Intro To Rap

Discussion in 'Music' started by MikeE, Jan 28, 2017.

  1. MikeE

    MikeE Hip Forums Supporter HipForums Supporter

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    Hello all and thank you

    I am working on a project about spoken word in music. (as opposed to the sung word).

    I include things like talking blues and poetry with instrumental accompaniement.

    Which brings me to rap.
    Which is a problem. I don't know rap at all.
    I do know that, because of my age, I have trouble discerning the words.

    What advice (songs, artists?) would you give an old country/folk fan who wants to investigate rap?
    I'm not looking for "true rap", I'm looking for an introduction to rap that will (after I learn to hear it) lead me to "true rap".

    Thanks.

    P.S. if you have any recommendations about "spoken word in music" that would also be appreciated. thanks.
     
  2. MeAgain

    MeAgain Dazed & Confused Lifetime Supporter Super Moderator

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    Eric Burdon of The Animals recorded the first Rap song in 1968.

    http://youtu.be/z7lASc4EqOg​

    That's all I know.
     
  3. soulcompromise

    soulcompromise Member HipForums Supporter

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    I like the Beastie Boys "Hello Nasty" because there is a lot of musical talent behind the rhyming. They incorporate different beats and there is "turntablism" which is like record scratching and stuff. There are elements in their music that I would say are somewhat psychedelic. There's this one song that talks about a turntable hooked up to a wah-wah pedal. Here is the opening track from "Hello Nasty".

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn9Vb-EQTKU&list=PL1T0hHFDjgDE_5h6swK-l5m8Pxqd_y4hN&index=1

    There's a lot of stuff going on in the background on some of their tracks. It's really something I've come to appreciate. Unfortunately this element is not omnipresent in all rap music. So, yea. I like the Beastie Boys. They also have instrumental stuff in their music. Here is a killer track from the "Ill Communication" album.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owv-mhk7dY0
     
  4. soulcompromise

    soulcompromise Member HipForums Supporter

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    The music can be really diverse. There is sampling in some of it,

    where they select a sample from some throwback or perhaps even a new tune, which is then incorporated into the mix of everything that's being done. Then lyrics can be added. I honestly don't know that much about how it's done in a production context. But here is another example of someone doing something cool with it!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxIRj6qoo14

    The rapper on the second track from this mix is called "What What". She is talented, but The Herbaliser and the artist What What are not the same thing. Anyway if you're interested in hearing some more this old mix is decent.
     
  5. tumbling.dice

    tumbling.dice Visitor

    Maybe check out You Tube and see if they have any "rap tutorials for beginners" entries.
     
  6. Irminsul

    Irminsul Valkyrie

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    Rap is the poetry of the streets. If you want to learn it you need to hit the streets and start talking to some gang bangers.

    when u tell u came not 2 fuk wit em dem thoze gangbangers will tell u a tale of street poetry... motherfucker!
     
  7. Moonglow181

    Moonglow181 Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    Rap music is not for me.
     
    1 person likes this.
  8. Irminsul

    Irminsul Valkyrie

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    Poetry of the streets, Moonie. :D
     
  9. Moonglow181

    Moonglow181 Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    I really don't like it when someone reads to me. I rather read something myself.....and then mix that with words i cannot even understand what they said...or what the words mean in modern jargon.....it is like a tap, tap, tap at my head....talking or shouting at me and not to me that is torture....and not melodic enough...I do like it when someone sings to me, if they sing well enough, though........
     
  10. MikeE

    MikeE Hip Forums Supporter HipForums Supporter

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    Thanks for all the help. This should get me started well.
     
  11. Irminsul

    Irminsul Valkyrie

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    It's the I-R - M-I and I can't even spell the rest
    it takes too long and I need another cigarette
    i cant see, both my eye sites are mad whack
    so shut the fuck up and listen or get an ass kicken
    i slap hoes and call em bitches to their face
    and scream fuck off bitch Irmi in the place
    so turn around, recognize and check nuts
    cause simply dears, i dont giveAaaaaa fuuuuuck
     
  12. pensfan13

    pensfan13 Senior Member

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    my favorite rap intro is cocky by fieldy i cant find it on YT but it is an intro to this song.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVkD4dQk3NU
     
