Rock or Rap?

Which Music Type do you like most?

Well it is a little hard to choose.
Rock: Well i love a lot of Rock Bands such as: Evanescene, Rasmus (i think) and many others.
Rap: Well i like listening to Eminem. His songs are pure magic.

Well when it comes down to it, i prefer Rock more than Rap but not by too much.

So how about you? And why have you chosen this?

[Blacksmith]

Rock = Takes skill
Rap = Takes no skill (Yes that's right, it isn't very hard to rap, especially since most of them don't do their own songs or beats)

There you have it. Rock is the best influence though, it's real, raw emotion. All with hard beats that can make your ears bleed while your jumping like a crazy monkey on crack.

[hellbred]

Rap does have a lot of beats and melodies used from older songs, won't deny that. But I woudn't deny Rap Artists require no skill, cause I sure as hell couldn't conjure up some of the lines Tupac, Eminem, or Nas, or Too Short, or Kilo, or an ass-ton of other decent rappers come up with.

Just because you don't prefer the music's melody, doesn't mean rap requires no skill. It's actually pretty annoying to hear people say that -- I don't see them making millions of dollars in the hip-hop industry.

A lot of newer hip-hop singers today are lame and all about the industry and molding to it. Not a lot of older rappers like 2pac are born these days, in fact I don't think another 2pac will be born.

Originally Posted by Devil

it's real, raw emotion

What do you think some Rap is, fairy tales? Hip-hop was born in the ghetto, and was born about the struggle of African-American life in America. Sure.. Rock can make you rock till your an "ear-bleeding monkey on crack" -- but don't rule out that Hip-Hop is musical genre born from personal experiences as well.

lol, yup, i agree with you totally. It is the most enjoyable because each artist is different in the way they sing but in most Rap it is all the same, the same beat and the same words over and over. Gets annoying and very boring at times unless you are listening to Emimem.

[hellbred]

Originally Posted by ffxjunky

lol, yup, i agree with you totally. It is the most enjoyable because each artist is different in the way they sing but in most Rap it is all the same, the same beat and the same words over and over. Gets annoying and very boring at times unless you are listening to Emimem.

I'll agree with that too. Some rappers today like Ying Yang Twins, T-Pain, Bow-Wow... they all just throw some lyrics together and pay some producer to make a beat that is a rip of something else....

Occasionally you will get something unique, and it will usually become a #1 on Billboard.com for 8+ weeks... like "Yeah - Usher and Lil john"... that was something kind of new... something that hasn't been heard with the combination of Usher's R&B lyrics with Lil John's style, it was fresh and new and people dug it.

But it's rare.

[Taco]

There are a few select rap artists that I've listened to that I enjoy, but generally I don't care for the genre, and rap songs generally appear on my play list, mixed tape, mixed CD, or what have you has a novelty item at best. I can see that rap is a valid form of expressing one's self, but I can't get passed the fact that a lot of it is very lacking in melody, and much of rap is more repetitive in melody than some techno music. Also, a lot of rappers almost simply talk in their songs, and don't even rap, thus moving rapping further away from being described as "singing" (although I will admit that I don't necessarily need actual singing in the music I listen to to enjoy it.)

Overall, I can answer this question without hesitation: Rock wins out by a landslide.

Wuv, Yer Mom

[hellbred]

Then again I also like Country music, so what do I know?

Curiosity bested me. How often do you all listen to Rap/Hip-Hop? You seem to know an awful lot about how Rap music's melodies are all the same, which I find happens, but I don't agree with for the majority of rap music.

Yeah i agree with that also (yours).

Some Rappers try and boost there popularity by getting another artsit (more popular) to sing a song with them or to be in there video and that automatically make there song a must listen. Well i dont agree in that sort of thing, it is clouding youngsters minds into believing that they are the next best thing. Not right at all.

[Blacksmith]

Maybe old rap actually had emotion in it, but it still takes no skill other than being able to rhyme and make up words. Besides, making millions has nothing to do with it. That's just mainstream thinking, just because a lot of people buy and like their music doesn't make it skillful or anymore emotional than the rock of the past and future. It was a good idea at first, but once the industries got ahold of it, it was turned into a franchise of fashionable retardedness and no skill talent. I won't deny what 2pac and all the other old rappers lyrics held as emotion, but the actual music itself HAS no skill. It is a fairytale basically, bunch of ryhme's and a story, that's it. Now if the rappers could actually SING then you could give them something, but you don't see any doing that now do ya?

Most influence I've seen from rap, old or new, has been gangs, degrading of women, drugs, fashion statements, and the belief these people can actually fight. It probably wasn't suppose to turn out like this, but you can't stop time. Elvis, blues, old jazz, all that shit invented rock to what it is today and they didn't just make up some lines, a beat, and some ideal. There's more to music than simple rebellious lyrics.

