Rural Dictionary

rap

Rap is a genre of music. Those who say rap is about only certain subjects are not being logical. The content therein is not what defines a genre. The content is what defines a sub-genre. But the truth is, all music is undefinable. No single definition can explain the huge web of music one influence can create. I listen to all rock and roll but metal, which may baffle some people, and I listen to all hip hop that I think is artful enough.People have been throwing out words targeting popular rap artists such as 50 Cent. NOT ONE ARTIST CAN ENCOMPASS AN ENTIRE GENRE OF MUSIC. The real reason people are going out of their way to insult what rap (and rock) music really is they don't feel comfortable with it. Music is not "good" or "bad". ALL MUSIC HAS THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE ENJOYED, AS LONG AS IT IS APPROACHED WITH AN OPEN MIND. Your taste in music is affected by your life, what you are surrounded by, what you are told is good. People who could hate rock don't give it a chance because they don't want to be like people who listen to rock. Same thing goes for rap, which is what we have been seeing here.
Rap and Rock and Roll and actually very similar. Some Rock and Roll is about sex drugs and money. Some hip hop is about
the appreciation of its own music,equivalent to having a rock song about "rocking out".
Some say rap takes no talent. 1, that is completely opinionated. 2, they are mixing up musical talent with knowledge of music theory. True, Hip Hop and Rap does not require knowledge of music theory(although it helps), but it could be said that rap requires more natural, raw talent rythmic talent than Rock and Roll. It is not necesarilly true,and in some cases are not, but it could be considered. Again, genres are so wide, there is no way to not oversimplify.
The main thing is, you enjoy music that you WANT to enjoy. If someone gives you A TRIBE CALLED QUEST's THE LOW-END THEORY, and you say, I hate how these guys are so under-produced,than chances are you wont happen to like it after a couple of listens because you are giving it no room to grow on you. But if you have and open-minded approach towrads it, you might say, after a couple of listens, I feel comfortable hearing this, and I think it is great. Not many people who can describe an entire genre as "bad" like music itself enough to approach a new genre, and dig deep for something they like. They let the corporate heavies set the bar for all of this music. Hip Hop, Rap, Rock and Roll, are all judged, and should both not be viewed as Metallic, Headbanging nonsense, and Gangsterific, Shoot 'em up pointless talking.
The point is, if you love music enough, don't judge, and don't be lazy. Search for music, and don't let the pop get to you first.

Rock Lover: Rap is bad. It takes no skill.
Rap Lover: All you have to do is break a guitar to play rock.

The Truth: No sentence alone can describe music. Don't let WHO listens to music affect how you like it, and approach it with an open mind.
(p.s. For those who do and don't like hip hop, actually check out the what I think is a genius album "The Low End Theory" by "A Tribe Called Quest")

by HVD August 29, 2007

30👍 32👎

rap

a genre of music that is all too often stereotyped for being highly materialistic and confused with Hip Hop.

Rap stands for Rhythm and Poetry, not Retards atempting Poetry (and this is for all the urban dictionary drones who copied the first acronym into their definitions).

Ignorant people often mistake rap for guys rhyming about cars, houses, drugs, sex, etc. This is what you'd call "Commercial Rap", that is, rappers who have signed on to huge record labels only to lose control of their self respect, waving their money around in the face of their lower-class counterparts. Commercial Rappers are completely unaware that they are ruining rap's good name by spoiling the lyrical styles with materialistic garbage. Old school rap and new non-crap rap music is called Underground rap.

Ignorant people also confuse rap and hip hop. Here's the difference: Rap is focused almost completley on the lyrics, usually telling a story or expressing one's self in such a way. Hip Hop is focused on the beat/melody, where the hip hop artist, NOT the rapper, is simply adding rhyming phrases to his or her music. Hip Hop is in no way a variation of rap. Occasionaly, a rapper might do a collaboration or remix to a hip hop song, but rarely vice versa.

Examples of good rappers are Tupac Shakur, Nas, Mos Def (the old school rappers), and examples of the Commercial rappers are 50 cent, Lil Wayne, and any rapper/rap group who talks more about what they have than what they could be doing for society, like the good rappers.

