Why are hip hop fans so easily impressed by corny lyrics?

[Consigliere]

Im puzzled how thats the line you would build a thread aroud?

Cuz that was a dope line when it came out 16 years ago...

Ad it came out at a time before fans were obsessed with punchline rappers. No Pap, no Wayne, no Fab, no Banks, no Cassidy.

It was just part of a bar. Not a crutch for a career.

 

[BlackZilla]

I like the punchline style of rap...with the correct combo of flow and delivery they can be dope (Like Big L, and to a slightly lesser extent Lord Finnesse).

I think the problem is when punchline rapppers nowadays try too hard with the punchlines, and spam them in their songs. Instead of just sprinkling a few here and there for dopeness.

 

[TrapHouse Rock]

another clipse hate thread from markp

 

[DANJ!]

I can understand that, sometimes people just want a catchy songs, but some of the stuff coming out is borderline retarded.



Except that one punchline doesn't make a whole song, you should be talking about the lyricism in the song as a whole. One line may not make you think, but an entire song that contains lyrics that expand on some kind of subject matter with a some level of depth, creativity and cohesivness will sure be mindblowing.



This couldn't be further from the truth.

For starters, Rap music, unlike other genres of music, (whose most notable characteristics are either talented voclalists with powerful voices and or talented musicians that can play instruments), apart from having talented producers that make beats, HEAVILY depends on lyricism. It's essentially poetry spoken over a beat.

Rap is more about how well you say something, rather than what you say. That's why good rappers try to use metaphors and similies to get their points across and whatnot.

So therefore, breaking down rap lines is pretty much inherent to enjoying a rap song. Because you can basically go "Ohhh damn, just look at how he said that! That's pretty clever lol". That's the nature of the artform. The MC tries to be clever with what he says, and fans enjoy the beat and flow and delivery, along with the level of lyricism and creativity displayed.

Not to mention that, people can bump a song (And enjoy it) and look up the lyrics later for clarity.

You're sound like someone that just listens to rap just for the beat (Not saying that you're dumb or a sheep or anything), what about what the MC is saying and how they say it? Isn't the quality of poetry (Which what rap essentially is) judged in this manner?

Now I'm not saying that you can't enjoy a club anthem or anything, I'm just saying that you can't knock breaking down/analysing lyrics, because it's something that is natural when it comes to listening to rap, maybe even more necessary now than ever.

This isn't really mutually exclusive, regular people do criticise stuff.

I think you missed the point of the BULK of what I was saying.

I'm def. not a person who only listens to rap for the beat. Lyrics do count, but I also don't believe every lyric has to be mega-deep just for the verse or song to be good. Sometimes it's just about (as you said) the way things are said and the feel/flow of the song in general, more than making sure every single line is deep and substance-filled. If the quality of everything was just based on that, then classic records like "Boyz N The Hood", "It Takes Two", "Flava In Ya Ear", "Gin & Juice", etc. woulda never meant shyt... because it's not like them nikkas were tryin' to bend your mind all up or make you sit and dissect the intricacies, they were just great songs. That's what I'm saying. I'm sure we COULD listen to those songs and try to find something to break down and analyze, but I'd rather just listen and enjoy, cause it doesn't really call for all that. Now if I'm listening to a Nas song, I might listen a little further because his approach is different. If I'm listening to Joe Budden, more often than not he's saying some potent shyt. But it's not always a must. If it was, hip-hop would've been so much less entertaining than it has been.

Trust me, I've been listening to hip-hop since the mid-80s and rapped myself for YEARS... I value lyrics a lot. I've had all those "best MC" discussions and can talk your ear off about my favorite MCs and why they're my favorites... but shyt isn't to be treated like rocket science all the time. Nobody that really grew up in hip-hop (by that I mean organically was an avid listener, not got into it by discovering the most underground records they could find but don't know who Biz Markie is) came to love it just because it was so thoughtful and deep, they came to love it because it sounded good.

 

[-InFeRnO-]

jay line is dope

 

[markp]

Nobody gives a shyt, man... good music is good music... some shyt just can't be denied. Everybody doesn't wanna sit around deep in thought like "man, that line has lots of substance" while listening to music. Now sure, some nikkas are mind-numbingly wack, like beyond all parameters of wack- but you really think I'ma listen to some shyt like "Can I Live" and change my mind because yo, one eye open like CBS isn't that complex and deep. shyt, Rakim said "I drop rhymes like a scientist" on "My Melody"- the shyt's an all-time classic track, and I'm sure nobody cares that he never explained how exactly a scientist drops rhymes.

