Re: rap versus hip hop (part thirty-eight thousand)

From: Dave Haynes (gvcontact@hotmail.com)
Date: Sat Aug 11 2001 - 02:51:12 CEST

  • Next message: Beau Young: "playlist (music i keep playing this week) + uk hardcore?"

    OK, I haven't actually read any of this thread or its predecessors, so
    correct me if I am speaking out of turn ( and I'm sure someone probably
    will). If I am incorrect in my assumptions i shall read the previous
    messages, but i guess my point is still the same for future reference

    I think we should discuss the odd bit of hip-hop on this list as there is
    plenty of excellent hip-hop that fits in with the general music taste of
    most members of this list.

    However do we have to get into boring "this vs that" discussions which are
    probably raging on many other lists. It's like the light vs dark d'n'b
    discussions; the nu skool breaks vs big beat threads; the beat mathcing vs
    tune selection arguments; and my personally pet hate - the CD vs vinyl
    debate.

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: <BigKumquat@aol.com>
    To: <acid-jazz@ucsd.edu>
    Cc: <charlie@nofuncharlie.com>
    Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2001 12:14 AM
    Subject: rap versus hip hop (part thirty-eight thousand)

    >
    > In my mind, it works like this:
    >
    > Hip hop is a musical form that emerged in the seventies. It is based on
    > taking the instrumental "breaks" from soul and funk records and
    continually
    > repeating them using two turntables, a technique that dj's in this era
    began
    > to employ when they realized that the crowd danced the hardest during the
    > funky instrumental breaks...so why not keep them going longer?
    >
    > Generally, hip hop has a BPM that is on the slower side, maybe less than
    100,
    > although this doesn't have to be true in every case - there was some
    killer
    > mega-fast hip hop delivered by Ice T and Public Enemy during a period in
    the
    > late eighties. To me, the quintessential hip hop BPM would be at about
    85,
    > maybe 90.
    >
    > Rap, in my view, is hip hop where rapping itself is present: vocals
    spoken
    > rhythmically, but without obvious tonality. So, rap has to have rapping,
    > whereas hip hop could either have rapping or be purely instrumental. Rap
    is
    > a subset of hip hop. DJ Shadow would be hip hop, but not rap (except on
    > those tracks where rappers appear).
    >
    > Another way to look at it: your average mainstream Joe Sixpack knows the
    term
    > "rap," but may not know the term "hip hop." Hip hop is often the
    terminology
    > used by people who know a bit about the music, and are using the term as
    > evidence that they are "down."
    >
    > Your mileage may vary.
    >
    > - fred
    >
    > P.S. Anyone want a FREE kumquat cd? If so, check out:
    >
    > http://nofuncharlie.com/kumquat
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Jul 12 2001 - 03:19:11 CEST