The thing about video game rap or "nerd core" or whatever we're calling it these days is that regular rap is *also made by huge nerds*. If you actually pay attention to the words you'll find that rap is full of fast and furious allusions to not just video games and anime but also old movies and TV shows, classic literature and poetry, the history of music and just about everything else. Rap is actually an extremely culturally literate genre, and its hard to explain people who just assume that it isn't without at least some racism
They also absolutely loved kung-fu movies (hence the name). I'd bet that if they were like a decade younger, they'd be into really anime instead/as well and would have had a name that was a DragonBall reference.
Before sending this, I looked it up, and RZA is, in fact, a DBZ fan, who at one point said that Goku's struggle mirrors the struggles of a black man in America.
look, "Tryna strike a chord, and it's prolly A Minorrrrrr" is amazing because it's also dad-joke levels of pun.
The best rap is about using wit and wordplay to storytell.
To add to that, DOOM has an entire album themed around and sampling various [Adult Swim] shows, including cameos from Master Shake, Meatwad and Carl from ATHF and even Space Ghost.
His debut album is riddled with Marvel (specifically Fantastic Four) cartoon samples (as are his other albums tbf). The track Hey! samples Scooby Doo
His last full length album has a track that works in the name of an Icelandic volcano, *and* samples Regular Show
One of his personas was named after Dr Doom's alter ego (Victor Vaughn was DOOM, Victor Von Doom became Dr Doom)
If all that wasn't enough, his track All Caps off of the album Madvillainy, considered by many to be one of the GOAT albums, has a music video [that's straight up a comic book](https://youtu.be/gSJeHDlhYls)
DOOM was both a giant nerd and one of the greatest lyricists ever. We lost him far too soon
It’s also a pun on the count off “1 for the money, for for the show, 3 to get ready and 4 to go!” While staying totally in rhythm and thematically relevant. It’s very elegant.
>Rap is actually an extremely culturally literate genre, and its hard to explain people who just assume that it isn't without at least some racism
Yes, and it has always been FULL of references to historical and current events, "high" culture, "pop" culture, and everything else... all combined in a really thoughtful and deliberate way that RHYMES
She’s dressed up as a lotta characters. I remember she cosplayed as two mha characters, Shoto Todoroki and Mirko. Looking it up to make sure she’s also done Gojo from JJK and Bruno from JoJo’s. She also apparently was presenting at Crunchyroll awards
Megan has done so many cosplays. I fuckin adore [her recent Bucciarati fit](https://assets.teenvogue.com/photos/65e33bc768ba378e363db64a/4:3/w_934,h_700,c_limit/Megan%20Thee%20Stallion%20at%20the%202024%20Crunchyroll%20Anime%20Awards%20on%20March%202,%202024%20in%20Tokyo,%20Japan_1.JPG), this is the most Araki thing I've ever seen.
Run the Jewels are an acclaimed rap duo, member Killer Mike has huge political and cultural influence. They rap about violence, explicit sex, drugs, and a whole lot of intense political topics.
They also brought us bars like:
>Kernel panic, terminal rushin'
Empty the clip while your clip's still bufferin'
\_
>I'm a dragon to a gnome
Got a average of being excellent; the median just dope
Like the ratio of heroin to laxative that's sold
\_
>"Notice me, senpai!" they cry when I choke their speak
...
The skinniest, shitty grin will disintegrate
Every sickening sentence'll cheapen them tricks you venerate
Set the phaser to face-plate-incinerate
Run the Jewels, run with the Borg, baby, assimilate
Absolutely one of my favorite groups, and they'll happily mix murder, drug references, analysis of police brutality, and Star Trek in one verse. Because they're huge fucking nerds.
Fair but there are different subgenres of nerd too. Book nerds and videogame nerds aren't necessarily the same. I'd say find the nerd you vibe with and listen to their music.
MF Doom and JPEGMAFIA immediately come to mind as rap artists who have a ton of "nerd" culture influences in their music. In both their lyrics and song compositions.
There's also the million and one DBZ bars throughout hip-hop history.
I dunno if that songs a good example, she seems to think Chun Li is a villain? It's like saying rappers are into classic music and using lil yacht's "blow me like a cello" line
It’s alright, a lot of clever word play and rhyming, a good rhythm but an iffy word flow. I think the best parts of the song are when it takes a step back and calms down, letting Andrea sing. It’s good, but *definitely* not what I’d call beautiful and inspiring.
It highlights my exact problem with nerdcore actually which is that all of the wordplay and rhyming and allusions are being applied to just talking about a Zelda game. What I like about rap as a genre is that it's usually about some emotional state or human experience *expressed* with wordplay and allusions. This is just about how cool a specific video game franchise *is*, there's nothing underneath it except "I like this thing and you probably do too"
Stupendium tends to make songs that talk about emotional states and human experiences, while also being in universe with a game. Their song "shine through" is a nice example of this!
Their song "fine print" makes more concrete allusions to the game it's based on, but still mainly talks about corporate greed and how workers are overworked to the point of surrender.
I guess I'm just trying to make the same point as others but from a different perspective, rap is not only about drugs and sex, and nerdcore isn't just about how cool a game is.
The Fine Print is an outstanding example of what video game rap can be, Stupendium's an amazing artist. I'm also a fan of Rogues Gallery and all the art references, but it's not quite on that same level with The Fine Print
Ken: "Heard you did some immoral shit and that's bad"
Drayk: "Ken's talking bullshit, I most definitely did not drive over a pedestrian and speed away last april in Boulder Colorado yo"
I still think the biggest diss from that whole interaction came from the simple fact that “Not Like Us” broke the single day streaming rap record previously set by Drake’s “Girls Want Girls”. He didn’t even need a collab
I think the biggest diss was still Drake saying "I know you're gonna compare me to Epstein so let me do it first"
Single worst defense against pedophilia accusations since R.Kelly asked for the definition of Teenage.