If people had to sit and analyze every rap song on its level of line-for-line depth, nikkas woulda never enjoyed anything.

"Critics care about good taste, regular people just care if it tastes good"- Gene Simmons.

This is a good point, I think smoking weed has a lot to do with it for me. It brings out the critic in me. Ill hear Jay Z say some fake ass shyt about how I can't afford his daughters room and I think to myself "now who the fukk would say something like that?" I want to hear rap music that sounds genuine and down to earth. If I can't respect the rapper as a person then I just can't listen to them. Because when I listen to rap I want to hear an artist letting their life loose in the booth. It doesn't have to be deep shyt, not every rapper is Tupac. but I want to hear an artist who sounds like he's being himself. I want to hear rappers that sound like they're rapping BECAUSE THEY WANT TO. Rappers who sound like they're having fun or have interesting things to say.

Not rappers that rap because they're trying to portray something they're not. Not cornballs faking a dialect to try and sound cool (Drake, Eminem) because that just sounds fake. Not rappers who do nothing but brag about cocaine in punchline and metaphor. That non stop cocaine punchline metaphor shyt is a replacement for creativity. Rappers have nothing interesting to say but want to be lyricists anyway. So they just spit all these complex punchlines and metaphors about baking soda and pyrex pots and shyt.

I guess it boils down to me caring about an artist's intentions when I listen to music. If I get a vibe that they are making music for some fake ass reason then I just cant fukk with it. If he didn't spit that bar for a creative reason, he's just doing some product placement for his headphones I cant fukk with it. If he spit that bar because he has nothing creative to say but he wants to be "lyrical" so he comes up with some multisyllabic double entendre metaphor punchline I can't fukk with it. If he raps in that dialect, not because that's how he naturally expresses himself, but because he wants to sound more black, I can't fukk with it. If the shyt sounds inauthentic I just can't fukk with it.

 

[Hussein Fonzarelli]

because they only listen to the beat

i've made a thread about it long time ago and none of you fukks admitted Im right, all of you went into some dumb ass "captain save hiphop" mode







hip hop is cornball music, producers who make beats keep it relevant because it sounds good in the club or whip, nobody cares about the lyrics, everything has been said in these 30 years, its a childish music for idiots, anyone taking it seriously needs to burn in heavy fire

 

[The Bilingual Gringo]

Im puzzled how thats the line you would build a thread aroud?

Cuz that was a dope line when it came out 16 years ago...

Ad it came out at a time before fans were obsessed with punchline rappers. No Pap, no Wayne, no Fab, no Banks, no Cassidy.

It was just part of a bar. Not a crutch for a career.

This. And the fact that it was a perfect line for the theme of the song. That whole song was lyrically dope.

I like the punchline style of rap...with the correct combo of flow and delivery they can be dope (Like Big L, and to a slightly lesser extent Lord Finnesse).

I think the problem is when punchline rapppers nowadays try too hard with the punchlines, and spam them in their songs. Instead of just sprinkling a few here and there for dopeness.

I think Finesse fathered L's style, but L took the ball and ran w/ it. Good call on the sprinkling of them. At least back the punchlines had flow, more lyrics per track, now they're just dropped for the sake of dropping them.

 

[markp]

Ok stop getting upset I was just using the Can I Live line as an example. It's a good song it's just the one line thats corny...

 

[daze23]

Nah fuk that nikka,that Jay line is cold for its time and in its context.....now sumbody tell me bout this "like beavis I get nuthin but head" line....one of the corniest shyts I ever heard any era...on the level of one of those made up Papoose lines...this a obvious Jay hate thread

we tryin to get slick and dis Big L now?

 

[DANJ!]

This is a good point, I think smoking weed has a lot to do with it for me. It brings out the critic in me. Ill hear Jay Z say some fake ass shyt about how I can't afford his daughters room and I think to myself "now who the fukk would say something like that?" I want to hear rap music that sounds genuine and down to earth. If I can't respect the rapper as a person then I just can't listen to them. Because when I listen to rap I want to hear an artist letting their life loose in the booth. It doesn't have to be deep shyt, not every rapper is Tupac. but I want to hear an artist who sounds like he's being himself. I want to hear rappers that sound like they're rapping BECAUSE THEY WANT TO. Rappers who sound like they're having fun or have interesting things to say.

