B.C. by Mastroianni and Hart for July 13, 2014

We win

Rap music is missing the first letter in it’s name.

stupid me, I thought he meant w, as in wrap.

The original rappers, who came up with their rhymes on the fly, were very creative. I don’t get the need to purposely put in a lot of vulgarity and misogynistic comments, tho. (I’m not defending rap per se, but will admit to owning a copy of the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight”.) I also dislike how they completely steal – they call it “sample” – already established music.

I’m a middle-aged (44) lady who likes pretty much everything, except for the newer country songs. I just got Limp Bizkit’s gh. I can’t stand Kanye, but I’ll still give him his props for talent. As others have said “rap” and ALL music has its good and bad. My player will go from Linkin Park to Johnny Cash & then play Neil Diamond. Eminem’s latest songs have been thoughtful. I feel so old that Haley graduated! ugh! Since I was a dancer in my younger years hip-hop has always been one of my favorite genres. Plus I found out I’ve been “twerking” since the 80s! lol

I sort of agree with you. There is always good music being made. And also regretfully always bad. That being said, when I hear the words rap or hip/hop I head elsewhere.

I just like to hear the words and have the words make sense- as long as the music’s not too loud. Rapping or talking during songs was way before in spirituals and blues. Also, “Big Bad John” preceded “Ringo”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_qX5bPbPUo

Combine country and rap. Get crap.

“Bad” music has been around for generations…. hahaBill Cosby used to do a “bit” where his dad is yelling at him about his crappy music; Bill was listening to Miles Davis and that new Jazz-thing…. The Boomers’ parents were screaming about those long-haired Beatles…. ;-) But I do think Rap will be forgotten someday; at least I hope so. A friend’s daughter used to listen to “Alternative” music to which he called it “An alternative TO music!”…. haha

And in sports, post-play dancing.

There is some pretty vulgar stuff in rock and country music. To imply that there is no dramatic prose in rap music strikes me as racist crap. Time to drop this narrow minded and usually dull strip from my list.

So right. All genres and artists have good and bad songs. Years ago my wife and I were vacationing in Jamaica. The cabbie who took us to the airport for our return flight was playing Reggie by Half Pint. It was very good (reminded us of Bob Marley). When we got home we found his first CD and enjoyed it very much. A few years later we came upon his second CD, but we where so disappointed because his music had turned into misogynistic rants. We returned that CD and have never looked for any other Half Pint CD’s.

I’ll take a little Miles Davis, Nancy Wilson, Count Basie, Or Frank Sinatra etc…

The Breaks by Kurtis Blow is a good classic..no censor bleeps

See, I always thought the “C” was silent!Frank Zappa Invented Rap.

Our city’s International Jazz Fest at the end of June has some great artists. The bigger names get the ‘concert’ venues. This year, The Nightcrawlers made it to concert level. (local done good). But the free outdoor venues are where you get the more interesting stuff – I have picked up some interesting CD’s. Recent – A trio called Bushman’s Revenge, from Norway. They have a little traditional jazz mixed with a lot of avant garde rocker type music. Other was some group of about 14 guys just trying to get a foot up/start. They were playing middle Eastern sounding music that had been put on crack. Definitely different. But way better than Rap.

It was recently suggested that the opening number from The Music Man (salesmen on the train) was the first rap. I suggested “Talking Union Blues” as an earlier one. Not just someone talking, but talking rhythmically (or I might have suggested George Grossmith, Jnr’s “Murders” from 1908).

Rap is like anything else. There’s good stuff in there. It’s not my genre, so I couldn’t make suggestions, but once in a while I hear something in passing that might be it.

This refers to some combination of rap and real music?

Not only rap, but most music and singers today are incredibly bad. Even listen to some so called singer or young person whose parent is a celeb who sings the national anthem and truly butchers it with strange phrasing and additional syllables.

Reminds me of a story about Picasso and a young art student who tried to copy his strange style. He said, first show you can actually paint before you experiment with my type of weird expression.

I’m not quite old enough to remember it when it was happening, but I do know that these same complaints were leveled against Rock-and-Roll in it’s day. That travesty of music was going to die a ghastly death too. (They sure got that one right, didn’t they?)

In any of these genres there are talented and untalented performers. You can’t base your judgement of a genre on the talent (or lack) of a particular performer.

TY for that! I’d never actually seen the video. Was that Keith Urban? My water aerobics class uses this song a lot. I’m one of the young members, so it’s quite cool to see everyone having fun with it.

Nope lol I rarely watch videos anymore. My teen years of course we full of Friday Night Videos and then MTV. I’ll catch a video here & there, mainly from EW. I love LMFAO’s videos, so I always have to see what those idiots are up to, same for Lonely Island.