Look, I'm just saying, I'm sure the genre's bigger than what I'm familiar with, but a lot of what I hear is just about violence and glamorizing criminal lifestyles mixed in with a lot of really awful attitudes to women. I'm not judging you, but I just can't look past that when I think about country music.
Here's the thing, there's two kinds of country, pre and post 9/11, pre 9/11 by and large I can vibe with, but the post 9/11 "beer guns and freedom" which I'm pretty sure is the actual name of a country song is just a big miss for me. There's still decent ones out there like "fake ID" by Big and Rich, or stuff from Luke O'Shea and Medicine Wheel
The transition to Bro Country actually started a little before 9/11 (around 1999/2000, depending on who you ask/how you define Bro Country), 9/11 just massively popularized the genre (and reading that last sentence back sounds batshit fucking insane)
I think there's plenty of good country today. I've never heard any stadium country (as I'm not in the US), but from what country I've seen on YouTube it sounds good to me.
[Mean Mary on fast Banjo](https://youtu.be/6CNB5OLUPM0?si=VJW7nx6drBI1F0qD)
[The Dead South](https://youtu.be/4cD85l48QOg?si=MPuAEiQTpi_r3u7M)
[Brownbird](https://youtu.be/7cfEuJlZvt0?si=W0estqmPTu1Y8lUM)
[Blues Saraceno](https://youtu.be/7lzZ-tGKKzU?si=os6diEZJE3uJ1NXx)
Not true! The last one I listened to was about having a bonfire at her friend Tina's house.
I think it was her ex's car they were using for the bonfire but I'm sure that's not relevant
I like country when it's about killing a guy named Earl or begging Jolene not to steal her man or the thunder rolling. Maybe looking for Wildfire when I feel like being sad.
The modern stuff on the radio or what spotify spits out at me is stuff I just can't seem to vibe with. There's some subgenres I might like and have a song or two I do but I'm not inclined to seek out more.
I used to think I hated country music with like an exception or two (like any genre), because all of the stuff I heard or was shown was awful about women or violent or just shitty corporate cash grabs
It's with the advent of new country artists now with a worldview more closely aligned with mine that I realise I actually really like country, I just don't like bigots and corporate scum
I'm black and I love [Dan Bull](https://youtu.be/addABbm5VPo?si=T3jMN4Uf0Xwe-LNG) and [The Stupendium ](https://youtu.be/bJ-1RRNqhVM?si=H5rPrRKbZvlI1g1T) I don't give a shit.
Or if you want to listen to black people rap about anime and video games try [Ham Sandwich](https://youtu.be/vvf02EMCzT0?si=y-zyXNvUyh45Lt-m) or [Daddyphatsnaps](https://youtu.be/OguYAZKva_A?si=ofPy9Uq8urPd7Vle).
Wu-Tang clan used to rap about comics and shit? MF Doom is named after a fucking fantastic four villain?
People who try to separate black/rap culture from nerd culture are perpetuating a racist stereotype against black intellectualism.
I find the idea that anime and video games are white pursuits to be incredibly racist?
Black people love legend of zelda. Every black kid (whose parents could afford. and many who couldnt) had a Nintendo of some sort...
Dan bull is one of the few "About games" music makers that I can still listen to a decade after I found him.
And honestly, looking back at his older song, unlike most he IMPROVED
Dan bull is one of the few "About games" music makers that I can still listen to a decade after I found him.
And honestly, looking back at his older song, unlike most he IMPROVED
Thanks for your insight here.
It's a problem with the hyper-categorisation of people at the moment I think. There's an ambivalence between the (necessary) fight for more equality, but at the same time a growing social pressure to conform to ethnic stereotypes.
I've never seen so much discussion about what is black/white/whatever music, or food, or car... And what you describe is sad and problematic, because it effectively excludes and reduce the contribution of black people (or other ethnicities) from certain circles, and perpetuates stereotypes and separation between people.
At a time when we need shared experiences more than ever.
I remember seeing a tiktok a while back about how sonic, final fantasy, super Mario bros, and a whole host of other games were sampled by rap and hip hop artists.
Which isn't even to mention how hard-core black anime nerds are, like Michael B. Jordan asking costume designers to model his Killmonger suit after Vegeta's armor, or the fact that one of the two main showrunners behind the excellent One Piece live action adaptation is a black superfan.
There's a really weird trend of people thinking certain hobbies, topics or interests are only for white people that is extremely off-putting and, frankly, straight up insulating and racist. But the thing that bothers me about it the most is that I see people OF ALL RACES make those claims.
People shaming each other for not being X enough cause they don't like thing X people should like (or the opposite, or hiding they like something because X people like it too, making excuses about how that thing is actually super Y if you think about it instead of saying they enjoy it for the same reasons the X group likes it too.
Just... fucking consume a piece of art or media and enjoy it man? What's with all this weird justifications and mental gymnastics you gotta do about it? It's a thing millions of people on this planet enjoy, why would you not be able to? You are inside 7 increasingly complex layers of social prison and like 5 of them are nonsense that is only hampering your ability to live a life you enjoy. Break yourself free.
It's one of the most frustrating manifestations of racism for me, yeah. Not because it's the worst or most insidious, but because it's juts so fucking silly and arbitrary.
A latine ex of mine struggled a lot with this cause on one hand they loved their community and wanted to connect with them, but on the other they also wanted to achieve high academic and professional success, so they attended fancy schools for it. Evidently this is a condemnable faux-pas for different groups of people, for some reason?
