Yea, a lot of the old school rap was fun and cool, music with a message. In my gym (in Taiwan) they sometimes play "Rappers Delight" and even "Christmas Rappin" (one of my favorites) or "The Breaks" when they do oldies. Rap music and hip-hop have degraded into something worse than hard rock. Seems like destructive and evil messages catch on and spread way too easily, kinda like a cancer. I still like some of the fairly current R&B though, mainly by female performers.Terrence wrote:I think it's the sound and the image. A lot of rap has cool beats, regardless of what they are saying. Most Asians who listen to it have no idea what they are saying anyway.
Few remember, or never knew, back in the early and mid 80's, rap was not popular and it was about something. Before all the fake personalities, the only "bad" thing might be that many of the early artists really did come from the streets or bad backgrounds and they rapped about their experiences. There were also those who stood on real issues and had something serious to say. When it became popular enough that Warner Music and Sony felt they needed rap or "urban" labels, this serious stuff got replaced with what they thought would sell more.
Watch the movie CB4. It is a stupid comedy, but does a great job of making fun of how gangsta rap was started by a bunch of middle class "actors" who probably never fired a gun in their life, and that's how it really was. Go find what Dr. Dre or Easy E were doing before they became hardcore gangsters. They caught on to something that would sell and milked it for all it was worth.
Old school soul so rich and touches the emotions deep. One thing I really like about "Amateur Night at the Apollo" is that before they start the competitions, the hosts do a lot of reminiscing and play and dance to a lot of that wonderful stuff from decades past, at least the few times I've attended anyway.