Also, this is America: a grossly capitalistic nation, in which our economic advantages and ignorance seep into all kinds of musical genres, unfortunatly Rap the most. The real problem with rap today is that youngsters who want to be rappers aren't influenced by the good old school Tupac-esque rappers anymore; the only thing they hear on radio stations these days is the commercial garbage rap, and thus they want to become a commercial rapper. Tupac would piss all over these fake rappers if he were still alive.

Lastly, rap is not just for black people. Rap music is for EVERYONE...no race can ever "own" a genre of music. Examples of skilled non-black rappers are Eminem, Paul Wall, Cyprus Hill, Daddy Yankee, etc. Hopefully, this definition got through to someone.

Rap is good. Commercial rap sucks. Therefore, Tupac is awesome, 50cent is lame.

by JT the man January 4, 2008

25👍 21👎

rap

A pathetic excuse for music, rap isn't real music to begin with, the simple fact is that rap is poetry set to a beat. Original rap wasn't so bad. It dealt with many different issues and was worth listening to. But recently this rap has been taken over by shit also known a "gangsta rap." Really all that it talks about is how that rapper " went tru da hood an' shot da cops" now really why cant they pronounce anything right? do they think it's cool or something to sound like a retard and say "da" instead of "the"? Even if you ignore the horrible "music" the sub culture of it is really sickening. Fans walk around looking like either criminals or like retards with too much jewelry. They can't even talk, it's like they had to try and sound unique so they came up with stupid sounding words like shizzle,and yo and stupid phrases like "in da hizzy" really they just look and sound like a bunch of fucking idiots.

Guide to making a rap song

Step 1: Either record some random beat by spitting into your hands and looking like a dumbass, or pay someone else to do it.

Step 2: Write some words that rhyme and tell a story about how you did something illegal. If you can't come up with a real rhyming word just make one up.(That's how shizzle came to be)

Step 3: Record yourself saying the words in step with the beat.

Step 4: Send it to a record company, if they like it they will ask yout o make a few more that sound exactly like it.

by superninjapenguin February 18, 2007

59👍 73👎

Rap

Rapping (also known as emceeing, MCing, spitting, or just rhyming) is the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes and wordplay, one of the elements of hip hop music and culture. Rap is NOT a genre a music, but rapping, or MCing is a part of the genre "Hip-Hop". Hip-Hop also consists of graffiti art, DJing, MCing(rapping), and breaking.

Today, almost all mainstream rap has completely sold out to mainstream America. Mainstream rap has NO self expression in it, and does not represent itself well anymore. More and more artists try to get a hit song, rather than express themselves- or a good album. So anyone that thinks "rap" is what they see on TV (Soulja Boy, 50 Cent, etc.) is definately wrong. In fact, most of these shitty rappers don't even represent their DJ. "Bling rap" is BULLSHIT.

Good rap flows, and not just relies on the beat, it works with it. Rap is all about expression, but has been capitalized on as of late, unfortunately. There are some rappers and hip-hop artists that still keep it real though, but almost all of them are underground- if still active.

For all the people that think rappers like "Soulja Boy, 50 Cent, Chingy, and Chamillionaire" are real, you're wrong. That's "Hip-POP", and it sucks. There is no expression in Hip-Pop, but there is always expression from a real Hip-Hop rapper.

For all the people out there that think rap/hip-hop is what they see on TV, and people rapping about their shopping lists or other miscellaneous bullshit- I urge you to listen to some real Hip-Hop MCs.

Some real Hip-Hop/Rap music:

A Tribe Called Quest
De La Soul
One Self
Psyche Origami
The Notorious B.I.G.
Common
The Roots
2Pac
Junk Science
People Under the Stairs
Gang Starr
All Natural
Digable Planets
Del Tha Funkee Homosapien

Listen to some of that, if you think that Rap has no self expression, or if you know "Rap" from mainstream radio and TV.
If you don't know where to start, I suggest songs like this(my personal tastes):

"Electric Relaxation" by "A Tribe Called Quest"
"Bluebird" by "One Self"
"Graffiti" by "Digable Planets"
"Breakadawn" by "De La Soul"

by C,Y, April 5, 2008

18👍 18👎

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