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Songs/Music style that you believe to suck or blow

I could also buy a guitar, pluck a few strings, make a few words rhyme, and have a song.

Banging on a drum with sticks isn't very hard
Now you are just oversimplifying. Have you ever tried to play guitar? I can assure you there is much more than just "plucking a few strings" to it. Drumming also takes more skill than just "banging on a drum with a few sticks". You seem to really be reaching for an argument now...
 
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Someone says "Show me a rapper that can play a musical instrument" and Teddy says "turntables." Yeeeeahhh....at the risk of getting burried in dings, you guys don't know what the hell you're talking about. Mos Def: a talented singer, pianist, and guitarist, as well as a pretty good actor. There...a rapper that can play an instrument.

Please, don't talk shit about music if you don't know a damn thing about it. I don't like country or punk rock or death metal, but I'm not calling them all out saying they're no-talent ass-clowns.

Also, to whoever said that making beats is easy, have you ever tried it? The technical work is done for you by the computer, but actually making a catchy, enjoyable, and fresh beat is very, very hard. Producers like Jus' Blaze, 9th Wonder, Pharrell, HiTek, and yes even Kanye "I'm Jesus Christ" West, are indeed gifted musically (or at the least have an ear for music), and it shows in their ability to consistently produce slick tracks.

Phew.

Maybe we should all stop talking about this. If anything, I think we discovered that the music people listen to in very many ways defines them, and when you start arguing about it, you can get emotional.
 
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Rappers often do produce their own music, and if they don't, either their producer or a D.J. does. Just because the music is usually produced using methods - sampling, beatboxing, turntablism, etc. - other than pushing keys on a piano or strumming a guitar, doesn't mean that they don't have musical talent.
So if I "sample" (read: cut and paste) Anne of Green Gables into this message board, am I a novelist?
 
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Actually I think the terms that would be used are Plagarist and Fraud. Same applies to music.
I was being sarcastic. "Plagarist" isn't a word, btw, so no, that term would not be used.

Rappers don't just take a song and rap over it. The ones that do use pieces of other people's music, first of all, obtain the rights to use the song (which would, you know, make it legal for the rapper to use them), and change it by using samples from other songs, drum machines, synthesizers, and various other mixing equipment.
 
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Whoa, whoa... without plaigarism a huge amount of great music would never exist. Let's not write it off so quickly. :p

"Borrowing" themes, using turntables or whatever else as instruments, rap, country, whatever... it can all make or be music. To me, the difference is whether the tools used are put together in creative, thoughtful, personal, and intelligent ways to create a comprehensive aesthetic whole, whether it's easily understandable or not, or easily enjoyed or not. (This is why Bjork rocks.)

Music history is full of stories of musical advances and what are now considered great music that initially horrified people. And just as it always has been, 90% of what is produced is thoughtless, ill-conceived crap. Only now, so many more people have the means to produce music and distributing it that it becomes more difficult to find the gems among the clutter. Ultimately, though, there are more gems out there.

Maybe there's a good place to split this thread. Hmm...

EDIT - Nah, this actually seems a pretty reasonable outgrowth of the original topic... I'm leaving it here.
 
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Also, to whoever said that making beats is easy, have you ever tried it? The technical work is done for you by the computer, but actually making a catchy, enjoyable, and fresh beat is very, very hard. Producers like Jus' Blaze, 9th Wonder, Pharrell, HiTek, and yes even Kanye "I'm Jesus Christ" West, are indeed gifted musically (or at the least have an ear for music), and it shows in their ability to consistently produce slick tracks.

Someone says "Show me a rapper that can play a musical instrument" and Teddy says "turntables." Yeeeeahhh....at the risk of getting burried in dings, you guys don't know what the hell you're talking about. Mos Def: a talented singer, pianist, and guitarist, as well as a pretty good actor. There...a rapper that can play an instrument.

Please, don't talk shit about music if you don't know a damn thing about it. I don't like country or punk rock or death metal, but I'm not calling them all out saying they're no-talent ass-clowns.

Also, to whoever said that making beats is easy, have you ever tried it? The technical work is done for you by the computer, but...

Yes, yes I have both tried and created beats...And I also know exactly what I'm talking about. I am not a professional, but certainly more than a hobbyist and have many connections (or at least used to) and plenty of experience in the music industry...Anyway, you can't blow off the "technical" (meaning physical) aspects of creating a beat like it means nothing. Timing, technique, inspiration and perspiration...Drummers are kicked out of signed bands every other day because they can't keep time accurately enough for the studio or on stage with some production elements..."Timing" is THE foundation of every recording and in some respects the most important aspect of creating music...Drummers work for years to get good timing and still may not be good enough for the studio...Taking the most fundamental and possibly the most challenging aspect of production and turning it over to a computer removes the need for that very rare talent that good drummers (human metronomes) possess...When you state that when these rappers create a beat on a computer "it is difficult", that statement does not occur in a vacuum. Try creating that beat with a real instrument (drums), now that's "difficult"...Throwing samples on to a computer, that times down to milliseconds is not, in comparison...And that's the whole point...

As I said earlier, the talent in rap music lies in the production and the producers...It is a production based style of music...That's fine, but comparing a rapper, however good his lyrics may be, to someone who not only creates lyrics, but also plays, as well as creates a melody, as well as sings and then all the production, without using samples, well...there is no comparison in terms of "musical talent"...There just isn't...And to be clear here, any of these rappers who create their own samples is an entirely different story. That takes plenty of musical talent (human metronome) considering the exacting requirements good samples must meet...
 
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As I said earlier, the talent in rap music lies in the production and the producers...It is a production based style of music...That's fine, but comparing a rapper, however good his lyrics may be, to someone who not only creates lyrics, but also plays, as well as creates a melody, as well as sings and then all the production, without using samples, well...there is no comparison in terms of "musical talent"...There just isn't...And to be clear here, any of these rappers who create their own samples is an entirely different story. That takes plenty of musical talent (human metronome) considering the exacting requirements good samples must meet...

Ah yes, I can see now that we are on the same page to some extent. What I think can't be done is a comparison of "talent" (or what is perceived as talent) between genres of music. I am by no means saying someone working a drum machine is as talented as a skilled drummer, that's just not right at all. Also, what constitutes what is "important" for rap music can not possibly be what is "important" for rock, or jazz, or country for that matter. You can draw parallels, but that's about it.
 
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Saw has pretty much said everything I would say - including that I too have created rythm tracks with the computer, and it's not difficult at all. What I do, is lay down a simple track, copy and paste it for 5 minutes worth of song, bust out the guitar (which I play with my own two hands) and play my tune. Then, I go back and add drum fills etc. And presto! We have a song and a very accomplished drummer who never misses a beat.

I will say there are probably some brillaint song writters in rap (read: Poets), but there are very few musicians, Rocketman's reference to whoever aside.
 
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