Sennheiser HD-598s are the most comfortable headphones I've had the opportunity to use. I recommend these wholeheartedly for any first-time hi-fi buyer because of their excellent soundstage and...
I just received my SigPros (bought from a fellow head-fi'er), and now have several hours with them. They are great headphones. Agree with most of what everyone's saying about them. These...
Beats out the Bose Triport, the HD 202 and HD 435s, the AT M35 and AT M50. Just try it and see. Extremely comfortable (I wear mine while commuting and studying, for about 5+ hours a day). Bought...
When I first put them on on I though that the highs will blow my head off. My ears got tired after 10 - 15 minutes. I though I would throw them out of the window. But having read some good...
Glad to have some support. I listened to one of Lupe's freestyles on youtube yesterday, and damn that was good ****.
I just want to point out I don't even really like rap all that much, I just love reading into the lyrics.
Also, anybody here like Kid Cudi? I can't really get into his songs; I like that he doesn't use auto-tune, but a lot of the more popular songs seem to have something to do with weed (i.e. Up up and away). Alive is pretty good.
For sure. Hell, I couldn't really refer the OP to a bad song. When you can tell a story and at the same time lay down intricate, esoteric rhymes, you deserve a vote from me. He seems to do this in every song.
Quote:
Originally Posted by semisight
Glad to have some support. I listened to one of Lupe's freestyles on youtube yesterday, and damn that was good ****.
I just want to point out I don't even really like rap all that much, I just love reading into the lyrics.
Also, anybody here like Kid Cudi? I can't really get into his songs; I like that he doesn't use auto-tune, but a lot of the more popular songs seem to have something to do with weed (i.e. Up up and away). Alive is pretty good.
I think he's decent. Though I think Man on the Moon as a whole was a well put together project (Common's narrative in between, good progression in the story, etc.) and I applaud him for that. It's good to see that artists in the hip hop genre are still thinking about putting together a complete piece rather than a one hit wonder radio song to get a few bucks.
Alive, Enter Galactic, Sky Might Fall, and Pursuit of Happiness being my favorites.
I read somewhere that Cudi wants to avoid complicated deep lyrics because he doesn't think people listen to that anymore from new artists. I'd really been hoping for more of that from him.
Just to put it out there, you should check out Pianist Envy by Chilly Gonzales, especially the Many Men remix. He puts whoever put down the original beats to shame.
Glad we have a real rap fan like RockFord to drop some knowledge. When I wasn't so knowledgeable about rap music, some guy was dissing Kanye West, I told him to name "50 rappers better than Kanye". He named them and "Wow". A lot of my hip hop knowledge came from that dude.
And why we have "The bests", idk. It's just part of that "Culture". Other music forms are like ballet, no contest. Rap music is like basketball, everyone got all eyes on the M.V.P.
Hip-hop is real music, there is no competition. There is only good music.
To me, the real MC's aren't having beef with other people. They just do what they do, they respect others and let the real you shine. That is why I think there is no "best rapper".
Yeah i agree to some extent, i wish there was no competition and i wish there was no beef, but then again beef in hip hop has made some of the best tracks ever made and also produced some of the greatest sadness in hip hop.
I think that the deaths of big and pac really humbled a lot of people in the industry and made them realize that the ultimate situations like that can happen if they let it.
Rap, IMO, is very close to not even being music. As far as rap "being dead" I think it is pretty normal it is seen as that. It the same crap that has been recycled and reused since day one. They have thus refined the crap, making it shittier, or a purer form of shit if you will ;).
Even 8 bit video game soundtracks have more soul and music in them. Check Chrono Trigger if you don't agree... Games like that ARE THE BOMB.
That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed Kid Cudi's "Man on the Moon" CD. Very refreshing, especially for a rapper. I really appreciated the outsourcing of musicians for a lot of songs. Makes it so much richer and easier to listen to. The man has a beautiful voice too.
Rappers should respect that they cannot play instruments, and that playing with 1/2 bit midi files on the computer is not acceptable. Rappers make tons of money writing about absolutely nothing, I am sure they have money to pay talented musicians to record their elementary melodies. A lot of them sample real songs, which is not so bad... but hardly original. It does offer higher sound quality but no originality,it is a catch 22. Don't play the electronica card either. Good Electronica is the same as composing. It is a different talent and very respectable -unlike the fruityloop-esque songs rappers produce.