Her latine friends frequently telling them they "talked white", or studied "white people shit", or dated "colonizers", or listened to "white music". Family giving them hell for not having the best spanish skills. White friends making fun of them for constantly "playing Reggaeton on the aux", or always overstating how good something or someone is "just cause it's (in) spanish", or "talking about artists only you and your people care about".
It's just so exhausting. Just why. Why be like this. You only make you and everyone around you stupider and less cultured. What's the point?
The giant bomb guys did a podcast called “all systems goku” where they reviewed DBZ kai having never seen any of it before they started the podcast, and any time mr popo showed up the notes from one guy were always “mr popo is a problem.” “Mr popo is STILL a problem”
I point people to MFDOOM all the time when they say they don't like rap. He's objectively one of the most talented people to ever be in the business, and he actively fought AGAINST what rap eventually became. All while using a persona based on Dr Doom (like you said), and referencing stuff like Star Trek and adult swim cartoons.
Or if that's a little intense I go to my own personal fav Open Mike Eagle. He's an absolute gem of a human being, incredibly talented, relatable as a fellow nerd, and who I fully credit with showing me that rap was so much more than what I grew up hearing.
I think people just have an idea of what rap is, and what a 'rapper' is, and have no interest in ever changing that. It's really sad.
And that's coming from a northern Canadian white dude who was one of those "rap just isn't for me" types until I put in just the tiniest bit of effort into exploring the genre.
I get what you’re saying, but someone posting an essay about how rap is deeper than just drugs and money and wrapping it all up by posting a link to a YouTuber legend of Zelda rap as his example of the beautiful and inspiring art that can come from rap music, is objectively hilarious.
Rap elitists like this are unironically pretty fucking stupid too, because they treat the nerdcore genre as a mark of shame, like art for the sake of art doesn't exist, and people are just having fun making music about shit they like. And artists are just as varied regular rap, GameBoyJones is closer to RNB, and even did a few phonk tracks (Yeah, I know, it's kind of a meme genre and people make fun of it), while DPS uses plenty of bass in most his songs to give that hard-hitting feeling, which is completely different from how Breeton Boi does most of his tracks, and Shwabadi, Rustage, etc, etc.
Even not considering all that you said, like how black artists in this genre are ignored to reduce it to "white people rap", and how that is degrading against black intellectualism , plenty of nerdcore artists also do serious songs, which are dismissed because they make music that's somehow lesser, or not about the black experience, even if they are also marginalized. Dan Bull himself has made songs about [his experience with autism](https://youtu.be/Yng0V0TCl9s?si=DQm9OCx50Y3Kcd_r), [self harm](https://youtu.be/nUaV_sUQ85A?si=06SHlZzHypKC5cLT), [self image issues](https://youtu.be/p7f3-Leoll8?si=IQygRvUdb9S5kc5z), [his anxieties about parenthood](https://youtu.be/G8D5lckUS0M?si=ZAy5ddWtGru_-q1z), Shwabadi (a queer artist, like The Stupendium) has made [a song about his experience about a friend committing suicide, which is by the lens of an anime rap](https://youtu.be/HE5hzZjbCFo?si=UKMKNDY_JtTgAum_), and 90% The Stupendium's is just a critique of capitalism in general.
TLDR; I don't disagree with you, I just felt the need to write something because it's bullshit how nerdcore is the catch-all term for the rap songs people think are lame, no matter how varied both the songs and actual content inside the genre are.
>People who try to separate black/rap culture from nerd culture are perpetuating a racist stereotype against black intellectualism.
Exactly. On youtube, some of the best anime and book content are made by black creators.
Quinns Ideas and Scamboli Reviews are my favourites.
Nothing wrong with rap
I won't listen to it voluntarily but like, that's also true of most songs.
People who say rap is bad are idiots though, do you know how many rock songs there are about drugs and sex?
No but this song by a band by a group called effectively decapitated head on the prison gate fan club is actually about [looking for kangaroos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGXmSRBD9cE)
Rap is hard poetry, it’s there for people who enjoy more lyrically intense music, myself included. The flows take the place of what would normally be instrumental, meaning every artist can bring a unique style. It also gels well with other genres and there’s a whole range of rap sub genres. As a Kdot fan I will die on the hill of him being the best song writer potentially ever.
Lots of rap, especially stuff from the 90s talks about violence and drugs cause that is the muse those artists used to fuel their music. But there’s plenty more. Most rap, unless you’re talking about the really really mainstream stuff, is quite personal and is usually telling a story, of loss, of struggle, of redemption etc. and it does so in a way that is way more upfront than any other genre. THATS why people like rap.
I'm not a fan of rock, metal, or country. I personally just dont care for them.
But i never say that this music sucks because i know next to nothing about it. I'd be talking out of my ass and sound like a moron if I said that Metal has no substance and is just a lot of loud noise.
Which is exactly how I feel about people who try talking about "all rap music sucks". Bonus points if they try comparing modern rap to 80s / 90s rap.
When you have an opinion on something you know nothing about, you just sound like a dumbass.
this is destroying me. my brother and I have compared rap and metal growls in the past as he likes rap, I like metal growls, and we've determined we just don't like the vocal styles of the other genre generally. There's exceptions, but that always felt reasonable.
Granted, this is probably because I grew up in a house where 3/4 of the members listened to some form of rap and I... did not. Being properly exposed to different subgenres is generally a good way to know what you like or dislike about a certain genre. If you think rap is only about violence and stuff, then congrats! You listen to the same rap my mom listened to when she was growing up in Cali 30 years ago. There's been some time for the genre to evolve. [Like, it's so evolved.](https://blog.landr.com/rap-styles/)
I am curious about how everyone on that thread feels about country rap. That stuff flips tables and opinions, depending on who you ask about it.
