For me : Trippie Redd’s “!” Is actually a great album
Most rap sucks and it’s effects on mainstream media have had detrimental effects on society as a whole.
It literally just glorifies the ghetto lifestyle of being a piece of shit and acting like it’s the only way you can live life.
Look into underground hip hop, there’s all sorts of awesome music of much higher caliber than mainstream rap/hip hop.
Mf Doom, Busdriver, Kool Keith (and his many many aliases), Aesop Rock (not ASAP Rocky or whatever), and I’m sure lots of newer stuff I’m not even familiar with. Digable Planets are pretty big and they’re good (and old, like me)
.
I’ve dabbled into some underground stuff. I like hopsin for one. I’ve heard of Mf Doom but couldn’t pick out a song.
For me it’s less the rapper themselves it’s what they’re rapping about.
I don’t like music I can’t relate to and I can’t relate to most rap songs. I’m not out here thuggin or poppin caps, doing drugs and fuckin bitches. I don’t even really want to do those things. So that erases almost half the damn genre out the gate.
I like certain rap songs like tech9’s Dysfunctional or Am I a Psycho or Eminem or NF’s stuff but for the most part I can’t stand most of it.
And the glorification of “thugging” is what I mean by raps negative impacts.
I don’t like music I can’t relate to and I can’t relate to most rap songs. I’m not out here thuggin or poppin caps, doing drugs and fuckin removed. I don’t even really want to do those things. So that erases almost half the damn genre out the gate.
I promise I’m not trying to spam you with stuff, but here are two I’d recommend, with that specific criticism in mind I listen to what I listen to because of the lyrics for the most part, and I’m not into those things either.
Some folks don’t like Atmosphere’s style much, but I’m recommending these to you because of their lyrics, specifically. (Personally I think these are both bangers though.)
I’ve had a hard time getting into Aesop Rock, but he comes up so often I should try again.
I have enjoyed most Busdriver that I’ve heard, but I admit I often have to look up his lyrics to understand them, and it’s probably discouraged me from exploring his catalog more than I have. My fave that I’ve heard of his is Much, partially because he slows it down a bit.
Digable Planets - I only knew them for The Rebirth of Slick for decades. Took a deeper look a couple years ago and was blown away. They are high on my list now. Love their sound. Good recommendation there!
I’ve got to also recommend Brother Ali.
I hear you on Busdriver, I tend to not listen to the words and just hear it as a sort of instrument so it doesn’t matter what he’s saying. But for those that do, I could see it being too much, same with Kool Keith.
I’ll check out Brother Ali, I’ve heard of him but not his music.
IMO you are in for a treat. His voice is something else IMO and I love his style.
Here’s one of my favorites (fairly, ah, opinionated): Uncle Sam Goddamn
Also -
Can’t Take That Away (Just nice.)
(Also pretty opinionated:) Mourning in America
Listened to some yesterday and today, I dig it, thanks!
So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Rap was important and had a clear goal; to inspire afroamerican people, kids to learn, to live their life and fight for their rights. to get up from the ghetto, to keep on going, make them see they aren’t alone, they have their backs by the community. (In the US)
this all was rather successfull.
but then, I don’t know what rap’s function is today. if there is any… so what you are saying, I can aggree with it, but I tend not to forget what was the original goal of this genre, and this is why I can’t completely dismiss rap.
I felt that was true for a long time. There are a lot of sub-genres out there that don’t promote that kind of thing. Honestly, and this is probably me wearing a conspiracy theorist hat, a lot of hip-hop that essentially glorified a lot of horrible traits was just what a lot of old, rich white dudes figured would make them money.
Counter example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhMwGT55A8k (sorry about the YT link, but that’s where I know this lives)
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://www.piped.video/watch?v=rhMwGT55A8k
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
a lot of hip-hop that essentially glorified a lot of horrible traits was just what a lot of old, rich white dudes figured would make them money.
