Why rap is so special
I’m an infrequent listener of rap/hip-hop (someone who wants to explain the practical difference between the two, please go ahead). A big part of why I do at all is the potential for clever or silly wordplay. You hear this stuff, and it alternatively makes you laugh, groan, or stuns you into thinking, “Who thinks of this stuff?”
Take the song “Grillz”, which is about those caps for the teeth made out of gems or precious metals. The whole song’s rather silly, probably intentionally, in no small part because of lyrics like these:
“I got the diamonds and the ice all hand set
I might ’cause a cold front if I take a deep breath.”
“Call me George Foreman, ‘cuz I’m sellin’ everybody grillz.”
“Where I got ‘em you can spot ‘em on the top and the bottom.
Gotta bill in my mouth like I’m Hillary Rodham.”
(Guess they couldn’t find anything to rhyme with “Monica” or “Lewinsky”.)
Run-DMC is responsible for one of my favorite couplets of all time, which clarifies the name of group member Darryl McDaniels :
“It’s McDaniels, not McDonalds.
These rhymes are Darryl’s, but the burgers are RONALD’S!”
It’s the over-the-top emphasis on “RONALD’S” that sets it apart, and really deserves to be heard on a CD instead of read on a webpage.
if you want to hear the greatest most creative and awesome rhymes ever, you gotta listen to MF DOOM. (mask face doom). he never uses profanity, isn’t gangsta at all, and is awesome. seriously.
Comment by chessloser | 14 September 2007
personally I’m partial to the safeness of Fresh Prince. although i prefer audioslave and nineinchnails over rap anyday…
Comment by annie | 14 September 2007
oh, i prefer punk/alternative/rock, but a little hippity hop now and again is nice….
Comment by chessloser | 14 September 2007
I’ll have to check out this MF DOOM character.
Never could get into alternative or rock.
Comment by Donnie Briggs | 15 September 2007
Oh. And Kanye West. I guess that’s rap AND hiphop? I think the diff is rap is like, the talking stuff, and hiphop actually has some singing. Wow, could I be any whiter?
Comment by annie | 15 September 2007
Besides actually having white parents, probably not. Although you are fairly pasty for being Chinese.
Comment by Donnie | 16 September 2007