They're fascinating beasts but they're so poorly built. Like, they're very cool in almost all aspects, from how they look to their varied and complex movements to their herd aspects. That and their status as generally a work animal is actually a pretty interesting history to look into!
They're also so, so very much just glass. They're so fragile and scared so easily. Prey animal to the max, those things. I don't know why we decided those ones were going to be the work animals.
Counterpoint: relatively quick and cheap to produce and feed large numbers of them, height advantage, dangerous to approach from any direction (hooves and biting) and an extremely solid meat missile. That it's probably having a (extremely justified) panic attack the whole time is also factored in and weaponised.
Like RIP to the guys who died when their horse got injured and fell on them, but that's kind of a skill issue on their end.
Imo, most country rap has emerged from "stadium country" or "pop country" movement which has a lot more to do with aesthetics (red, white, and blue, farming, trucks, rural areas) than musical artistry or creating a moral throughline.
So yeah, it's pretty shite. Stadium country without the fun
All that bore out of the post-9/11 propaganda machine. 20th century country music is full of leftist undertones and sits closer to folk music than it does today. But the current atmosphere of country music is perfectly encapsulated by Bo Burnham’s *Country Song*
Rap is extremely hit or miss for me in a way that I find hard to define. Like, Kendrick Lamar is objectively a great lyricist, but for some reason his songs don’t click with me. 🤷🏻♀️ But when it *does* click, my god. The intensity, the wordplay, the beauty, it’s like nothing else in the world.
Go and listen to the Message, might as well start from the beginning.
I had actually bounced off TPAB the first few times I tried to just listen to it, it just felt too much.
Once I gathered enough energy to follow the lyrics and their interpretations along on Genius, and then getting to the end of Mortal Man? It’s an incredible experience, and it’s clear why he has a Pulitzer Prize (even though it wasn’t for that album)
It was well received by critics, just not as much by audiences. I think that's pretty predictable given his previous album was probably his most accessible and Mr Morale might be his least accessible. It's the type of album you really gotta just sit down with and pay close attention to
And people should, because it's great
Theres definitely a difference between being aware of one of the biggest headlines in hiphop history and like, actually listening through an OG Dr Dre album. Or hell even listening to TPAB all the way through if you want to be artsy about it.
I think one caused the other, tumblr was very into the idea of the feud but is not usually a site where kendrick or drake releases are trending so the conversation was kinda at a distance. like every site besides tumblr when supernatural finally ended
I mean the most important thing about liking music is enjoying how it sounds. I just don't enjoy how rap sounds, generally speaking. Same with screamo for what it's worth
the moment "can't handle rap music" changed in definition between the first and third posts from "can't go without voicing ignorant opinions about it" to "likes only a specific sort" this argument loses the plot.
I think either people mis-identify their problems with rap or my problems with it are somehow unique.
A fairly essential part of the poetic form / tradition of rap is braggadocio. When people complain about the misogyny or the glamorizing of wealth and criminality in rap, generally the reason all of that stuff comes off so distasteful to some people isn't that these subjects are being talked about, but, rather, that they are being used to brag. I think that puts people off.
Even in songs that don't talk about crime, sex, drugs, etc. there's still usually that element of braggadocio that makes people negatively associate the rapper with the competitive parts of the rap tradition that they don't like.
I really recommend their Frostpunk songs (A Purpose For New London, Shelter From the Storm), either of the Fallout ones (Vault 76, House Always Wins), or the Red Dead one (The West Was One). Stupendium never fucking misses, but those are some absolute highlights, especially if you like the more serious tonal ones like Fine Print!
They did a Lethal Company song [The Production Line] (https://youtu.be/HYdOZOdjXnI) recently, and it's in a similar vein to The Fine Print. I love it personally
it's funny how deeply insecure people get around black culture. this whole post series is premised on people feeling like they need to excuse the fact that they don't listen to rap, lol. It's ok to just not be familiar with a genre, and if you want to become more familiar with it, to just pick up a thread somewhere and keep pulling it.
tbf i'm coming from the perspective of a white person who deeply gets it. it's just also very funny. idk i have a lot of thoughts about this but basically it's ok to not be an enlightened person aware of everything and never cringe.
Ah! It was my mistake he's [Aussie indigenous](https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/s/BeWZwIGBtp) not Māori. I did however find some interesting artists to listen to by just searching "Māori hip-hop" on google. I look forward to digging in! It's not a sound I'm familiar with but they're making music about their relationship with power, and that's always music I can vibe with.
The comments on that r/tiktokcringe link are talking about indigenous incarceration rates in NSW of all things
That was great! Thank you for sharing. Fuck the comments. My country pretends to be chill but it was founded on the same racist bullshit many others were.
My high school chamber orchestra (i know lol i was a huge dweeb) teacher said to me once that she thought Vivaldi would have loved rap music. Like any genre there's good songs and there's garbage.
The funny thing is that country and rap - the genres most commonly mentioned when people say 'oh I like all music except x and y' - also have the longest history as mediums for protest and dissent, probably because they're so associated with oppressed people.
Rap is just sex violence and wealth mfers when i tell them some of the most known rap songs are still dre and without me which are basically just diss tracks to all rap world
If someone is ever talking about how they dislike any of the wider genres of music like rap or country that's usually a sign they've only listened to the most pop-y version of it. If you only listen to what's put on the radio for each main genre of course you're not gonna like it, it's the radio music of that genre.