As far as Eminem goes... he is whiny and a bit of a tool, but technically he is way better than 99% of other rappers I have heard. He can actually rhyme, upbeat, downbeat and still maintain a flow. Also, he is not ashamed to show that 1/2 of his verses hold absolutely no meaning and are just to try and rhyme. He just has fun making fun of people and goes off on little tangents. His apparent honesty is refreshing. At least he is not trying to pass it off as high quality, world class music.
"Drop the World" with Lil Wayne and Eminem is a great example of how, regardless of whether or not you like him as a "musician", he is way more skilled in his ability to play with rhythm and actually rhyme...
Lil Wayne has big problems with pronunciation and should attend speech therapy for a prolonged period of time- that is if he ever makes it out. He doesn't even have a cool excuse for it... he is addicted to cough syrup. Talk about a LAME addiction.
Lastly, if you want quality rhymes and good recording with real instruments and talented musicians, without being filled with misogyny, racism, hate, violence, drugs, crime, and just about all regrettable things in this world, you should check out Flobots... Good stuff.
Although I don't doubt their positive and forward thinking themes will make alpha-male pretenders feel quite uneasy and out of place. Plus, they are SO boring without ridiculous diamonds on their teeth, and T-shirts that could pas for dresses. But I digress.
You should probably read more of the posts in this thread if you think that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sokolov91
Lastly, if you want quality rhymes and good recording with real instruments and talented musicians, without being filled with misogyny, racism, hate, violence, drugs, crime, and just about all regrettable things in this world, you should check out Flobots... Good stuff.
Note: trying to sell flowbots to a true hip hop head is like telling someone that likes true 80's metal to listen to Nicleback.
Edit: 100% correct on rappers with diamonds in their mouth though!
Rap, IMO, is very close to not even being music. As far as rap "being dead" I think it is pretty normal it is seen as that. It the same crap that has been recycled and reused since day one. They have thus refined the crap, making it shittier, or a purer form of shit if you will ;).
Even 8 bit video game soundtracks have more soul and music in them. Check Chrono Trigger if you don't agree... Games like that ARE THE BOMB.
That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed Kid Cudi's "Man on the Moon" CD. Very refreshing, especially for a rapper. I really appreciated the outsourcing of musicians for a lot of songs. Makes it so much richer and easier to listen to. The man has a beautiful voice too.
Rappers should respect that they cannot play instruments, and that playing with 1/2 bit midi files on the computer is not acceptable. Rappers make tons of money writing about absolutely nothing, I am sure they have money to pay talented musicians to record their elementary melodies. A lot of them sample real songs, which is not so bad... but hardly original. It does offer higher sound quality but no originality,it is a catch 22. Don't play the electronica card either. Good Electronica is the same as composing. It is a different talent and very respectable -unlike the fruityloop-esque songs rappers produce.
As far as Eminem goes... he is whiny and a bit of a tool, but technically he is way better than 99% of other rappers I have heard. He can actually rhyme, upbeat, downbeat and still maintain a flow. Also, he is not ashamed to show that 1/2 of his verses hold absolutely no meaning and are just to try and rhyme. He just has fun making fun of people and goes off on little tangents. His apparent honesty is refreshing. At least he is not trying to pass it off as high quality, world class music.
"Drop the World" with Lil Wayne and Eminem is a great example of how, regardless of whether or not you like him as a "musician", he is way more skilled in his ability to play with rhythm and actually rhyme...
Lil Wayne has big problems with pronunciation and should attend speech therapy for a prolonged period of time- that is if he ever makes it out. He doesn't even have a cool excuse for it... he is addicted to cough syrup. Talk about a LAME addiction.
Lastly, if you want quality rhymes and good recording with real instruments and talented musicians, without being filled with misogyny, racism, hate, violence, drugs, crime, and just about all regrettable things in this world, you should check out Flobots... Good stuff.
Although I don't doubt their positive and forward thinking themes will make alpha-male pretenders feel quite uneasy and out of place. Plus, they are SO boring without ridiculous diamonds on their teeth, and T-shirts that could pas for dresses. But I digress.
I don't like Rock N Roll, I don't care either. I don't go on your shitty music board and start ranting about your shitty lyrics. Why do you Rock N Roll assholes always come around on a rap fans, I'll tell you like this, if you did that to me face to face, you wouldn't have a face after I was done with you. Laugh it up all you want, I'm just saying you catch the wrong person when you say that, they won't exchange any words with you, they'll leave you seriously hurt. Rappers use them generic beats because creative beats **** up the tone of the lyrics.