  13. guerillabedlam

    guerillabedlam _|=|-|=|_

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    I'd probably point to Run-Dmc as the group that popularized rap. However it was definitely around prior to that and themes of the inner city life had precipitated that. One of the formative rap songs that was largely influential on about the next 2 decades of rap music was "The Message" from Grandmaster Flash :

    http://youtu.be/O4o8TeqKhgY

    It's like a jungle sometimes
    It makes me wonder how I keep from goin' under

    Broken glass everywhere
    People pissin' on the stairs, you know they just don't care
    I can't take the smell, can't take the noise
    Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice
    Rats in the front room, roaches in the back
    Junkies in the alley with the baseball bat
    I tried to get away but I couldn't get far
    Cause a man with a tow truck repossessed my car

    [Chorus]
    Don't push me cause I'm close to the edge
    I'm trying not to lose my head
    It's like a jungle sometimes
    It makes me wonder how I keep from goin' under

    Standin' on the front stoop hangin' out the window
    Watchin' all the cars go by, roarin' as the breezes blow
    Crazy lady, livin' in a bag
    Eatin' outta garbage pails, used to be a fag hag
    Said she'll dance the tango, skip the light fandango
    A Zircon princess seemed to lost her senses
    Down at the peep show watchin' all the creeps
    So she can tell her stories to the girls back home
    She went to the city and got social security
    She had to get a pimp, she couldn't make it on her own

    [Chorus]

    It's like a jungle sometimes
    It makes me wonder how I keep from goin' under

    My brother's doin' bad, stole my mother's TV
    Says she watches too much, it's just not healthy
    All My Children in the daytime, Dallas at night
    Can't even see the game or the Sugar Ray fight
    The bill collectors, they ring my phone
    And scare my wife when I'm not home
    Got a bum education, double-digit inflation
    Can't take the train to the job, there's a strike at the station
    Neon King Kong standin' on my back
    Can't stop to turn around, broke my sacroiliac
    A mid-range migraine, cancered membrane
    Sometimes I think I'm goin' insane
    I swear I might hijack a plane!

    [Chorus]

    It's like a jungle sometimes
    It makes me wonder how I keep from goin' under

    My son said, Daddy, I don't wanna go to school
    Cause the teacher's a jerk, he must think I'm a fool
    And all the kids smoke reefer, I think it'd be cheaper
    If I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper
    Or dance to the beat, shuffle my feet
    Wear a shirt and tie and run with the creeps
    Cause it's all about money, ain't a damn thing funny
    You got to have a con in this land of milk and honey
    They pushed that girl in front of the train
    Took her to the doctor, sewed her arm on again
    Stabbed that man right in his heart
    Gave him a transplant for a brand new start
    I can't walk through the park cause it's crazy after dark
    Keep my hand on my gun cause they got me on the run
    I feel like a outlaw, broke my last glass jaw
    Hear them say "You want some more?"
    Livin' on a see-saw

    [Chorus]

    It's like a jungle sometimes
    It makes me wonder how I keep from goin' under

    A child is born with no state of mind
    Blind to the ways of mankind
    God is smilin' on you but he's frownin' too
    Because only God knows what you'll go through
    You'll grow in the ghetto livin' second-rate
    And your eyes will sing a song called deep hate
    The places you play and where you stay
    Looks like one great big alleyway
    You'll admire all the number-book takers
    Thugs, pimps and pushers and the big money-makers
    Drivin' big cars, spendin' twenties and tens
    And you'll wanna grow up to be just like them, huh
    Smugglers, scramblers, burglars, gamblers
    Pickpocket peddlers, even panhandlers
    You say I'm cool, huh, I'm no fool
    But then you wind up droppin' outta high school
    Now you're unemployed, all non-void
    Walkin' round like you're Pretty Boy Floyd
    Turned stick-up kid, but look what you done did
    Got sent up for a eight-year bid
    Now your manhood is took and you're a Maytag
    Spend the next two years as a undercover fag
    Bein' used and abused to serve like hell
    Til one day, you was found hung dead in the cell
    It was plain to see that your life was lost
    You was cold and your body swung back and forth
    But now your eyes sing the sad, sad song
    Of how you lived so fast and died so young so

    [Chorus]

    It's like a jungle sometimes
    It makes me wonder how I keep from goin' under
     

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