Not rappers that rap because they're trying to portray something they're not. Not cornballs faking a dialect to try and sound cool (Drake, Eminem) because that just sounds fake. Not rappers who do nothing but brag about cocaine in punchline and metaphor. That non stop cocaine punchline metaphor shyt is a replacement for creativity. Rappers have nothing interesting to say but want to be lyricists anyway. So they just spit all these complex punchlines and metaphors about baking soda and pyrex pots and shyt.

I guess it boils down to me caring about an artist's intentions when I listen to music. If I get a vibe that they are making music for some fake ass reason then I just cant fukk with it. If he didn't spit that bar for a creative reason, he's just doing some product placement for his headphones I cant fukk with it. If he spit that bar because he has nothing creative to say but he wants to be "lyrical" so he comes up with some multisyllabic double entendre metaphor punchline I can't fukk with it. If he raps in that dialect, not because that's how he naturally expresses himself, but because he wants to sound more black, I can't fukk with it. If the shyt sounds inauthentic I just can't fukk with it.

Now don't get me wrong, I know Pac's shyt had depth... but he's your example of someone who made all "deep" shyt all the time?

Yeah man, you might just be thinkin' a lil' too hard about this shyt... there's far worse things in rap to be concerned with than how "real" a line is. You'd have to discredit a lot of shyt if all rap lyrics had to be steeped in truth. I'm sure there's some gangsta shyt you like, and you already know most of them nikkas haven't and wouldn't do half the shyt they say in those songs... so does that then preclude those songs from being good?

 

[Cloud McFly]

Hard to take the thread serious after your first example is of one of the doper punchlines from a classic song.

 

[Fmju]

One of my closest friends is a rapper and he's really good and doesn't use punch lines but we were on a lil road trip yesterday and he played some old Childish Gambino. I wanna say from a tape called Culdesac. Those were some of the corniest punch lines I ever heard. He clearly dikk rode Lil Wayne with no regard for his sexuality. He thought they were dope but I didn't at all.

The beat was tight though

 

[posterchild336]

i've made a thread about it long time ago and none of you fukks admitted Im right, all of you went into some dumb ass "captain save hiphop" mode

none of us ****s admitted it you sound retarded right now...I havent been on this forum long like you so stop generalizing and insulting me like that






hip hop is cornball music, producers who make beats keep it relevant because it sounds good in the club or whip, nobody cares about the lyrics, everything has been said in these 30 years, its a childish music for idiots, anyone taking it seriously needs to burn in heavy fire

 

[BlackZilla]

I think you missed the point of the BULK of what I was saying.

I'm def. not a person who only listens to rap for the beat. Lyrics do count, but I also don't believe every lyric has to be mega-deep just for the verse or song to be good. Sometimes it's just about (as you said) the way things are said and the feel/flow of the song in general, more than making sure every single line is deep and substance-filled. If the quality of everything was just based on that, then classic records like "Boyz N The Hood", "It Takes Two", "Flava In Ya Ear", "Gin & Juice", etc. woulda never meant shyt... because it's not like them nikkas were tryin' to bend your mind all up or make you sit and dissect the intricacies, they were just great songs. That's what I'm saying. I'm sure we COULD listen to those songs and try to find something to break down and analyze, but I'd rather just listen and enjoy, cause it doesn't really call for all that. Now if I'm listening to a Nas song, I might listen a little further because his approach is different. If I'm listening to Joe Budden, more often than not he's saying some potent shyt. But it's not always a must. If it was, hip-hop would've been so much less entertaining than it has been.

Trust me, I've been listening to hip-hop since the mid-80s and rapped myself for YEARS... I value lyrics a lot. I've had all those "best MC" discussions and can talk your ear off about my favorite MCs and why they're my favorites... but shyt isn't to be treated like rocket science all the time. Nobody that really grew up in hip-hop (by that I mean organically was an avid listener, not got into it by discovering the most underground records they could find but don't know who Biz Markie is) came to love it just because it was so thoughtful and deep, they came to love it because it sounded good.

I see, I understand. I can agree that trying too hard to be mind blowing (Like Canibus can be sometimes) can be bad as well. I now see what you're saying. Hip-Hop is about entertainment after all. But I think the songs you mentioned has a nice balance between decent lyrics, originality/creativity and listenability (Because of the dope-a$$ beat), which is something that is missing nowadays in a sense.

I thought you were going the route of "Who cares about lyrics lol" thing, but I see where you're coming from. My bad.

Daps n Reps.