johnjohn320
Diamond Member
Rap/Hip-hop music is the most popular music in the country today. Let's figure out why. This is NOT a thread for debating its quality, etc. I don't care whether you think it's "really" music or not. I am simply curious as to the source of its appeal to the masses.
Obviously, there's sort of a cyclical thing, a circular logic that leads us to understand that people will be more likely to listen to/enjoy music they hear more often on radio, tv, movies, etc. But we also recognize that these mediums will play what is more popular. So regardless of whether the chicken or the egg came first, what makes Americans (and maybe other cultures) want to hear it so much? A professor once told me that Western ears strive to find a pulse (steady beat) in music. Naturally, the easier you can make this pulse to find, the more the common ear will be apt to enjoy it. The inclusion of a drum set in rock music, and even more so the heavy electronic drum beats and bass lines of hip hop might explain why so many enjoy it so easily. Another theory has been that this generation Y (or whatever you want to call it) has a desire, just as every young culture of people does, to somehow defy the generation before it, to set themselves apart. This goes in fashion, art, music, anything, and has been the case for hundreds of years, though the "rebellion" of young people in the 1890s may seem tame to us. Rap is a type of music that the baby boomer generation almost certainly won't like, thus a subconcious appeal to the young crowd of today.
Just some of my thoughts-what are yours? Follow-up question if anyone's interested: conversely, why is decidedly more developed music, i.e. classical or jazz, suffering? It's certainly not that the music is unaesthetically pleasing, but rather seems to be boring or uninteresting to those who don't listen to it.
EDIT-I'm going to say this one more time, because apparently many of you cannot read. I really, honestly (not kidding, seriously) DONT CARE what kind of music you like. You can think it sucks. You can think it's gold. That's not the question. I am asking about it's popularity, not whether or not YOU like it. Thanks.
Obviously, there's sort of a cyclical thing, a circular logic that leads us to understand that people will be more likely to listen to/enjoy music they hear more often on radio, tv, movies, etc. But we also recognize that these mediums will play what is more popular. So regardless of whether the chicken or the egg came first, what makes Americans (and maybe other cultures) want to hear it so much? A professor once told me that Western ears strive to find a pulse (steady beat) in music. Naturally, the easier you can make this pulse to find, the more the common ear will be apt to enjoy it. The inclusion of a drum set in rock music, and even more so the heavy electronic drum beats and bass lines of hip hop might explain why so many enjoy it so easily. Another theory has been that this generation Y (or whatever you want to call it) has a desire, just as every young culture of people does, to somehow defy the generation before it, to set themselves apart. This goes in fashion, art, music, anything, and has been the case for hundreds of years, though the "rebellion" of young people in the 1890s may seem tame to us. Rap is a type of music that the baby boomer generation almost certainly won't like, thus a subconcious appeal to the young crowd of today.
Just some of my thoughts-what are yours? Follow-up question if anyone's interested: conversely, why is decidedly more developed music, i.e. classical or jazz, suffering? It's certainly not that the music is unaesthetically pleasing, but rather seems to be boring or uninteresting to those who don't listen to it.
EDIT-I'm going to say this one more time, because apparently many of you cannot read. I really, honestly (not kidding, seriously) DONT CARE what kind of music you like. You can think it sucks. You can think it's gold. That's not the question. I am asking about it's popularity, not whether or not YOU like it. Thanks.