Arrested Development touches on that in at least a few of their recent songs. This is one that immediately springs to mind, but there are others:
do i have to tell you how this industry goes down
they wanna promote us as the lowest things around
stereotypical images and beats all around
police beat us on the ground
do i have to tell you how this industry goes down
promote the thugs with the criminal sound
stereotypical images and white supremacist images of us never innocent it kills
kills, snitches and witnesses
i guess the business is exploit us sexually
but keep us intellectually primitive
sedated the sensitive
nullifying all their initiative
to ever unify, just relying on representatives
our english is now seen as this, opposite of geniuses
the truth is meaningless
they deliberately been deceiving us
…
Yes unpopular, but your final sentence indicates a deep lack of understanding regarding the origins, purpose, and breadth of the genre.
You are welcome to your opinion, and I’m 100% sure that no one coming in like that is going to look any deeper. I’m just sharing my opinion that yours is uninformed and superficial.
Hey that’s fair. I’m not privy to a lot of the socioeconomic shit that took/takes place that led to the rise of rap and what I call ghetto culture.
I just think it’s been glorified to the point people who have no experience with ghetto culture outside of rap music start acting like they thugs n shit. Like “gangster” shit started happening everywhere with a shitload of people fully embracing not only the visual look but the “hustler” “gangster” lifestyle.
Also don’t mistake my ignorance for inability to learn. I’m willing to listen and learn about it all I just don’t think it’ll change my outlook on how it’s effected everyone everywhere negatively.
And you know maybe I’m wrong and I’m just upset things aren’t changing the way I want them to. In that case oh well I’ll live.
I just think it’s been glorified to the point people who have no experience with ghetto culture outside of rap music start acting like they thugs n shit. Like “gangster” shit started happening everywhere with a shitload of people fully embracing not only the visual look but the “hustler” “gangster” lifestyle.
My perspective on this, is that the chicken came before the egg so to speak.
Rappers dont glorify these things anymore than metal bands singing about decipitating hundreds of people mean it; all art is fiction, we wont be calling a horror film writer a ‘glorification of violence’, we call it a fantasy, a reflection of reality; these people observe reality and reflect it in art.
Now, does some rap stray into reality? Sure, so does all art, unless we fully remove the human from art it will always involve a real person.
Voting for a liberal continues the cycle of underclass exploitation either way, id say the middle class cocaine user and the politican locking up millions of people into small prison cells for drug use has a much bigger hand in creating and perputating the cycle of violence that dominates liberal society in america.
To accent my point and show how the way you are thinking is a symptom of a moral panic, something that takes a few examples and inflates it into a wider group…
90% of drill artists banned from making music in the UK dont have a criminal record…85% of those banned without a criminal record are black.
Its the censoring of the mental production of black youths; the upper class do not want a culture based on anti-authoritianism to emerge.
the upper class do not want a culture based on anti-authoritianism to emerge.
Truth.
Well thank you for the response, which I admit I expected to not exist or to be rude. 🙂
I’m willing to listen and learn about it all I just don’t think it’ll change my outlook on how it’s effected everyone everywhere negatively.
I wasn’t going to push this on you, but this 4-part documentary literally takes the exact opposite stance and is a documentary regarding the formation and evolution of hip-hop. You don’t owe me anything, but if you are legit interested…
I believe it’s available on at least a couple different streaming services, as well as on the high seas.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21872984/
Having watched it myself, please resist the temptation to skip around if you do give it a shot. There’s a through-line that will be less apparent if you watch it all chopped up, or skip past certain sections.
I just think it’s been glorified to the point people who have no experience with ghetto culture outside of rap music start acting like they thugs n shit. Like “gangster” shit started happening everywhere with a shitload of people fully embracing not only the visual look but the “hustler” “gangster” lifestyle.
This very thing is discussed at one point, FWIW. 🙂
And you know maybe I’m wrong and I’m just upset things aren’t changing the way I want them to.
I’m about the whitest looking person you could imagine, and I’m in my mid-late 50s. I grew up with a good dose of privilege, but (fortunately?) was thrust into situations through early to mid adulthood that forced me to step outside my comfort zone quite a bit. I look like I should be walking around with a maga hat and intimidating voters with my open-carry firearms, not pseudo-anonymously trying to convince a stranger to give hip hop another chance.
A lot of things haven’t progressed the way I expected them to, either, and I am very familiar with how easy it is to misjudge things that are not within your lived experience.