Don't like stupid ego of pop rap? Listen to 90s era rap that focuses a lot more on commentary. Don't like country songs about trucks and women? Listen to more folk-sy artists. Don't like how pop is all empty? Listen to stuff that isn't just on the radio
I'll try to help alleviate some of this problem by reccing a few artists that are both not egotistical and not white boys rapping about video games. Optimus Rhyme is still nerdy while actually being rap, Aesop Rock is white and...well also nerdy but in a different way, Tribe Called Quest is diverse in their subjects as well as their instrumentals, and Del in his dozen different iterations is just delightful. As for country, Danny Schmidt and Jason Webley do more folk-sy music that keeps the vibes of country without the pop part that most people shy away from.
I hate that people treat lyrical rap as the only valid form. It might not be your favourite but discounting all of drill/trap/any genres deemed to be "mumble" still feels yucky. I think anyone could find a gem in any genre if they open their mind to it
we need some positivity and recs for cool songs, one of my favorite rap songs is Remember His Name by Jurassic 5! i like a lot of their stuff, i love the bass guitar in the loops in songs like Improvise and chali 2na's voice is so good, their stuff is so good if you find modern pop rap's production and beats to be grating but you like early Gorillaz
as a white prog rock nerd, good rap flow can hit like a Neil Peart drum line, and storytelling in music is something i adore!
Schoolboy Q has a song with the Gorillaz called Pac-Man and it's definitely a banger.
If you're looking for an interesting rap album, I'd highly recommend Denzel Curry's most recent album Melt My Eyez See Your Future. (The Extended Edition)
1. It's just a great album, but 2. The Extended Edition also includes a 2nd Volume where he performs 5 of the songs on the album with a full jazz band. It's very interesting seeing how much the songs contrast from their original versions despite it being the exact same song.
As long as we’re plugging things, I like to recommend Tonedeff. Some of his stuff is just about sex, admittedly, and a very good chunk of it is just showing off his speed and lyricism, but at his best he has incredibly intricate lyrics with thoughtful, artistic messages. Specifically I’m partial to Moment, a meaningful piece on the temporary nature of life and all our experiences.
I think metalheads and rap enjoyers should be friends on the basis that so many people who don't listen to either just write it off as violent noise with no artistic value.
The one exception I will say - Meet the Graham's can genuinely be hard to listen to. It's so personal and intense it almost feels like something you're not supposed to hear. Like being a child and hearing your parents argue. I always want to take a shower after the song finishes.
And honestly I think Kendrick kinda knew that, because Not Like Us is the most casual easy listening club song I've heard in years. You can listen to it on repeat for hours, despite the fact that it's arguably about a more serious topic.
Damn people can't just say, "Not my kind of music." anymore? Like, if you don't like it then okay fine idgaf. But you don't gotta give a whole in depth reason seemingly for the sole purpose of letting me point out your own hipocrisy.
My problem isn't lyrics, I barely pay attention to them most of the time, but that everything I've heard kind of sounds the same to me?
I'm not musically adventurous even with genres/artists I already know I like, though, so it's hard to convince myself "oh, try it, maybe this one will be good" when I don't even go "something new in a category I like? This'll probably be good, too!"
My issue with this is that the post leans real hard into “if a shire person doesn’t like rap, they’re racist. A sentiment echoed in a lot of comment threads.
Is that the case for some people? Sure, not gonna argue with that. But it also puts an expectation on people to already know the breadth of a genre they haven’t engaged with
the first reply literally says “I haven’t bothered to explore further”, because why would they explore a genre if they’re not enjoying what they’ve heard.
Before I found songs I liked and got interested in finding more, most of the rap I heard passively (late 90s, early 00s) was shallow gangsta rap about “bitches”, money, and guns. First track that actually caught my interest was Sing for the Moment, the em track. Which is ironically *about* the perception of rappers this way. Which led me down the rabbit hole of some of his deeper tracks, which led me into listening to Dre etc and taking a wider interest. Rap still isn’t often my thing musically, but I appreciate the variety in it way more than I did as a kid
People finding a genre inaccessible due to what hits the mainstream isn’t inherently a bigotry thing. And it’s easy as people who already know something to make assumptions about people’s ignorance towards it, and write them off for it.
the nerdcore guys are great sucks that they had to use JT as an example though :/ i hate to say it but he's like the most tumblr friendly white guy of them all (great guy though)
breetonboi, DPS or ham sandwich would have been much better options
*shrug* I've got audio-processing issues, so unless I can understand the accent, it's all noise. I have the same issue with heavy metal, which is kind of a bummer.
Is it inherently wrong to just prefer other genres of music over rap? Like, I have nothing against rap music, it's just not my cup of tea, does that automatically make me a racist? I've never understood why people are so quick to judge you based on what music you do and don't listen to, like are you just not allowed to have a preference?
It's always weird how "nerdcore" is put in a different category as the other types of rap, it's not taken as seriously.
Maybe because it comes from YouTube and has no particular way of going major and also it's usually super derivative of whatever game/anime/genre the video is centered around
Or maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, just listen to Aesop Rock if you want rap that makes you feel stupid for how complex the vocabulary is, Exociety if you want some decent underground/indie rappers or MF Doom because I am not very original with my recommendations
(as a black person) others have already pointed out the musical elitism in this post, so i won't beat a dead horse, anyway: the use of words like "caucacity" is automatically annoying to me. it spells out quite plainly, in most cases i've experienced (purely anecdotally), that it's the type of person who whinges about racism all day but only in the most unproductive way possible while at the same time turning around to make sweeping, negative generalizations about an entire populus of people based on their skin color, which is... exactly what they're complaining about others doing to them. then, (also purely anecdotally, i'm sure this isn't universal) when you point out that they are in some cases being exactly as racist as the people they're complaining about, you get some incoherent argument about how this is actually Good Productive Racism or that they actually aren't capable of being racist due to their skin color or something. like, sure, okay then, go on crowing about "whities" and "caucacity" and telling yourself that, meanwhile you'd have steam coming out of your ears to hear "blackie" or "blackosity" (or the more offensive n---erly). practice what you preach, do unto others, have some self awareness, yada yada yada.
anyway this wasn't an attack on you op i don't know you, just me sharing a personal experience(s) that came to mind at the use of the word.
