Rap Music 20 years on
Posted by: Shayman on 24 May 2006
Not most people's cup of tea here but just thought I'd see what anyone else thinks about the evolution (or not) of Rap music.
It first came to my attention in about 1984 and I listened to it a lot between 84 and 89. In 84 it seemed completely alien and a radical new musical movement which really grabbed me. Over the next 5 year there was a rapid evolution from the first tinny, street poetry recordings of Grand Master Flash/Melle Mel etc to bigger beats with the likes of Run DMC, LL Cool J, Tone Loc etc. then came the white Bad Boy image and lyrics of Beastie Boys, 3rd Base etc and the evolution towards inner city rage and confronting societies poor treatment of America's Black population with NWA and Public Enemy. We even had the forays into peaceful rap by the likes of De La Soul. By the end of the 80's sampling was starting to be used in all forms, using clips from old pop, Blues and Soul tunes. Happy days up til this point.
Now, the point of this post came to me when listening to Straight Outta Compton the other night for probably the first time in 5 or 6 years. It struck me that following the initial rapid evolution of rap music in those early years apparently absolutely nothing new has happened to the genre since. Other than the next new thing coming along and doing exactly what last years next new thing did nothing has changed for the best part of 17 years.
Maybe this is why my music tastes (thankfully) moved on. But what is it that happened? Is it dead as a musical form....or can anyone disprove my theory?
Any opinions?
Jonathan
It first came to my attention in about 1984 and I listened to it a lot between 84 and 89. In 84 it seemed completely alien and a radical new musical movement which really grabbed me. Over the next 5 year there was a rapid evolution from the first tinny, street poetry recordings of Grand Master Flash/Melle Mel etc to bigger beats with the likes of Run DMC, LL Cool J, Tone Loc etc. then came the white Bad Boy image and lyrics of Beastie Boys, 3rd Base etc and the evolution towards inner city rage and confronting societies poor treatment of America's Black population with NWA and Public Enemy. We even had the forays into peaceful rap by the likes of De La Soul. By the end of the 80's sampling was starting to be used in all forms, using clips from old pop, Blues and Soul tunes. Happy days up til this point.
Now, the point of this post came to me when listening to Straight Outta Compton the other night for probably the first time in 5 or 6 years. It struck me that following the initial rapid evolution of rap music in those early years apparently absolutely nothing new has happened to the genre since. Other than the next new thing coming along and doing exactly what last years next new thing did nothing has changed for the best part of 17 years.
Maybe this is why my music tastes (thankfully) moved on. But what is it that happened? Is it dead as a musical form....or can anyone disprove my theory?
Any opinions?
Jonathan