I do think jazz is far better and for every good rap album there are probably ten exceptional jazz albums.

Well jazz has been around for a heck of a lot longer than rap, but I think I'd agree with your sentiment (since I'm not a jazz fan).

Well jazz has been around for a heck of a lot longer than rap, but I think I'd agree with your sentiment (since I'm not a jazz fan).

Yeah I agree, mostly because it has been around a lot longer, and any given artist releases far more titles in their lifetime. I also think it's a more honest expression of one's soul.

Even "underground" rap has a degree of commercialism.

Edited June 27, 200917 yr by deepak

I like a lot of rap, but given that most of it is poorly recorded, it's not surprising audiophiles don't talk about it a lot. The best rap has a lot of jazz, of course.

You're kidding, right? They've been saying that since the 80's. It's not going anywhere.

Maybe that is why it's dying?

Just kidding.

I've tried to listen to it from time to time, but it doesn't do it for me.

Would anybody care to tell what it is they like in rap that is not in other music?

You're kidding, right? They've been saying that since the 80's. It's not going anywhere.

No I'm not.

When I say dying I don't mean it will disappear forever... just that it's popularity is disappearing in droves.

Would anybody care to tell what it is they like in rap that is not in other music?

The flows sound like nothing else, and a good beat is just a simple repeating loop, so it doesn't have a chance to mess up and go wrong.

I totally agree regarding album quality being not all that. I once had a conversation with a friend who listens mostly to rap, and he mentioned that he thought a great rap album is one in which half the tracks are good. That, imo, is unacceptably low. I like Tupac as much as the next guy, but I straight up do not like any Tupac albums.

I love me some J5. Lily is a huge Kanye fan, if she's upset in the car all I have to do is put that on and she chills out.

I love me some J5. Lily is a huge Kanye fan, if she's upset in the car all I have to do is put that on and she chills out.

So, in years to come, you'll be doing this?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8qjdUXBexA]YouTube - Help the Police[/ame]

So, in years to come, you'll be doing this?

I put it on and Lily started to dance.

The flows sound like nothing else, and a good beat is just a simple repeating loop, so it doesn't have a chance to mess up and go wrong.

I totally agree regarding album quality being not all that. I once had a conversation with a friend who listens mostly to rap, and he mentioned that he thought a great rap album is one in which half the tracks are good. That, imo, is unacceptably low. I like Tupac as much as the next guy, but I straight up do not like any Tupac albums.

Yeah I feel you I can almost never get myself to listen to Tupac other then the occasional song I'm hankering for because there is really no good album.

Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle though <3.

Re: Lily.. that is almost too adorable.

Always seemed a bit racist-y for audiophile circles to ignore Rap ("SQ!"), while Punk, old Metal, etc. are regularly brought up. Maybe not in skin color, but at least in musical heritage (Rock v. Jazz most obviously). Note how the rockish Beaties were an exception of the silence years ago. And I always think of Robert Christgaus' great gateway review...

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back [Def Jam, 1988]

Chuck D is so full of shit Chuck E can dis him: "You know Public Enemy are punk rockers, 'cause they bitch about rock crits and airwaves so much." To which I'll add: "And make art about conflicts with the law that as a scion of the middle class (albeit an Afro-American and a second-generation leftist) D's avoided in real life." That said, the leader gets points for oratory, political chutzpah, and concealing his own asininity. If I'd never encountered him and Professor Griff in the public prints, I'd still figure them for reverse racists--last cut boasts that "Black-Asiatic man" got here first as if he should therefore inherit the earth. But their "freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitude" wouldn't in itself have clued me to their contempt for the black audience, because these dense, hard grooves are powered by respect: musically, no pop in years has reached so far while compromising so little. Bill Stephney, Hank Shocklee, and Terminator X juice post-Coleman/Coltrane ear-wrench with the kind of furious momentum harmolodic funk has never dared: the shit never stops abrading and exploding. Yet it holds fast, a revolutionary message D's raps have yet to live up to--which isn't to say that isn't a lot to ask or that they don't sometimes come close. I mean, me and Chuck E like punks--D's not the first talented asshole to front a great band. In fact, he's in a grand rock and roll tradition. A+

Course this is all decades ago now.

Time for some morning Public Enemy. This Henry Mancini SACD is putting me back to sleep.

Oh fuck off. It's not racist to not like rap.

Oh fuck off. It's not racist to not like rap.

Nice distillation there Grawk. Err... who said it was?

You did. The advantage of replying on a phone is I have incentive to be efficient in my replies.

No I'm not.

When I say dying I don't mean it will disappear forever... just that it's popularity is disappearing in droves.

I just peaked at the Billboard Hot 100 for this week and 8 out of the top 10 are rap songs or songs featuring rapping in them.

You did. The advantage of replying on a phone is I have incentive to be efficient in my replies.

Sorry to work those thumbs a bit more, but could you efficiently let me know where I discussed individuals and 'likes'? Now communities, sites, body of reviews, etc., over time, are where inclusions & omissions are more interesting, and possibly telling, no?

But again, my references were to years ago.

I kinda like some abstract hip-hop albums Like some stuff by DJ Crash, DJ Cam, Prefuse 73 or D

Rap snob.

Rap snob.

I am a just a regular snob

Ok, so the more verbose explaination:

It's not racist to review or not review anything. Even rap. It's not racist to like or not like any music. Even rap. It's a copout to say it, it's typical liberal guilt. People review things that they think their readership is interested in or that they themselves are interested in. If you want there to be more reviews of rap for audiophile readers, find some, and review it. Honestly, there is discussion of rap even on headfi, it's just not as common as many other genres. Why does deathmetal get discussed? Because the people that like it are nerds who spend all their time on forums, and talk about it.

Tyll said it took him a long time to find a well recorded rap piece to put on his sampler, and he ended up with MC 900 Ft Jesus. It's just not something people do anything interesting with in the recordings, generally speaking. I like a lot of rap, but I'm not excited about it generally, because its' the same stuff I've been listening to for 10 or more years. I haven't discovered new rap in ages.

You love rap.

Ok, so the more verbose explaination:

It's not racist to review or not review anything. Even rap. It's not racist to like or not like any music. Even rap. It's a copout to say it, it's typical liberal guilt. People review things that they think their readership is interested in or that they themselves are interested in. If you want there to be more reviews of rap for audiophile readers, find some, and review it. Honestly, there is discussion of rap even on headfi, it's just not as common as many other genres. Why does deathmetal get discussed? Because the people that like it are nerds who spend all their time on forums, and talk about it.

Tyll said it took him a long time to find a well recorded rap piece to put on his sampler, and he ended up with MC 900 Ft Jesus. It's just not something people do anything interesting with in the recordings, generally speaking. I like a lot of rap, but I'm not excited about it generally, because its' the same stuff I've been listening to for 10 or more years. I haven't discovered new rap in ages.

I agree with everything you said except the bolded phrase. I don't understand using a generalization to try to explain why another generalization isn't valid.

That's easy, becauseI was being inflammatory, just like he was , you missed our 3am conversation at canjam

I think our dance steps are still a little clumsy. Must figure out who leads.

That's easy, becauseI was being inflammatory, just like he was , you missed our 3am conversation at canjam

I understand that. And yes, I pretty much missed all 3am conversations at CanJam.

I think our dance steps are still a little clumsy. Must figure out who leads.

I'll go away now so you guys can figure it out.