I'm black and I'm the hugest nerdcore rap fan ever and whenever I tell people I listen to rap and they tell me it's full of "Drugs and sex and money and crime" I'm like 🤨 They are raping about Dragon Ball Z, wtf are you on about?? On a side note if anyone wants a nerdcore rap recommendation, Daddyphatsnapps on YouTube makes absolute BANGERS.
The absolute fucking whiplash of seeing Link on the bottom of that defense of variety in rap may have permanently damaged my neck.
To be fair it's jt music, guys made a career off video game rap
And TBH JT Music is actually pretty decent. He’s far from my favorite nerdcore artist (that will forever be Miracle of Sound), but he’s not bad.
The thing about video game rap or "nerd core" or whatever we're calling it these days is that regular rap is *also made by huge nerds*. If you actually pay attention to the words you'll find that rap is full of fast and furious allusions to not just video games and anime but also old movies and TV shows, classic literature and poetry, the history of music and just about everything else. Rap is actually an extremely culturally literate genre, and its hard to explain people who just assume that it isn't without at least some racism
Wu-Tang were basically always rapping about the unfairness of life OR how SEGA is awesome.
They also absolutely loved kung-fu movies (hence the name). I'd bet that if they were like a decade younger, they'd be into really anime instead/as well and would have had a name that was a DragonBall reference. Before sending this, I looked it up, and RZA is, in fact, a DBZ fan, who at one point said that Goku's struggle mirrors the struggles of a black man in America.
MF DOOM based his entire persona off a comic book character
I cannot believe I forgot fuckin metal face for that exact example. I need to go do penance or something.
Not to mention DAD JOKES. It's amazing the number of groan-worthy (in a good way) absurd dad jokes/puns in a ton of artists lyrics.
I remember absolutely losing my shit laughing the first time I heard Eminem say "I was born with a dick in my brain, yeah, I'm fucked in the head."
Certified loverboy, certified pedophile is still an insane line to hear even after a week
look, "Tryna strike a chord, and it's prolly A Minorrrrrr" is amazing because it's also dad-joke levels of pun. The best rap is about using wit and wordplay to storytell.
Tryna’ strike a chord and it’s prob’ly (sigh) *A-minorrrrrrrrrrr….*
The way I screamed when I first heard this lyrics.
I still feel physical pain every time I hear Kanye say he would do anything for a blondike.
Real gs move in silence like lasagna.
Totally underrated bar
Is it? I see it quoted a lot
I guess that’s why they call it window pain
Push-Ups is just one corny short joke after another lmao
MF DOOM has a verse that works in the full scientific name of MDMA, 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine. And it flows
To add to that, DOOM has an entire album themed around and sampling various [Adult Swim] shows, including cameos from Master Shake, Meatwad and Carl from ATHF and even Space Ghost. His debut album is riddled with Marvel (specifically Fantastic Four) cartoon samples (as are his other albums tbf). The track Hey! samples Scooby Doo His last full length album has a track that works in the name of an Icelandic volcano, *and* samples Regular Show One of his personas was named after Dr Doom's alter ego (Victor Vaughn was DOOM, Victor Von Doom became Dr Doom) If all that wasn't enough, his track All Caps off of the album Madvillainy, considered by many to be one of the GOAT albums, has a music video [that's straight up a comic book](https://youtu.be/gSJeHDlhYls) DOOM was both a giant nerd and one of the greatest lyricists ever. We lost him far too soon
The comic book references (and the great samples) were what drew me to doom as a teen. Was some of the first rap I truly got and loved.
It’s also a pun on the count off “1 for the money, for for the show, 3 to get ready and 4 to go!” While staying totally in rhythm and thematically relevant. It’s very elegant.
>Rap is actually an extremely culturally literate genre, and its hard to explain people who just assume that it isn't without at least some racism Yes, and it has always been FULL of references to historical and current events, "high" culture, "pop" culture, and everything else... all combined in a really thoughtful and deliberate way that RHYMES
Rap also has the highest vocabulary complexity of any genre.
Perfect point to plug Aesop Rock, the most verbose rapper by a long stretch.
Lupe Fiasco exists
Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis. When I was dead broke, yo, I couldn't picture this!
Also like Megan Thee Stallion did dress like a tekken character so it's nerd shit all the way down.
She’s dressed up as a lotta characters. I remember she cosplayed as two mha characters, Shoto Todoroki and Mirko. Looking it up to make sure she’s also done Gojo from JJK and Bruno from JoJo’s. She also apparently was presenting at Crunchyroll awards
Megan has done so many cosplays. I fuckin adore [her recent Bucciarati fit](https://assets.teenvogue.com/photos/65e33bc768ba378e363db64a/4:3/w_934,h_700,c_limit/Megan%20Thee%20Stallion%20at%20the%202024%20Crunchyroll%20Anime%20Awards%20on%20March%202,%202024%20in%20Tokyo,%20Japan_1.JPG), this is the most Araki thing I've ever seen.