Hip-Hop is a mirror of what is, not the progenitor of the nation’s problems. It sometimes looks like the progenitor to folks who haven’t previously experienced some of what it reflects in their own daily lives though, I think.
Personally, the only place I’m hearing voices raised about the issues I care about in modern music (and this could be my own narrow view) is within the subgenre of “conscious hip hop.”
You should watch Hip Hop Evolution on Netflix—or the first three/four seasons. Because it will tell you a lot. Like, your opinion generalizes so much that it’s really dancing on the line just this side of problematic.
I get this is an unpopular opinion but 99% of the time I hear this take its just barely masked racism.
Agreed wholeheartedly. And just to pile on another unpopular opinion: it all sounds like trash. Literally it’s not music. Just a repetitive beat while some douchebag talks fast at you.
its* effects.
Yup. Unpopular opinion indeed. Upvoted.
I don’t care for Dylan or the Beatles. At least I understand the ground-breaking work of the Beatles, but Dylan is incomprehensible.
and largely always was
I don’t understand Dylan but I believe he was lauded because of other musicians looking for anything new. Dylan pioneered the 3 minute song as a short story. So if you are a pop artist struggling to write a new song, it opened up lots of new ideas.
Dylan called his technique his crutch in writing “4th Time Around” to Lennon about Norwegian Wood copying Dylan’s style.
People like Hip Hop because it makes them feel cool for listening to it.
Modern electronic music is the spiritual successor to classical music (and modern-day “classical” compositions are just rehashes).
I upvoted you, but you are not entirely right in my opinion.
Not all classical music is created equal. I am quite convinced that if J.S. Bach had lived today, he would make music like Squarepusher. However, somebody like Gustav Holst would probably be in some kind of doom metal or progressive metal.
Thoughts on Ummet Ozcan?
I can get down with this.
Modern electronic music is the spiritual successor to classical music
I don’t disagree, but can you explain your reasoning behind this?
Mostly because electronic music is made by a single composer and that the performance by the musicians itself is not as central to the composition.
And that Mozart would be probably making electronic music if he was born in this era.
Upvoted because of bad/unpopular opinion, don’t agree at all.
performance by the musicians itself is not as central to the composition
Extremely debatable. With Renaissance and Romanticism came the cult of personality around celebrities. Lisztomania basically mirrored Beatlemania but for the virtuoso Hungarian pianist and composer, in the mid 1800s. Haydn and Paganini reportedly had a rather large female followings who weren’t really interested in their knack for musical harmony. IIRC, there are accounts of Mozart indulging in the lifestyle of a young royal composer with some renown.
I don’t know if he’d be making electronic music, honestly. Mozart broke so many of his contemporary musical rules, with all that has been invented since, I find it hard to believe he’d limit himself to it. Maybe progressive/experimental stuff ala Aphex Twin lol?
The composers are usually not the musicians though when it comes to classical music, especially since most of the composers are already dead 🤪
But just imagine a Beatles cover band becoming more famous than the Beatles themselves. Something like is common when it comes to orchestras that play classical music though.
Sure, there is some personality cult around famous conductors and so on, but that is really more comparable to DJs that remix but do not compose their own electronic music.
I mean, of course it’s gonna be interprets nowadays if the composers are dead, but composers were also often musicians or directors for their own music when they were alive 🤷♂️ It’s very difficult to play multiple instruments by yourself to hear your own composition when multitrack audio recording wasn’t a thing lol
A more accurate equivalence for the Beatles cover band would be if they were from year 2187 and all of The Beatles’ recordings were lost to time, which wouldn’t be particularly weird at this point, considering nobody alive in this year would remember what hearing The Beatles was like.
I guess if you’re talking about classical music as we live it now the comparison kind of makes sense, but “classical music” means so many things, spanning a couple centuries through multiple countries and waves - e.g. Bach, Mozart and Glass barely have anything to do with each other.
Mozart would probably go fucking nuts looking at modern notation software like Sibelius/MuseScore/Dorico tho lol
Most unpopular among my friends would be something along the lines of “metal is the best music” or “electronic music/techno sux, because it’s all the same”.
