How Can We Make Rap/Hip-Hop Music Better???

[TVD]

Make music, not "beats". Anyone can come up with 8 bars that sound good, but it takes work (not to mention talent) to create a fully developed song that holds listeners interest.

That is exactly what Chuck D said.

[AudioWhore]

Use Sugarhill Gang 'The message' album as a template and work from there

[Amberience]

Use Sugarhill Gang 'The message' album as a template and work from there

Or try being original.

[suburban grilla]

i might be off the mark here, but noticing thst your location is "dirty south" usa, maybe hip hop would be better for you if it wasn't a genre that was developed and is maintained by black people in their fight against white oppression?

[Amberience]

i might be off the mark here, but noticing thst your location is "dirty south" usa, maybe hip hop would be better for you if it wasn't a genre that was developed and is maintained by black people in their fight against white oppression?

. . .

That is the dumbest thing I've ever bore witness to.

[mr.me]

For one, do something different. Talk about something that wont make the listener cringe (guns, drugs etc.), but rather make them move. Some good ol' feel-good hip hop is way overdue.

Hop Hop is whatever you want it to be about...(guns, drugs etc.)...what about a girl friend, or sex, or being hungry, or hating yer job...or thankful for what you have. Hip hop is whatever you want it to be.

[Apparition]

Hip-hop is whatever you want it to be. But how long will ppl want to hear the same old subjects over and over? And on top of that, why can't some ppl pick up a hip-hop CD without cringing at the lyrics forcing themselves to listen only to the beat.


And for the record not all hip-hop is black vs white, can't count how many times ppl end up talking about that when talking about hip-hop. Plenty of white MC's and producers too so avoid blanket statements.

[enviso]

Use Sugarhill Gang 'The message' album as a template and work from there :)

grandmaster flash.

[videzyrah]

stop hybridizing it with R&B and have song titles/subject material other than "My name is _________"

[Lunatique]

There was movement in industrial music where rap was an influence, and you had bands like early Meat Beat Manifesto, Consolidated, Disposable Heroes of Hiphopcrisy..etc. They were all intelligent, social/political in their content, and made great music. I loved stuff like that, because it meant something--raising social awareness, criticizing the government in an intelligent way..etc.

Public Enemy is a rap group that I really dig, for the same reasons I dug the above mentioned groups. Chuck D's got a powerful mind and a powerful voice.

[Lunch Money]

Hip-hop is whatever you want it to be. But how long will ppl want to hear the same old subjects over and over?

There are only a few stories in the world. Surely there's no harm in telling them over and over again in different ways with different characters?

"I love her so much and it's killing me to not have her." Hmm... there must be hundreds of thousands of songs written on that theme.

Greg

[grillo]

Imo we should break free from accustomed workflow of guy makes beats, other guy listens, likes, and raps over it. It's just feels so detached. Try to have a some kind of a 'band' with a rapper, and spend time together actually planning the tunes, it could help the feeling, push some new ideas and generally avoid the verse-chorus-verse slapped over a loop that is such a distinguishing mark of the genre.

That's not really a point in making hiphop better, or better hiphop, it's just adding new stuff and going other directions, experimenting a bit, but that's not always good, because especially in hiphop, you just go and change the smallest thing and suddenly you're not hiphop anymore.

[Lunch Money]

I agree 1000%, grillo. A 'band' where songwriting happens between the musicians, including the vocalist. It should be an organic whole in which the music is equally as important as the rapper's style/skill and lyrical content.

I don't see why not have other band members suggest lyrics and passages, too... rappers are very protective of their style and flow, but there should be open-mindedness.

It's not a completely foreign concept. If I'm not mistaken (and I may be-- I'm no true expert) The Roots operate this way. I agree that more rap or hip-hop "bands" and fewer "solo rappers over top of 'producer' beats" would make for a revived and revitalized genre.

Greg

[AD80]

It's not a completely foreign concept. If I'm not mistaken (and I may be-- I'm no true expert) The Roots operate this way. I agree that more rap or hip-hop "bands" and fewer "solo rappers over top of 'producer' beats" would make for a revived and revitalized genre.

Greg

Theres thousands of hip hop bands in the Bay Area. I've been to a lot of shows and clubs with hip hop bands. Hole in the wall clubs and bands I've never heard of makin great music. But they can hardly sell out a small bar around here. Why? No promotion or radio exposure or record deals. Bands are more expensive to record than solo artists, lables dont wanna deal with that. And as long as the radio is controlled by the machine, then it wont get on the air. So nobody knows about it.

[TVD]

i might be off the mark here, but noticing thst your location is "dirty south" usa, maybe hip hop would be better for you if it wasn't a genre that was developed and is maintained by black people in their fight against white oppression?

CORRECTION:

Hip-hop is maintain by the people who are still buying the gerne:

20%---a combination of blacks, latinos, & asians in general.

80% (and counting)--- of white people from around the world as well as America.