Rock vs. Rap

[hireshi]

I don't like all the shouting and yoodleihooing in Rock. And the instrumentals themselves hurts my ears, so I would have to choose Rap.

There is only one Rock song that I can manage to listen to which is Fever For the Flavah by Hot action Cop.

 

[Muninn]

I'm going to fervently disagree with the overwhelming lead that Rock has in the poll. They are equals aesthetically IMO, and I think that rap gets a bad wrap (hahaha) from a lot of people because, they might have an anti-rap (or MTV) bias, or maybe they just have an affinity toward rock, but regardless of bias, hip-hop is just as poignant as rock, and can be just as commercial (for those of you who hate hip hop because you think it's all about cash money, or that people who rap can't sing or have no musical talent). IMO, at the present moment, the hip hop albums are far superior to the rock albums.

The rock bands of today just don't do it for me, as they feel FAAAAARRR too pre-packaged. They love to capitalize on teenage/suburban angst. The current hip hop feels much more real than the current rock music, and I just hate how a lot of rock bands/musicians or "artists" if you can even call them that are fake.

Take Duffy for instance. I know a lot of you probably love Mercy, but have you ever heard it live? It's HOOOOOOORRRRIBBBBLLLEEEEEE. The girl cannot sing without music industry magic. She can't hit the note live that she does in the recorded version, in fact, she really doesn't even sound the same. One Republic is another example of this phenomina, as I loved Apologize, but when I heard them do it live, their lead singer absolutely, positively, could NOT HIT ANY OF THE HIGH NOTES and I was PISSED. They're FRAUDS, they can't sing, they package themselves as being good singers with studio magic, when in reallity they can't hit any of the notes in their songs.

Hip hop artists, don't pretend to be something they are not, singers. What you hear is what you get with them. There really isn't any studio magic.

Don't get me wrong, as I love my pop music, but I am huge fans of people like The Rolling Stones, Elton John, and Billy Joel, because I know that they can or at least once could, hit all of the notes in their songs, and put on amazing live performances that are often times vastly superior to their records.

If I boil this down to a few simple sentences then my argument comes out to this...

I've seen Panic At The Disco live, and thei lead singer could not hit any of the notes live that he could in their recorded album, and I've seen Elton John live, and he hit all of the notes in Goodbye Yellow Brick Road live, and I've seen Kanye West live, and he hit all of the notes in his songs, because he doesn't use studio magic to pretend tht he is something that he's not, which is a good singer.

Granted, I may be being a bit too critical here, but I'm old school in that, don't use studio magic (Duffy) to hit notes that you couldn't dream of hitting in real life. You make yourself look bad, and you depreciate bands like Coldplay, whose lead singer (Chris Martin) can hit all of the notes live that he can in the studio recording.

It's just REALLY one of my biggest pet peeves when you are far inferior in concert than you are in studio.

 

[Donald Trump]

I'm going to fervently disagree with the overwhelming lead that Rock has in the poll. They are equals aesthetically IMO, and I think that rap gets a bad wrap (hahaha) from a lot of people because, they might have an anti-rap (or MTV) bias, or maybe they just have an affinity toward rock, but regardless of bias, hip-hop is just as poignant as rock, and can be just as commercial (for those of you who hate hip hop because you think it's all about cash money, or that people who rap can't sing or have no musical talent). IMO, at the present moment, the hip hop albums are far superior to the rock albums.

The rock bands of today just don't do it for me, as they feel FAAAAARRR too pre-packaged. They love to capitalize on teenage/suburban angst. The current hip hop feels much more real than the current rock music, and I just hate how a lot of rock bands/musicians or "artists" if you can even call them that are fake.

Take Duffy for instance. I know a lot of you probably love Mercy, but have you ever heard it live? It's HOOOOOOORRRRIBBBBLLLEEEEEE. The girl cannot sing without music industry magic. She can't hit the note live that she does in the recorded version, in fact, she really doesn't even sound the same. One Republic is another example of this phenomina, as I loved Apologize, but when I heard them do it live, their lead singer absolutely, positively, could NOT HIT ANY OF THE HIGH NOTES and I was PISSED. They're FRAUDS, they can't sing, they package themselves as being good singers with studio magic, when in reallity they can't hit any of the notes in their songs.

Hip hop artists, don't pretend to be something they are not, singers. What you hear is what you get with them. There really isn't any studio magic.

Don't get me wrong, as I love my pop music, but I am huge fans of people like The Rolling Stones, Elton John, and Billy Joel, because I know that they can or at least once could, hit all of the notes in their songs, and put on amazing live performances that are often times vastly superior to their records.

If I boil this down to a few simple sentences then my argument comes out to this...

I've seen Panic At The Disco live, and thei lead singer could not hit any of the notes live that he could in their recorded album, and I've seen Elton John live, and he hit all of the notes in Goodbye Yellow Brick Road live, and I've seen Kanye West live, and he hit all of the notes in his songs, because he doesn't use studio magic to pretend tht he is something that he's not, which is a good singer.