I like to troll a bit with them, but honestly I do like me some metal. It’s so variable, there’s progressive Opeth on one side, brutal machinegun Cannibal Corpse on the other, insane meatgrinder Mayhem on the third and groovy jumpy Pantera on fourth. And we’re only at the beginning. But I get that some (most) people find it all too heavy. Their loss, not mine ;-)
Gawd, I lurrrrve me some Opeth.
It’s insane how versatile their music is. One song is calm prog like Pink Floyd the other is really metal. And the singer rocks, going through all this like it’s nothing.
Eric Clapton is wildly overrated
YES! He’s a massive idiot too.
Cocaine is his only good song.
I guess my unpopular opinion is that I don’t think that’s a very good song :)
Now this is an unpopular opinion, mostly about Cocaine being good in any capacity.
The beatles are vastly overrated. They may have been trailblazers at the time but their music really doesn’t hold up
Decade or two ago I would agree with you.
Nowadays not that much. Ofc those radio songs you’ve heard more than billion times are awful and helps nobody to appreciate Beatles. But if you dig a bit deeper into songs that are ignored by radios, there are quite some good songs.
For one, I can’t believe Helter Skelter was made by the same Beatles as e.g. Help. Or whole Sgt. Pepper album is nice too.
Maybe I should specify, I don’t like typical radio music.
Metal head etc etc.
Go listen Helter Skelter then. That’s some Beatles I can appreciate.
Separating the artist from the art is fine.
You can like music by someone who doesn’t share your social, political, or religious beliefs with.I’ll go a step further:
You have to separate the art from the artist because there is not a single artist I’ve ever encountered who wasn’t some kind of fucking trashhole of a person.
Artists spent their lives on being artists, not developing good interpersonal skills or understanding politics or philosophy.
Beleiving an artist is a “good person” is just setting yourself up for disappointment. Start out assuming they suck dogshit and you usually end up being right.
Agreed. Show me a flawless human being, and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t have anything interesting to share with the world.
I think it’s reasonable to draw some lines that, when crossed, you’ll choose to disengage from their art.
The musician doesn’t have to be a saint. But if I find out they, I don’t know, love eating live puppies, I’m going to prefer spending my time and attention elsewhere.
I agree, but I like to start from a position of “this person probably sucks” because then I’m never disappointed.
This is a fair position to take.
I tend to avoid listening to interviews with bands I like in case they’re terrible.
Though weirdly I’ll chat with folks at merch tables.
Sam from Future Islands is a pretty dope guy.
I’m alright with this as long as you pirate it lol
My mind is telling me nooooo
But my body
My bodyyyyy is telling me yesss
I guess it’s the same as buying Nestle Hot Chocolate knowing full well child labor was involved. It’s ok as long as your sweet tooth is satisfied.
You got downvotes by someone who didn’t understand sarcasm so I evened it back out.
Upvoted because this is the one I most strongly disagree with.
Hitlers art but ignore the holocaust?
Lost Prophets but ignore the lead singers horrifying SA of children?
Kanye West and his anti semitism insanity?
Chris Brown and beating the shit out of women?
R. Kelly and SA a child?
Rowling and her hatred of trans children?
Michael Jackson and his … weird child obsession?
Gary Glitter and his SA?
The Pianist is one of the best war movies I’ve ever seen… even though Polanski.
the examples you gave
Yes, that’s what separating the art from the artist means.
Well aware. I am listing examples of why I cant separate. Hence my “disagree” comment
🤨
Separating the artist from the art is fine for me as long as you don’t support them. There is nothing inherently wrong with consuming media you like from a controversial figure.
Of course it’s hard to separate the artist and the art if you actively give them money for it.
I like some of Kanye West’s music but I would never spend a single cent on one of his albums, watch an ad on Youtube for his music videos or listen to his songs on streaming services.
I cant stand listening to someone singing, knowing full well they rape children 🤷♀️
each to their own I suppose
This is actually really popular among my music students. I completely disagree on most case. X raped 300 kids but hey, he makes pretty good beats so let’s pay 200$ for a concert.
Bomfunk MC’s Freestyler is the peak of musical creation. (Ok, prolly no but I love coming back to it.)
