Re: Kanye West is an a-hole...
Vette335 wrote:RICjunkie wrote:It's the genre.
In hip-hop or (c)rap or whatever you want to call it, to call attention to yourself you need to act as an arrogant punk.
The actual genre requires no talent at all. If you can make up stupid rhymes and chant them to some ear splitting drumming that makes you an artist.
Gee come to think of it I'm an arrogant punk. Maybe I'll start my own record label...
This is a bold generalization that is not entirely true. I don't think Kanye West is very talented and he truly is an immature excuse for a performer, constantly insulting people and taking advantage of his fans (even getting caught lip synching on SNL), but to say this genre requires no talent at all makes me question why you are on the Joe Bonamassa forum, because hip-hop music is very closely knit with the blues tradition.
Many in the hip-hop world are more along the lines of entertainers trying to make money, rather than legitimate artists, but I encourage everyone to check out more intelligent hip-hop music that is certainly more musical. For example The Roots, who utilize a live band and often play music of artists like Jimi Hendrix. Also check out Q-Tip, his newest album "The Renaissance" does not have any bad language, but instead is a bold and poetic artistic statement which also features brilliant music performed by modern jazz musicians like pianist Robert Glasper and guitarists Kurt Rosenwinkel and Mike Moreno.
I hated disco, so why should I like hiphop? And when was the last time you heard of two blues artists shooting it out at a nightclub or getting caught with unlicensed handguns in their Escalade?
Like I said it's the whole genre. Punk-a$$ stuff.
Ummmm...... In Chicago in the 50s and 60s, the heyday of Chicago blues, artists carried guns and there were shootouts. Although not entirely accurate history-wise, the film Cadillac Records is pretty spot on about how things were back then.
When comparing Chess Records and hip hop of today, it's not that far off to say they're pretty close. There's not much in the way of instrumentation on those Chess recordings of Muddy and The Wolf. No long drawn-out guitar solos. The voice is more important, and most of the time they're full of boasts ("I'm a hoochie coochie man," "I'm three hundred pounds of heavenly joy,") and violence ("I feel like snappin' a pistol in yo face," "I've worn my forty-four so long, done made my shoulder sore"). It's not that far off.
And sure, they didn't have Escalades back then, but there's a reason why Chess was called Cadillac Records. Everybody drove a Cadillac.
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At least there were some lyrics with the beat that don't degrade women and send mixed messages and the wrong messages to youngsters. I do realize all hip-hop is not the same. I'm curious if anyone will delete Kayne from the playlist on Air Force One, not a very good role model for children. I wonder if any Kayne sponsors will drop him or think twice about endorsing him. 
