Metal Reviews

It sure can be; but that doesn't mean his comments about hip-hop are accurate at all. I think he's completely wrong. He's doing nothing different than those Christians that take the music and message of Deicide and similar bands, and then label all death metal bands with the same negative tag.

Hip hop is a VERY diverse form of music, or art, whatever you wish to call it. If his experience is with those groups that glorify that ghetto mentality, the slang and whatnot, it doesn't change the fact that it's a very broad generalization that is only accurate when directed at a very small corner of the rap/hip hop world.

YES I finally get to join the club. Everyone pay attention.

Ahem...




Noodles you're a fucking idiot retard. Go die.

Anyway, metal takes godly amounts of talent to create. SOOOOOOO much more than rap. A buddy of mine decided to do a rap for some talent show to be funny, and he sounded as good as any rapper I've ever heard, and he'd never done it before. I'd like to see someone who's never played an instrument pick up a guitar and crank out some powermetal. It's not gonna happen. Many powermetal vocalists do EXTENSIVE training, Roy Khan went to opera school for some 4 years or so. Not the case with rap. So don't be a dumbass.

Not all styles of metal. Learn a few power chords and you can write a (very basic) metal song, just like your friend can pick up a microphone and sound "as good as" any other rapper.

Just because virtuosos make a style of music doesn't mean you have to be a virtuoso to make it.

not anymore, my eyes have been opened.

and actually i've always loved noodles.

Good for you then.

edit-Noodles, how the heck do you manage to edit a post 5 times?

Noodles says these things to get a rise out of people. It'll get him banned someday.

-I don't know, I think it has to do with the double posting thing from lag, but with editing...

-I actually wasn't trying to that time. I just thought since everyone was unashamedly making broad generalizations about rap I could make one about rap and metal. but yeah, that didn't go so well.

I voted yes because I don't like rap, but for me, it's not about disliking a culture or anything like that. I simply don't like music that rarely uses real musicians. I'm not into drum machines, and I despise the sampling of others' music. I know they don't all sample. I know they don't all act "gangsta", and I know some rappers actually try to write good songs. I've enjoyed a few rappers in my life for one reason or another (Run DMC used to be enjoyable from time to time), but for the most part I think the genre lacks talent. Yes, some rappers have better rhythm, delivery, and whatever, but I prefer music that relies mostly on real instruments and vocal perfromance. While there are metal bands that lack talent, it's different than a genre who's general standards lack areas in which talented musicians can come and shine.

This does not include all Hip-Hop/R&B though, just rap. There are some good R&B singers, etc. Although it's still not my thing, I can respect them more than rappers.

Did anyone check out the video links I posted? Aside from the Big Brovaz link, they're all very different rap bands, and they use instruments a lot of times.

That's why I tried to use words like "most"

I know some rap artists have real bands. Some use them live even if the music from the studio album is entirely synthesized as well, but it's not the genre standard, which is why I don't like it overall. I also don't like the vocal style. I mean, there are a million kids out there creating or signing to independent labels because it's so easy to get at least a minimal career out of it without real talent. I work with a guy who started a so-called record label just so he could release himself, and you know what? he has not one shred of musical talent in him at all. He can't even hum a tune...but he has a CD out there

Then again, rap is ok because it gives "special" people an oppurtunity to make records too.

I liked the song Husker posted.

I don't see why it matters that rap artists don't use 'real instruments'. What matters is the final sound, who cares how it got there. Take rap on it's own terms, don't expect a guitar solo out of it. Rapping isn't an easy business, and anyone that thinks metal is far more skillful is an idiot. Any fool can learn a metal song on a guitar (I should know, I'm a fool and I play guitar). There are exceptional musicians in metal (of course) but no one seems to be taking into account the exceptional rappers (and producers) in hip hop. If we're gonna do generalised views then someone could just say all metal is like Disturbed and turned a generation of perfectly reasonable 13 year olds into total failures. I recognise everyone has their own tastes but I just yearn for someone to dislike rap without sounding like an ignorant old guy. This is turning into the kind of argument ancient people who are totally out of touch with modern society have.