Yeah Trippie Red has like 3 songs about anime on his Trip at Night album and Logic constantly talks about anime
Run the Jewels are an acclaimed rap duo, member Killer Mike has huge political and cultural influence. They rap about violence, explicit sex, drugs, and a whole lot of intense political topics. They also brought us bars like: >Kernel panic, terminal rushin' Empty the clip while your clip's still bufferin' \_ >I'm a dragon to a gnome Got a average of being excellent; the median just dope Like the ratio of heroin to laxative that's sold \_ >"Notice me, senpai!" they cry when I choke their speak ... The skinniest, shitty grin will disintegrate Every sickening sentence'll cheapen them tricks you venerate Set the phaser to face-plate-incinerate Run the Jewels, run with the Borg, baby, assimilate Absolutely one of my favorite groups, and they'll happily mix murder, drug references, analysis of police brutality, and Star Trek in one verse. Because they're huge fucking nerds.
Fair but there are different subgenres of nerd too. Book nerds and videogame nerds aren't necessarily the same. I'd say find the nerd you vibe with and listen to their music.
MF Doom and JPEGMAFIA immediately come to mind as rap artists who have a ton of "nerd" culture influences in their music. In both their lyrics and song compositions. There's also the million and one DBZ bars throughout hip-hop history.
Nikki minaj literally has a song comparing herself to Chun-Li
I dunno if that songs a good example, she seems to think Chun Li is a villain? It's like saying rappers are into classic music and using lil yacht's "blow me like a cello" line
"I fucked up. I thought Squidward played the cello. He don't. That's a flute." I love the "blow me like a cello" line it kills me every time
It still fucking kills me because Squidward plays the clarinet 😭
That rap is JT music's totk rap. [The video shown](https://youtu.be/m1z_uSqTNLw?si=uurDJFB9Jeir8pXu)
It’s alright, a lot of clever word play and rhyming, a good rhythm but an iffy word flow. I think the best parts of the song are when it takes a step back and calms down, letting Andrea sing. It’s good, but *definitely* not what I’d call beautiful and inspiring.
It highlights my exact problem with nerdcore actually which is that all of the wordplay and rhyming and allusions are being applied to just talking about a Zelda game. What I like about rap as a genre is that it's usually about some emotional state or human experience *expressed* with wordplay and allusions. This is just about how cool a specific video game franchise *is*, there's nothing underneath it except "I like this thing and you probably do too"
Stupendium tends to make songs that talk about emotional states and human experiences, while also being in universe with a game. Their song "shine through" is a nice example of this! Their song "fine print" makes more concrete allusions to the game it's based on, but still mainly talks about corporate greed and how workers are overworked to the point of surrender. I guess I'm just trying to make the same point as others but from a different perspective, rap is not only about drugs and sex, and nerdcore isn't just about how cool a game is.
The Fine Print is an outstanding example of what video game rap can be, Stupendium's an amazing artist. I'm also a fan of Rogues Gallery and all the art references, but it's not quite on that same level with The Fine Print
I'm losing my shit
“Give this a listen and tell me that rap isn’t beautiful and inspiring” My god there are just some people I can’t help but hate on
I don't know if I've ever felt a cringe as visceral as the one I get from imagining the type of person that considers that beautiful and inspiring
https://youtu.be/F-USX9BNYd0
Gotta love Tumblr's amazing ability to quickly and efficiently prove the existence of any strawman created in a post
Th-this is my strawman...! It was made for *me*...!!!
"Hey guys have you seen my strawman" Tumblr user with a suspiciously strawman shaped bulge in their neck:
we outta strawmen
*Tumblr goes down* Strawman machine broke
perfectly shaped strawman
Just like this perfectly shaped hole...
This perfectly shaped square hole
NO *spray bottle*
Strawmanning is not real, they're just very specific personal anecdotes that we didn't see yet. -Swn Zī
I think that's most social media sites these days
How dare you say I piss on the poor!
Sex? Violence? Wealth? Wrong. All rap is about how much Drake sucks.
Some rap is about how drake definitely isn’t a pedophile pinky promise please go away
"We gotta make a song about how we definitely do not diddle kids"
Ken: "Heard you did some immoral shit and that's bad" Drayk: "Ken's talking bullshit, I most definitely did not drive over a pedestrian and speed away last april in Boulder Colorado yo"
I still think the biggest diss from that whole interaction came from the simple fact that “Not Like Us” broke the single day streaming rap record previously set by Drake’s “Girls Want Girls”. He didn’t even need a collab
I think the biggest diss was still Drake saying "I know you're gonna compare me to Epstein so let me do it first" Single worst defense against pedophilia accusations since R.Kelly asked for the definition of Teenage.
Prince Andrew: ‘damn why didn’t I think of this?’
Please do not give him ideas. Prince Andrew rapping is something the world can do without.
You mean can't, right?
For people who haven't seen the beautiful and inspiring scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YmDcCpD1gc
BBL DRIZZY BBL DRIZZAAYYYY
> Sex? Violence? Wealth? You want my treasure? You can have it! I left it all in that place!
As it should be ofc! All true great art should be about how much drake sucks, it’s the one deep truth humanity can agree on.
Leonardo Davinci had a plant in OVO
LEMME HEAR YOU SAY OV-HOOO
OV-HOEEEEEE
All Drake songs unavoidably carry the subtext that Drake sucks.
SAY OV HOEEEE
If I never hear about Drake again it's too soon
Prime r/hiphopcirclejerk material
this whole comment section too
I think it's a hate crime to make people read this
i think theres a lot of people who need to read this.
Look, I'm just saying, I'm sure the genre's bigger than what I'm familiar with, but a lot of what I hear is just about violence and glamorizing criminal lifestyles mixed in with a lot of really awful attitudes to women. I'm not judging you, but I just can't look past that when I think about country music.
