In the first place, so much of the aesthetic is based on gangster culture. Black gangster culture specifically. Based off of the actual real problem of black violent gang culture . How can that be considered good in any way?. And the music itself is low class, simplistic and has no real melody. i don't know why anyone likes it to be honest.
And White or Asian people copying it are worshipping black gangster culture because so much of hiphop and rap is based around that. Just look at the lyrics and music videos and what the "singers" wear and how they conduct themselves. All the tattoos , too many metal piercings, stupid amounts of jewelry (again , its based off of materialistic gang culture) just all around uglyness , rude gestures and behaviors, trashy . In general its all just vulgar.
And why is something that was invented decades ago always promoted like its "cool and modern"?
I agree with a lot of that, and rap has never been my favorite (most of my life I never listened to it at all), but not all rap is gangster rap. I've found mixes of more positive-messaged rap that I listen to occasional; great for when you're working, working out, or running, and the like.
And, yeah, it's probably more simplistic than many other music styles, but it can still have some interesting rhythm and such. A bunch of it doesn't though. There's tons of trash rap, tons of degenerate rap, tons of violence inspired rap. No argument here.
I do like to hear other cultures' takes on things, and there's some fun Asian rap but, yeah, it's also frustrating to see people latch on to some of the stupider cultural trends. Why go out of your way to copy trash, when we have enough cultural problems?
I mean, to be fair, you could say the same for most of that when it comes to rock and roll, punk, metal, and so many more. Hair metal was hilarious. Popular music has had elements of degeneracy and immorality for ages. You just have to pick and choose what you like.
Because culture stopped in the 90's-00's, and has only been decaying since. :(
Its the lowest form of music, simply because it requires no instruments or even really rhythm. Just the ability to write words that vaguely flow. With that low barrier of entry, it'll have the largest flood of actual garbage.
Worse, because the bar is so low people will overestimate their ability and then upload it for the world. Meaning the amount of garbage you can actually find is even higher, while the "garbage rock" guys aren't recording themselves stumbling over guitar strings because its obvious that they are failing.
Yup. A bunch of people think they can rap.
They can't.
Low barrier of entry and the fact that we are probably in the middle of its popularity peak makes it so we see all the trash. Nobody remembers the trash from the 70s and 80s because nobody re-releases the crap on best of albums.
it really depends. Sometimes there's heavy use of instrumentals, sometimes just percussion to keep the rythm, sometimes there's none, sometimes they rely on "sampling" of audio from other sources along with the lyrics and backing music. It's variable, and maybe even depend on the setting of the performance.
it's different from say, my personal favorite genre, heavy metal, where they focus on complex rhythmic structures and harmonies that would make the classical composers blush with envy, throat-shredding vocals, and virtuoso guitar performances that torture the strings like they were in gitmo, but that lack of rigid structure does give it more flexibility in terms of experimentation.
What I meant by it doesn't require it is that it doesn't need it to qualify, but it absolutely does and should have it for the various reasons provided.
But the heavy metal example is a great point. Because to me, who hates heavy metal, it just sounds like making noises as loud as possible and then growling "blood blood satan death cunt" incoherently. Based on just my own hearing, there is no complexity or anything that classical composers wouldn't dismiss as children banging on cans.
And I have no doubt that is absolutely the case for a lot of them too, but then I do believe there are guys out there doing as you describe and making something magical. But to treat the first group with the same brush as the second is what people are doing here with other genres.
Not sure if you're interested, but try out power metal if you want to experiment with metal, but like a cleaner sound. As someone who's not a fan of all that growling shit, when I first discovered power metal, metal went from something I never listened to, to one of my favorite genres. It's also often more positive and aspirational.
Sabaton is a good starting point; Resist and Bite, and The Last Stand, and the classics like Primo Victoria, and Winged Hussars. As well as many, many more. Interesting and distinctive style, and it's really cool how they mix history in there as well, from all sides. Rorke's Drift. Even Ghost Division. The Last Battle.
Hammerfall - Way of the Warrior.
As well a classics like Manowar - Sleipnir, and Iron Maiden - Alexander the Great.
And plenty more, but I won't flood you with it. I'll just hit you with one more, because I think the mix of power metal and rolling R's is hilarious: Powerwolf - Resurrection By Erection. Not their best song but, again, that R roll!
ugh, don't get me started on the growling bullshit... to each their own, and maybe i'm too married to the classic metal sound, but i hate it...
edgelords gonna edgelord is all I'm gonna say about that, lmao.
but I wont lie, this one delightfully shocked me when I realized it existed (listen past the banner, it's more than that).
I think you're describing "pop music." Which is dominated by "rap themes." I don't think you've actually listened to any actual rap music if you think this.
You weren't around in the 90's... were you?