In rap music, with fans, you usually get made fun for if you like the beat. IT'S ALL LYRICS, STOP TALKING OUTTA YOUR ASS ABOUT SHIT YOU WOULDN'T KNOW ABOUT. Take it like this, I don't like lots of shit, I don't tell 'em I don't like it, why the **** would I do that? Why the **** are you telling me you don't like hip hop? What the **** are you setting out to achieve? Because all you achieved is a hateful message or you can catch a bullet in the head with the wrong person.
And musicians in general don't "Make a lot of money", lol! Where have you been for the past century?
But lolololol, Eminem. Eminem is whack compared to other rappers (this goes out in my opinion, you didn't notice that this was an art full of opinions nothing set in stone)?
Now I don't mind you asking questions or some shit but you come on attack, you can meet your demise. You come from Canada, I come from a place & mindset where if you breathe wrong, you can get choked hard enough until you "Breathe right". Now you might die/you might not, either way your life is worthless here.
Check it like this, lovey dovey happy or weird shit pisses me off. If I listen to that shit, I'll probably go crazy and go on a killing spree. Now who knows who I could kill, maybe I would kill one of your family members? Hmm?
And what do you expect to be meaning in music? It all has different purposes, could be a story, could be blues/inspiration, education, to relate, entertaining with wordplay/rhymes/punchlines (like slaughterhouse below), history, messages, etc.
And I'm not even going to begin explaining you about "misogyny, racism, hate, violence, drugs, crime". That stuff holds a bigger picture where I'm not even going to begin to to talk about. Just take like this if you're going to take it "The first shall be the last and the last shall be the first".
And alpha male? lololol, nice generalization, genius! I'm not alpha male, you see if a person disses me, I don't care. But I do have a strong and sincere thing for people talking bullshit that makes me burst in a reaction of rage.
By the way, your suggestion. I'm not going to check it out. I don't listen/check out anything from people I don't respect.
You should probably read more of the posts in this thread if you think that.
Note: trying to sell flowbots to a true hip hop head is like telling someone that likes true 80's metal to listen to Nicleback.
Edit: 100% correct on rappers with diamonds in their mouth though!
Very true, but I am arguing that what makes up the core of rap themes and topics is total crap though. So while it's lyrical content and style are quite different, the genre and techniques are the same and that is what we are discussing, right? Flobots are more funky admittedly, but rappers have shown they will use just about anything and rap over it and call it rap... so it seems like it is a moot point.
Just because they have a positive attitude, and organic/real instruments making up the music doesn't really make them any less rap. If anything, if rap is to be considered a real genre, they are then MORE hardcore. If you follow my logic.
If rappers took their craft more seriously, I think they would be taken more seriously. Respect attracts respect... and rap is juvenile in every sense of the word, for the most part, whether it be the melodies, the composition,the rhymes, or the content. Sure there are stand-outs, but they are tiny islands in a sea of total garbage.
The thing is that even if you don't like metal and think it is garbage, which you are allowed to, you can't deny that they can compose music, play an instrument very well and play as part of a group and perform live music - they can be musicians. In the end, the presentation and final product might not be to your liking, but the skill, talent, and dedication and musical spirit is there -there is integrity.... when you are doing it for the money and have a blatant disregard for quality and will produce total shit as long as it sells it is pretty different. The final product might be to your liking, but there is no integrity, no character, no class.
I am not flaming as people might think, I am just really trying to put a point forward. I think if people want to be considered musicians and have their music respected, there are some basic rules to follow.
However, maybe the whole point of rap is to be angry, discontent, juvenile and offensive and I totally miss that. Maybe I am old before my time. I guess that can't be helped.
What is funny though, is that talk is cheap (clearly) and if rappers were really so enraged and up in arms about all these issues they rap about, maybe they would do something like give back to their communities instead of spending their money on ridiculous items for self aggrandizement and perpetuating the myth that fame is the key to success. Actions speak louder than words... so I guess they make up for all their meaningless talk with gunshots, don't they?
sokolov91 your post asserts that you have not listened to anything but the top40 type hip hop, or should i say as quoted by Senim Silla of Binary Star "Hip Pop".
There are plenty of skilled musicians in hip hop, don't blame the genre for your inability to discover them.
Go download some Roots and tell me good musicians don't exist in hip hop, ?uestlove is a more skilled drummer than i have ever heard in a rock band in years.
I'd really been hoping for more of that from him.