(Fwiw, initially I read “triple !” (i.e. !!! or ChkChkChk) in your op comment and thought why?, that’s a great band.)
Many of my friends get super personally offended when I say that phish isn’t a great band
Phish is great at what they do, I just find their music dreadfully boring and long
The vast majority of music without lyrics sucks.
Classical music would like a word with you.
Or do you mean removing voices from songs ?
Either way, there are music with absolutely legendary instrumentals that I would be bangers with or without voices.
Nah, classical music is one example. Another big one is techno/electronic stuff.
Contemplate Clair de Lune from Debussy, take a gander at Gwyn, Lord of Cinder’s theme from the Dark souls OST, let your mind wander at Time from the Inception OST. And that’s only the most mainstream I could think of.
Beautiful music is everywhere, from every media, in every genre, you just just have to listen.
I kind of agree with you, there is a lot of great soundtracks. However, for me a soundtrack is part of a larger medium, which it underscores or sublements. Most of them make medicore songs at best when listend to in isolation.
Can’t you say that of everything though ? Take rap for example, doesn’t it fit in a larger medium that is the rapper’s life ? You cant have a piece of art existing in a vacuum. If I listen to Gwyn’s theme, am I liking it because I played the game or because it’s intrinsically beautiful ? Does it make it less beautiful to me ? Does it matter ?
Take rap for example, doesn’t it fit in a larger medium that is the rapper’s life ?
Maybe. I don’t really care about artists and usually know nothing about them, so that aspect is usually irrelevant to me.
I didn’t mean that the life of the artist is relevant, but lyrics are the reflection of an artist’s existence, so even if you don’t care about the artist themselves you’re still listening to their lyrics.
That’s why I say pieces don’t just exist in a vacuum.
Imo it depend what the instrumental is.If it’s some aggresive guitar riffs that bands like Mayhem or Siculicidium could drop, i will love it. It’s just some weird noises made by a computer i will find it boring.
There is definitely exceptions. Though guitar instrumentals don’t do it for me, even though I generally listen to the rock/metal genre.
But for example I really like violin covers by this one artist/youtuber of movie and game soundtracks (especially the Zelda games). But that’s some of the only instrumental music I listen to and only when I’m in a specific mood.
And even there I think nostalgia is doing most of the heavy lifting for me enjoying the songs.
What about some post rock? I find it very nice relaxing music and being without lyrics is also part of that. Bands like God Is an Astronaut, Explosions in the Sky, Mono, Mogwai, etc. Even Sigur Ros which technically include singing, but it’s just gibberish to have “another instrument”.
I’ll save this comment, because I’m not going to check those suggestions out right now.
Maybe in a few weeks you’ll get a random reply to this comment. I’ve done it before, but no promise.
For me it’s the opposite. The song start and the music is a banger but as soon as the lyrics comes, it’s ruined.
I’m with you on this one. There are lyrics on almost every single track for crying out loud. Throw us instrumental lovers a bone won’t you? Songs that are lyrically driven but are otherwise super-repetitive instrumentally tend to put me to sleep.
What I love about concerts is when the band goes off script and just starts jamming. Even a 5-minute drum solo will have me grinning ear to ear, and that’s what I’ll be remembering on the way home.
Repetitive instrumental pattern is my #1 skip reason xD that “Aight I’m bored” moment when you realize the song has nothing more to give is a sad waste of time.
I love 21 pilots and Foo fighters for their great instrumental + vocal balance
Trash lyrics fucking up an otherwise good song. It happens far too often.
That’s why I’m just a bit of a fan of Thom Yorke’s whole “using my voice as an instrument, the words don’t mean anything” vibe because at least he purposefully isn’t trying to make meaningful lyrics and instead is just trying to add another instrument to the music.
I despise bagpipes. Anyone who thinks that awful noise is in any way related to actual music should have a set jammed into their ears so hard they come out the other side.
/Rant over.
How do you feel about Tuvan throat singing? I feel like both sounds are complex and deeply interesting but I also think it’s an acquired taste.
I think even bagpipe players agree with you.
They have their place. Which is a hill far far away and not indoors.
At the bottom of the ocean?