[hellbred]

Originally Posted by Devil

Most influence I've seen from rap, old or new, has been gangs, degrading of women, drugs, fashion statements, and the belief these people can actually fight

I'm sure all of that was a not-uncommon experience in their lives, maybe that's why some, not all rappers include such lyrics in their songs.

You're correct about a lot of rappers not being able to sing. But, rappers aren't suppose to "sing" as you're relating it to. Rock artists sing yes -- Rap isn't a music style which is suppose to have a lot, if any actual singing, so I'm not sure why singing has much to do with your arguement.

Truth of the matter: You can never truely judge the difficulty of something until you try it. You can sit there and analyze it and judge it based on your own logic, but until you try it, you’re judgements are mostly without proof. I personally have liked maybe a handful of rock music in it's history -- I just don't care for it because it doesn't sound good to me... therefore I could easily say Rock music requires no talent because to me it looks like a bunch of idiots jumping around on stage, playing riff's on their guitars which mimics the sound of a cat falling into a sewage contrapment all while spewing lyrics about self-mutilation, rape, drugs, depression, love, and devil-whorshipping. However, you would try to prove me wrong.

Make me a rhyme, add a beat to it -- sell it, and I'll find your statement that rap requires no skill to hold solid. Otherwise, your logic holds no proof.

[Crazy Chocobo]

I can't stand rap what so ever. I just think it's awful music. I don't think it should be even classified as music lol. Rock has always been one of my favourite music genres. I love hard rock! Rap just isn't my thing, it's repetitive and sometimes you can't even understand what they're saying. The lyrics are boring and are normally about things we don't care about. Lyrics for rock songs I like have nice meanings behind them, they're interesting and appeal to me. I used to like Eminem when I was younger but now I dislike him. I realised that rock music is way much better than rap. I hardly listen to new music unless it's a band with some good songs. Besides that, I listen to 60's/70's/80's. I love Rock n' Roll!

[Maridia]

Rock, hands down! I can listen to one rap group and that's it. But rock I find so much more versatile. I understand that there's early 80's rap to getto, to riches. I just find that it's all very similar and as much as I do think it takes credit to make a rap song, I find it much harder to make a rock song. I say this because rap songs have a beat or a dj and a rapper, but in rock there's more than that, it has people who all have to coordinate their own instruments together. Anyways I'm just a fan of rock overall.

[Loki]

Rock/Metal takes no skill; All they're doing is wailing on their guitars, a guy banging like a dumbass on the drums and another retard screaming his emo lungs out.

Oh snap, I just made a generalization for an entire genre without hearing every rock band out there; I'm so stupid.

[Blacksmith]

LMAO! Oh did I mention most rappers don't even write their own songs? (Keyword most, some do which is surprising), but I actually HAVE written a few songs before and one had some rap shit to it, (I was messing around when I made it), and I could actually have put it in royalities and I betcha it would sell. However, you have to buy into that club shit to get your lyrics copyrighted and I'm not the richest person around. But yes, lyrics DO take some sort of skill cause anyone can write a song about feelings or anger. Yet, rhyming isn't difficult at all, if you'd like I could go in M Word, write a song with a ton of rhyme's, and post it up here.

On another note, yeah I would try to prove you wrong because the manner of skill it takes to play a solo and jump up and down while doing so isn't as easy as it looks. Course I understand what you're saying about it, but there still is a lack of skill within rap. A lot of rock has had bad history when it comes to skill due to wannabe bands and industry made rip-offs, but those only doing it for money, fame, shit like that aren't making music...just a fashion statement.

Sure, loving rock all my life may cloud some of my judgement, but I know music when I hear it. Skill is the one unique thing that seperates bands and singers apart, the skill in what they do (and not many others can mimic) is another thing that makes it music. And rap has no skill. If you call ryhming skill then you could find millions of people who do it. Again, selling your music is one thing, being good at it is another. Rap might not require singing, but what does that leave it with? Oh yeah...talking.

Yeah it may take some SORT of skill at what they do, but musically it has nothing. It's funny though cause I never said rap sucks, I may not like it but I have my respect for some people. Rap just doesn't take skill, if all you need is a mic, ryhmes, and a beat then where has the skill gone when you can't even sing?

[hellbred]

Originally Posted by Setzer

I find it much harder to make a rock song.

Not disproving that Rock music is hard to make. I don't have a doubt that it is, and I could never accomplish such a task in any music genre. However Rap/Hip-Hop isn't just blowing air into a microphone either.

Rock artists fine tune their instruments, while Rap artists have to fine tune their voices and lyrics to specific instrumentals almost perfectly because thats all there is, their voice. There are rarely instruments played in Hip-hop so they have to concentrate on syncing 16+ lines per verse, over 3 verses to instrumentals all while following their story... anyone came rhyme, and anyone can make up a story but putting that together, and making it sound good to get your message across is difficult. If it were easy, there would be millions of rappers (Thank god there isn't, or you all would be bashing the Rap scene harder than you already are).

I also invite you to download some samples of a rapper's songs known as 'Twista