Granted, I may be being a bit too critical here, but I'm old school in that, don't use studio magic (Duffy) to hit notes that you couldn't dream of hitting in real life. You make yourself look bad, and you depreciate bands like Coldplay, whose lead singer (Chris Martin) can hit all of the notes live that he can in the studio recording.

It's just REALLY one of my biggest pet peeves when you are far inferior in concert than you are in studio.

Pretty much everyone is worse live than in a studio, it's just more noticable with rock because they actually sing, Kanye only hits one note ever, because he talks.
The Rolling Stones have been appalling live, Keith Richards was normally out of his mind on heroin so whilst everyone else was playing satisfaction he was playing Angie. This hasn't been the case recently, but now they're older and their live music doesn't live up to their albums. Bob Dylan live is also below par, he doesn't interact with the audience at all and sings almost incomprehensively.
It's slightly odd that you say that rock is enhanced by 'studio magic', but that's all rap is, a manufactured beat.
I quite like some old rap, when it had a message, whether that was NWA and that they were angry or 2pac and child pregnancy, but that's not what today's rap is. It's a bunch of people talking about how rich they are, that's all. It's so much that's bad, which it is as well, Soulja Boy, TI, et al are useless and I could write a rap about pot noodles, but it's indefensibly boring. I feel the same way about coldplay/radiohead/keane who may as well be the same band because they play the same boring music imo.

 

[XemnasKH]

Huh, the thing about rap being at the top of the charts, weird as hell. I see it all the time and I just take it as fact. I think the reason why is that young kids think it's popular so they buy it. But then the older crowd know how to get songs illegally online so the charts don't really represent what the top songs are.

Yes, rock bands are not as good live and as Pablo said, it's because they have to work hard. But some bands can be even better live. eg. in my opinion Muse and System Of A Down.

On the subject of messages, I still think they are equal on how they are promoting things like violence and drugs. I mean, there's a rock song called Nymphetamine Fix for craps sake.

 

[Obdurate]

Gotta have both.

Rap is an excellent form of poetry and a capable MC will wow you with not only how well the words flow, but how he/she manipulates the english language. An example, Eminem (when he was fantastic) rhyming orange without it sounding forced. The hip hop culture (rap and hip hop are the same to me, I understand the debate but I think it's ridiculous) is also fantastic, rappin', DJing, grafitti, dance. Street poetry. It's just as important as rock.

It's true that mainstream rap has a lot of materialistic garbage. It's true that for a lot of them it's more about the money than the skill, the pride. But you're going to find that in any mainstream music, especially in North America (as mainstream differs depending on where you go). But the best thing to do is go diggin', because there are loads of incredible rappers/rap groups out there, and here's a few: Sage Francis, Aesop Rock, Dalek, Nas, The Roots, Eminem (his first few albums are classics). Some of them are mainstream, others aren't. And I'm not even mentioning the groups/rappers that aren't around anymore. It's endless. Rap has a nice history.

Rock, well, my favourite genres, though I honestly do like every genre I've ever heard, are punk and metal so I guess I favour rock in that sense, but that's not discrediting rap cuz I listen to a ton of rap as well. Mainstream rock has a lot of garbage as well, but again, some ace bands make it through, not by compromising their sound, but because the sound works and connects.

You're going to always have shit in each genre, but you have to have a built in bullshit detector, as my old history teacher used to say about history. Rap and rock don't talk about one specific thing, they talk about all sorts of things, some negative, some positive.

The mainstream is the underground and the underground is the mainstream. But you'll never know what'll be mainstream. I mean, really, in Norway, you have black metal bands hittin' the charts, which is unheard of here. It's all in the culture, but I'd agree with anyone who said our current flock of mainstream bands have been around too long, for the most part.

This post just kind of rambled on and on. It's not my fault, I swear, Satan made me do it.

 

[Icarus]

Pretty much everyone is worse live than in a studio, it's just more noticable with rock because they actually sing, Kanye only hits one note ever, because he talks.
The Rolling Stones have been appalling live, Keith Richards was normally out of his mind on heroin so whilst everyone else was playing satisfaction he was playing Angie. This hasn't been the case recently, but now they're older and their live music doesn't live up to their albums. Bob Dylan live is also below par, he doesn't interact with the audience at all and sings almost incomprehensively.
It's slightly odd that you say that rock is enhanced by 'studio magic', but that's all rap is, a manufactured beat.
I quite like some old rap, when it had a message, whether that was NWA and that they were angry or 2pac and child pregnancy, but that's not what today's rap is. It's a bunch of people talking about how rich they are, that's all. It's so much that's bad, which it is as well, Soulja Boy, TI, et al are useless and I could write a rap about pot noodles, but it's indefensibly boring. I feel the same way about coldplay/radiohead/keane who may as well be the same band because they play the same boring music imo.

What I meant by the Coldplay comment was that they stole the riff for Viva la Vida from Joe Satriani's "If I could Fly". He has taken them to court.
And I completely agree with Afghan (which is pretty rare). Rap is cheap shit made by pimps and lazy-asses finding something to do while they wait for their next welfare check. All you need is something to say and two people in the background to hum and clap, and you've just sold the latest rap album.