and Tupac were at one time, quite close.

 

[returnofthemack]

I love rap, but not the crap that passes for it on the radio nowadays. All-time, I'd have to say Tupac is my favorite. I love Biggie, Tribe Called Quest, definitely have love for the Wu-Tang Clan, Jurassic 5, Jay-Z, and being from Detroit, I love Eminem. As you can see, I'm more a fan of the old school, but the rappers I am a fan of now are T.I., Kanye (sans 808s), Lupe, Kid Cudi, B.O.B, and Childish Gambino (Donald Glover or Troy from Community). The "rappers" I despise are Lil' Wayne and his stupid YMCMB, Gucci Mane, Waka Flocka Flame, etc. They would be blown out of the water by any of the aforementioned real rappers.

 

[returnofthemack]

Forgot about NWA, they're definitely up there. And as far as rap destabilizing society, that's bullcrap. I grew up in Detroit and have been listening to rap since I was 8, attended and graduated from ND, and am applying to med school. I like to listen to music as a gateway into the artist's mind, into their worldview, which is something that is expressed powerfully by the rappers I like. One analogy I like is that I have read most of Dan Brown's (DaVinci Code author) novels, but have no problems with my Catholic faith. You just have to have the right attitude and perspective while appreciating the art.

 

[greyhammer90]

I know he is getting hated on a lot, but Tha Carter III is one of my all time favorite rap albums. Tie My Hands, Dr. Carter, Misunderstood, Mr. Carter. Those are great rap songs. If all you know of Lil Wayne is his top 40 stuff then you haven't really listened to him.

 

[SaltyND24]

I am liking some of these lists....Agree with Biggie and Pac...Being from the west coast, growing up I wasn't exposed to a ton of Big L but I respect his contribution to the game. I can't honestly put together a list of the "greatest" but my favorites include:
Outkast (can listen to the love below everyday straight through),
Wu-tang, Eminem, Pac, Jay-z, Kanye, B.o.B., Black Star (Talib & Mos), A Tribe called Quest, Lupe Fiasco, The Roots, Pac Div (From my hometown), Common, J. Cole, Wale, Royce Da 5'9", Childish Gambino, Asher Roth and Freddie Gibbs (whose brother is a good friend of mine that graduated from ND in '09)...

 

[irishfanjho15]

I am liking some of these lists....Agree with Biggie and Pac...Being from the west coast, growing up I wasn't exposed to a ton of Big L but I respect his contribution to the game. I can't honestly put together a list of the "greatest" but my favorites include:
Outkast (can listen to the love below everyday straight through),
Wu-tang, Eminem, Pac, Jay-z, Kanye, B.o.B., Black Star (Talib & Mos), A Tribe called Quest, Lupe Fiasco, The Roots, Pac Div (From my hometown), Common, J. Cole, Wale, Royce Da 5'9", Childish Gambino, Asher Roth and Freddie Gibbs (whose brother is a good friend of mine that graduated from ND in '09)...

Yep. Especially "The Last", "Bonfire", and "Freaks and Geeks".

 

[SaltyND24]

I know he is getting hated on a lot, but Tha Carter III is one of my all time favorite rap albums. Tie My Hands, Dr. Carter, Misunderstood, Mr. Carter. Those are great rap songs. If all you know of Lil Wayne is his top 40 stuff then you haven't really listened to him.

4 songs out of 16...meh lol! I listen to Wayne, don't get me wrong but I think he started falling off with that album. I am a much bigger fan of Tha Carter II. You can definitely hear the hunger in his voice then...

 

[irishfanjho15]

4 songs out of 16...meh lol! I listen to Wayne, don't get me wrong but I think he started falling off with that album. I am a much bigger fan of Tha Carter II. You can definitely hear the hunger in his voice then...

Agreed. Much better IMO.

 

[SaltyND24]

Yep. Especially "The Last", "Bonfire", and "Freaks and Geeks".

To add to that list: "Break (AOTL)" "That Power" "Hero" "Do Ya Like" "Not Going Back"

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

MF DOOM, Wu-Tang, Kid Cudi, Lupe Fiasco, Beastie Boys, Childish Gambino, Biggie, Tupac, Nas, Big L, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Danny Brown, A$AP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Tyler the Creator and the rest of Odd Future, Geto Boys, A Tribe Called Quest, Vince Staples...Those are my guys.

 

[irishfanjho15]

To add to that list: "Break (AOTL)" "That Power" "Hero" "Do Ya Like" "Not Going Back"

Will double check those bro. Thanks.

 

[irishfanjho15]

Lonely Island baby!!!

 

[ulukinatme]

I used to listen to rap, but seeing as how I quit listening to all new music after 2001 I pretty much just have some old Dr. Dre and Jay Z in my CD case. I try to listen to music today, and then I realize theres a reason I only listen to music from the 60s-90s for the most part, emphasis on Classic Rock. Way too much music today that is just garbage.

 

[SaltyND24]

MF DOOM, Wu-Tang, Kid Cudi, Lupe Fiasco, Beastie Boys, Childish Gambino, Biggie, Tupac, Nas, Big L, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Danny Brown, A$AP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Tyler the Creator and the rest of Odd Future, Geto Boys, A Tribe Called Quest, Vince Staples...Those are my guys.

TC and the rest of OFWGKTA eh??? I gave them a listen...I know he's not rap, but you ever listen to Frank Ocean?? cuz he's technically part of OF...Also, the internet is a little group within OF that I recently heard music from