To eyesore:
- i understand the points you are making. I also can not argue that my statements are sweeping and general, which I admitted to before. I will also say this: I have grown up with black people my whole life. I grew up about 3 minutes outside of Coney Island in Brooklyn. I know the culture well enough to realize that "black culture" and "hip-hop culture" are not interchangeable terms. Just as having long hair and a slayer t-shirt isnt "white culture." I think that many of the black people that I have known would be rather offended by the generalization that hip-hop culture and black culture are the same thing. Hip-hop and rap are a form of music that has had a tremendous affect on society on the whole and that affects every race and the world culture. I link the music and culture so closely together because the music is about the culture. That is one of the key ingredients to rap. Since the music affects the way that some people live I feel they need to be condemned or praised together.
And My earlier statements were not about black people. They were directed at any person that acts and speaks the way I earlier described. I have, like I am sure we all have, known people of all colors that are either good, smart people or total shit. I am not codemning the black culture. i am not even commenting on it. Quite frankly I dont think it has anything to do with this discussion. I am condemning the hip-hop culture though. I dont see any positives that come out of it. i respect the fact that you disagree with me. We all have different experiences that make us think the way I do. i have no idea how you grew up and I am not trying to convince you that I am right. i am merely stating how I feel. I just dont appreciate being brushed off as a racist because I dont like rap music or culture and generally view it in a very negative way. Why arent I aloud to do that?

To Noodles:
- You are a self-hating metalhead. You cant admit to yourself that you actually like metal. Everything you listen to seems to have to have some sort of slant to it, be it artsy, or underground, or just flat out contrary to whoever else you are dealing with. You dont like anything that is generally accepted and since you are in the metal world when you are on this board, and rap is not generally accepted in the metal world...you like rap.

In general:
I just dont like rap. It hurts my ears. That is not an exaggertion. It pains me to listen to it. The only thing I find more offensive to my senses is reggae. I dont see rap as avalid form of music. Maybe it is just poetry set to music. I can accept that definition. I cant accept that rapping is equal to trained singing. i cant accept the fact that somebody who rhymes over a sampled track is the artistic equivalent of a dream theater, or an Iron Maiden or to leave the metal world, a Jimi Hendrix, or even a Greenday.


edit: I dont want this post to come off too harsh. I know Eyesore wasnt just calling me a racist, and that he was trying to make a point. That is cool with me. I like debating with you Ken. And I actually usually find Noodles pretty funny. I have no hard feelings towards you guys at all.

I can make beats on fruity loops, and being a producer or a DJ does not make you a musician. Sorry, but it doesn't. Bob Rock proved that producers aren't musicians on St. Anger. The very definiton of music involves instruments, not a bored asshat who has a few computer programs. The only thing that takes any skill is the actual vocal patterns and lyrics, everything else about the music can be cooked up from a good laptop in 5 minutes. A musician that does not make. They are poets. There's nothing wrong with that, but it does not qualify as musicianship. Wow, they sampled a bassline, they must be Mozart.

And that is what is pathetic about it, back in the 80's Rap Artists did use musicicans. Now it's a disgusting parody of itself that comes straight from an assembly line.

zomg not going to read through this...
suffice to say i dislike rap, the culture and the mentality behind it (of the rap i know, which isn't that much. I acknowledge ken's point about the diversity). Also just to pamper to my elite superiority in the music area, i take a position actively against it.

I am listening to the full AZ-the format album... ANd i am actually enjoying it...

That's because it's awesome. If you like that you should also try 'Doe or Die', his first and probably best album.

Well, I will suggest you go an re-read everything I said.

EDIT: OK, nevermind.

Eternal Idol: it's easy to make a beat with your computer, but to make it a good beat and a good song it takes more than just that.

so electronic music like, say, The Prodigy, is made by untalented non-musicians?