How many rap "artists" actually know music ?

the mighty KRS-ONE

loves gonna getcha

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EaHqt7ixlkE

 

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Yet another example of a rapper with something to say that isn't gunz n' bitches -

Jeru the Damaja - You can't stop the prophet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBQDWsBewSs

 

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The value of enlightenment

It's really hard to take KRS-One seriously. A lifetime's work thrown away for stupid pride:

I remember hearing about that and at first it cracked me up. But people who remembered his performance with R.E.M. started going on about how smart and cool the guy is, and it struck me that, unfortunately, KRS-One was just another pop-fad piece of crap hawking false hope in search of a paycheck.

Don't get me wrong, you do what you gotta do. But KRS-One is a con. He had something really good going on, but compared to his goddamn ego, it wasn't worth shit to him.

It's a crying shame; part of his artistic merit was an assertion of integrity.
____________________

Notes:

"KRS-One". HipOnline. February 12, 2008. http://www.hiponline.com/music/music-artists/krs-one/

Robbie. "The Kenny Parker Show, Part 1". Unkut.com. September 26, 2006. http://www.unkut.com/2006/09/the-kenny-parker-show-part-1/

 

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this is just something youve googled right?

 

Well ....

Well, I had to look up the references, but I do remember when it happened. I was still young enough to want to watch MTV, and they made a bit of noise about it. What gets me is the dates on the references; people are still dragging this out, years later.

 

That's weak, if this is true I've just lost quite a bit of respect for KRS.


Also, beating up on PM Dawn? C'mon... that guy was all tie dye & peace man - I wonder if he would've done the same to Eazy E or Ice T? I think not.

 

What a stupid thing to say.
If you are just going to make music for the moment, out of your head, don't expect to achieve more than a "la la la, la la la la la, la" in the shower. And if that simple shit sounds good, which can happen, it's a pity you didn't write it down.

And on a side note also,

Many classical (generalization) music consisted of improvisation, all the major composers have included huge cadenzas in their works for the performers to improvise.
Improvisation was a constant in those days to show the virtuosity of the player but today musicians play the same cadenzas the same way, without improvising. Fear of failure?

This is specially true for baroque music and J.S. Bach, who is known to be a great improviser.
One of his most remarkable works (which is the same as saying, if you're talking of Bach, one of the most remarkable pieces of music ever written, and thank god he has written it so that i can hear it today), the 1st movement of the 5th Brandenburg Concerto, the end of the movement has one of the most impressive cadenzas, the famous ending with the harpsichord solo.

/end of note

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I understand that that kind of music relies primarily on improvisation, it's not a bad thing, and sometimes it sounds fairly good, but no more than that.
It's a pity that is something that even a child could do. (and talking about rap, they do a lot)

 

It is. But it's interesting that a black musician said it. If we applied the same logic to language we'd be in the position of sub-Saharan Africans who never developed any written language.

 

The most gifted musicians can reproduce music tonally note for note; without ever having to read annotations......

Just thought I'd mention that.

There are very complex pieces of music that have been reproduced over many centuries with not a lyric or note written down. Ditto poetry and prose. Oral traditions? You may have heard of them.

And what of birdsong? Each bird can produce a variation of its own song which reflects its species and territory.

Music requires open minds and open ears, although even those with impaired hearing can feel the vibe.

 

In the end it's all a matter of taste.
If it leads to your happiness, which is what really matters, then i guess it's all right.

 

Like the black musician you've missed the whole point of annotation. It's not to make up for some lack of musical ability, it's so that the entire piece can be recorded on paper and recreated by musicians anywhere, in any era.

Please give us an example of a complex piece of music transported in this fashion, I've never heard one. :shrug:

'Feeling the vibe' is important in black music, since it primarily acts upon the body and emotion rather than the mind and reason.

 

Any of the piobaireachds of the auld tradition. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG42CtJmOjE&NR=1

The Celtic musician misses the same point, often.

Partly because the example of the classically trained violinist flipping madly through a tune book and then producing a wooden botch of the tune as read off the page is so common.

 

How much has that tune changed over the centuries? If any of the musicians forgot some notes, they would simply improvise a replacement, which probably explains why it sounds so repetitive and unsophisticated.

Why do you think Muslims wrote down the Qur'an?

Because of all the literature and music produced in the West, musicians have a good idea what the original composer intended, as well as what period instruments were used, enabling a very accurate reproduction of the original piece, assuming that is the contemporary composers intention.

 

Not a note of that tune is changed from its first composition. It's a formal piece, and as sophisticated a melodic music as you will find.

It would have been transmitted from piper to piper by learning the vocal transliteration of the melody (sung in syllables that specify both the note and the ornaments).

By, say, this guy's grandfather:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_MacLeod

There are a few hundred such tunes, and an official registry of them. Every so often a new one is composed, that meets the requirements, and is approved.

 

That's true, but not what this thread's about.

This thread is about how much rap "artists" actually know about reading and writing music, and their knowledge of using musical instruments.

 

Sigh. How do you know? The answer is, of course, you don't.

Which begs the question, why do you bother?

Err... yeah.

Even more opportunity for it to go wrong.

How do you think one would get on transmitting Beethoven's Ninth by the same method?

Your never going to get passed primitive and unsophisticated music without written notation.

 

Much like any art.

 

Not really.

Western art - both musical and visual - has a long intellectual history.

Africans never even had anything called art, until Europeans arrived.

 

Somethings just occurred to me, it's all well & good saying rappers can't read music - that is more than likely the case when you consider that the average rapper didn't really have the opportunity to learn these things. But I was wondering how many composers/conducters/etc can rap or dj (in the hip hop scratch sense)? Maybe about the same amount of rap artists that can read music but I'd wager less.


Reading music is something you can learn. Rapping (well) however is not, you can either do it or you can't.

 

Errmmm ok, if you say so.