How to Appreciate Rap Music
There are tons of different genres of music. Have you ever wanted to go out of your musical comfort zone and try something new?
[edit] Steps
- To appreciate rap music one should start by researching the genre. Find out more about its history and purpose that has undoubtedly changed through out the years.
- Listen to a lot of rap music. One CD that is particularly good for learning how rap has developed through out the years is called “VH1 30 years of hip hop”.
- Get down to the basics of rap. What differentiates this type of music from all the other genres? Ex. How is rap different from techno? What makes rap, rap?
- Although mainstream music entertainment is host to many talented artists that we all know and enjoy listening to, its best to experiment with different artists, both popular and not well known, in order to find artist that is most enjoyable to your own tastes in rap music. not everyone will appreciate a track that's primarily heavy in beat and base, with limited lyrical content, while others wont appreciate a track chocked full with lyrics,and not enough of a beat.
- Watch interviews and read reviews and find out what critics have to say. Learn the vocabulary the professionals are using.
- Find out how raps are written and what guidelines rappers follow when writing their lyrics.
- Listen to rap music from different regions and eras and compare and contrast them to get a better assessment and appreciation of the genre.
[edit] Tips
- Rap / Hip hop pioneer artist and song examples are; Run DMC and the Sugar Hill Gang in New York city. By the 1980s poor neighborhoods in New York ,Chicago and Detroit were inspiring Rap music and break dancing as well. People were “jamming” to this new music and creating different beats and rhythms. Popular songs were “Rappers Delight” by Sugar Hill Gang and “The message” by Grand Master Flash.
- In the 1990s, a confrontation between West Coast gangsta rappers and the resurging East Coast began. It centered around Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. and led to both of their deaths, in 1996 and 1997. American White rapper Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP sold over nine million copies and won a Grammy Award.
- In other word setting which includes time, place , atmosphere and other factors have importance on how a person can value and learn to appreciate music.
- Remember, there are certain styles and objectives that a hip hop artist will try to achieve to identify themselves. Most hip hop artists today, such as Mims, concentrate more on imagery of possessions like cars, jewelry, property and often attractive women. Artists like Nas would be more subtle with the imagery and concentrate on lyrical content and flow. Artists like Common and Deltron are known to usually concentrate fully on lyrical content, resulting in a more modest, stylish image. Then there are artists such as DMX and Pappoose, who represent a raw, no holds barred, aggressive street image.
- “Wild Style”, “Beat Street”, "Paid in Full", "Get Rich or Die Tryin", and "8 Mile" are a few films which portray the Hip Hop culture.
