Hip-hop has always been controversial, and for good reason. When you watch a childrens show and theyve got a muppet rapping about the alphabet, its cool, but its not really hip-hop. The music is meant to be provocative - which doesnt mean its necessarily obnoxious, but it is (mostly) and more than that, its dense with confrontational, multiple meanings. Great rap should have all kinds of unresolved layers that you dont necessarily figure out the first time you listen to it. Instead it plants dissonance in your head. You can enjoy a song that knocks in the club or has witty punch lines the first time you hear it. But great rap retains mystery. It leaves stuff rattling around in your head that wont make sense till the fifth or sixth time through. It challenges you. Which is the other reason hip-hop is controversial: People dont bother trying to get it. The problem isnt in the rap or the rapper or the culture. The problem is that so many people dont even know how to listen to the music.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 10:13:00 +0000
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