I fuckin’ love bagpipes… but I also love Xiu Xiu so I wouldn’t trust my musical tastes.
You might like this line from Arrested Development, Season 4:
And, like all bagpipe music it was hard to tell if it was good music played horribly, or horrible music played well.
I’m Scottish, so I felt guilty for laughing at that as much as I did :-)
On rare occasions, I do think bagpipe music can be spectacularly beautiful and moving, but it takes a really talented piper and/or some contextualising occasion (like a major sports event) to really make me like it all that much.
Most hip hop is missing key musical elements and just isn’t good. I have no idea why the genre became so popular.
Are you a Ben Shapiro fan?
Lol no, why?
Not saying it makes you like him but he has the exact same take
He also has no idea wtf he’s talking about
Well that’s probably the best argument against my hot take I’ve seen haha.
What till you hear that “hip hop” track that Ben guests on… Or better yet just don’t bother.
The only thing that ole Benny Shaps has ever said even remotely related to music anyone should listen to is him reading the lyrics to Wet Ass Pussy.
Hah. Yes that was actually funny.
I have no idea why the genre became so popular.
Trash talking, scandalous
It’s why I got so into Busdriver for a while. Not a lot of rappers out there trying to rap to a melody instead of just a beat.
Further, even if they are out there, they aren’t as popular.
Yeah there is definitely some hiphop that I do enjoy but it’s a small minority of the overall scene.
Old bands such as Joy Division are amazing and most new music doesn’t even get close to that.
Not a “good ol’ time” advocate but yeah, music was way better in past.
When people complain about new music not living up to old, it just means they’ve quit exploring and form their prejudices on the pop genre they hear, which has always been the lowest hanging song on the tree.
Doesn’t this usually refer to music on the radio? I think most people understand that there’s lots of good music if you look for it, but the problem is the “popular” music is getting more and more formulaic
The thing is, I don’t want to have to look for it. Growing up I could turn on the radio and hear amazing music on pretty much any popular channel. Depeche Mode, Billy Idol, David Bowie, REM, XTC, Goo Goo Dolls, En Vogue, Green Day, Alanis Morrissette, Boyz II Men, Sarah MacLachlan, and so many others. It was a preponderance of great music with some shitty stuff interspersed.
Growing up, everything you heard was new to you. An experience. People older than you was saying the same shit about the music you were enjoying at the time. That’s how it goes.
absolute truth right here. I used to be like that, “Brehh Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and Queen were the last good bands”. Looking back I was such a tool. First because it’s such a douche thing to belittle people for their music preference, and second because there is a ton of a great music. Now I can say I’m honestly a huge swiftie and I like a ton of music across several decades.
We have the most variety of music in history right now. To say “I don’t like new music” is absurd, and you’re exactly right, just means they just don’t even try.
As an unpopular opinion on the other end, it’s ok to stop participating in pop culture. Pop music, Blockbuster movies, and TV are all meant to sell consumerism to young people with disposable incomes. Not to people who are bogged down by kids and mortgages.
New media isn’t made for your tastes, so unless you make an effort to change your tastes to those of the current generation of young people, new media will never be seen as good enough by you
I think there’s an important difference between “there is no new good music” and “I don’t like any new music”.
The former is making a broad proclamation. The latter is keeping it limited to your personal experience, even if phrased a little sloppily.
Though I guess you could argue people saying the former really mean the latter and are just communicating kind of badly.
I think survivorship bias plays into it as well. Yeah, most the stuff on the radio today is kinda meh. Most the stuff on the radio in those days was kinda meh too. All the meh songs got forgotten, and you only remember the bangers. You’ve already seen it happen to 00s music and we’re watching it happen with the 10s.
But yeah, it’s wild how many people look at how accessible different types of music are now and just… don’t go looking.
For so many artists, they’ll have a single hit that survived the test of time and most that didn’t. We hear the one song that not only topped the charts but continued to be remembered. I tried going back to the top 100 songs of the 50’s. Some of them are good (Hound Dog), but others frankly just aren’t very good. Contrast that with the modern day, I had a neighbor growing up who is a professional singer who has better original songs.
Then you just get the factor of time itself. Old includes all surviving music before the present day. When you have centuries of music (if not more),