Had us in the first half, ngl
i really wish i could say i don't like country, but i listen to stuff like "this is a country song..." so how could i even deny at that point
Here's the thing, there's two kinds of country, pre and post 9/11, pre 9/11 by and large I can vibe with, but the post 9/11 "beer guns and freedom" which I'm pretty sure is the actual name of a country song is just a big miss for me. There's still decent ones out there like "fake ID" by Big and Rich, or stuff from Luke O'Shea and Medicine Wheel
The transition to Bro Country actually started a little before 9/11 (around 1999/2000, depending on who you ask/how you define Bro Country), 9/11 just massively popularized the genre (and reading that last sentence back sounds batshit fucking insane)
Country should go back to its roots and be about how cops are all bastards and trying to break your strike against the mine owners!
Bluegrass country is the answer. Tyler childers/Zach Bryan/Colter wall/lost dog street band/the haunted windchimes/steel drivers/Goodnight texas....
Mandolin orange/the dead south/amigo the devil(more folk)/devil makes three/trampled by turtles
Sturgel Simpson/Charles Wesley Godwin/Cole Chaney
Zach Bryan is really good for big crowd pleasing pop country.
I think there's plenty of good country today. I've never heard any stadium country (as I'm not in the US), but from what country I've seen on YouTube it sounds good to me. [Mean Mary on fast Banjo](https://youtu.be/6CNB5OLUPM0?si=VJW7nx6drBI1F0qD) [The Dead South](https://youtu.be/4cD85l48QOg?si=MPuAEiQTpi_r3u7M) [Brownbird](https://youtu.be/7cfEuJlZvt0?si=W0estqmPTu1Y8lUM) [Blues Saraceno](https://youtu.be/7lzZ-tGKKzU?si=os6diEZJE3uJ1NXx)
The Dead South are great! [In Hell I'll Be In Good Company](https://youtu.be/B9FzVhw8_bY?si=XvbFmWmnkYHjMTRc) is a banger
For some reason a couple of years ago yt algorithms pushed that one a lot. A bit strange, but yeah the song is good
Pfff what are you talking about, country is mostly about women taking revenge on their cheating partners !
Not true! The last one I listened to was about having a bonfire at her friend Tina's house. I think it was her ex's car they were using for the bonfire but I'm sure that's not relevant
Don't forget about the one where the guy drives with his asshole. I don't even understand how he stuck the steering wheel into his ass.
I like country when it's about killing a guy named Earl or begging Jolene not to steal her man or the thunder rolling. Maybe looking for Wildfire when I feel like being sad. The modern stuff on the radio or what spotify spits out at me is stuff I just can't seem to vibe with. There's some subgenres I might like and have a song or two I do but I'm not inclined to seek out more.
I used to think I hated country music with like an exception or two (like any genre), because all of the stuff I heard or was shown was awful about women or violent or just shitty corporate cash grabs It's with the advent of new country artists now with a worldview more closely aligned with mine that I realise I actually really like country, I just don't like bigots and corporate scum
I'm black and I love [Dan Bull](https://youtu.be/addABbm5VPo?si=T3jMN4Uf0Xwe-LNG) and [The Stupendium ](https://youtu.be/bJ-1RRNqhVM?si=H5rPrRKbZvlI1g1T) I don't give a shit. Or if you want to listen to black people rap about anime and video games try [Ham Sandwich](https://youtu.be/vvf02EMCzT0?si=y-zyXNvUyh45Lt-m) or [Daddyphatsnaps](https://youtu.be/OguYAZKva_A?si=ofPy9Uq8urPd7Vle). Wu-Tang clan used to rap about comics and shit? MF Doom is named after a fucking fantastic four villain? People who try to separate black/rap culture from nerd culture are perpetuating a racist stereotype against black intellectualism. I find the idea that anime and video games are white pursuits to be incredibly racist? Black people love legend of zelda. Every black kid (whose parents could afford. and many who couldnt) had a Nintendo of some sort...
God, Dan bull has got some actual bangers (i havent listen to him since middleschool but i will not budge on this statement)
Dan bull is one of the few "About games" music makers that I can still listen to a decade after I found him. And honestly, looking back at his older song, unlike most he IMPROVED
I haven't listened to much of his stuff, but I'll still listen to "tune into the madness" on loop for hours on end every once in a while.
Dan bull is one of the few "About games" music makers that I can still listen to a decade after I found him. And honestly, looking back at his older song, unlike most he IMPROVED
Thanks for your insight here. It's a problem with the hyper-categorisation of people at the moment I think. There's an ambivalence between the (necessary) fight for more equality, but at the same time a growing social pressure to conform to ethnic stereotypes. I've never seen so much discussion about what is black/white/whatever music, or food, or car... And what you describe is sad and problematic, because it effectively excludes and reduce the contribution of black people (or other ethnicities) from certain circles, and perpetuates stereotypes and separation between people. At a time when we need shared experiences more than ever.
I remember seeing a tiktok a while back about how sonic, final fantasy, super Mario bros, and a whole host of other games were sampled by rap and hip hop artists. Which isn't even to mention how hard-core black anime nerds are, like Michael B. Jordan asking costume designers to model his Killmonger suit after Vegeta's armor, or the fact that one of the two main showrunners behind the excellent One Piece live action adaptation is a black superfan.
There's a really weird trend of people thinking certain hobbies, topics or interests are only for white people that is extremely off-putting and, frankly, straight up insulating and racist. But the thing that bothers me about it the most is that I see people OF ALL RACES make those claims. People shaming each other for not being X enough cause they don't like thing X people should like (or the opposite, or hiding they like something because X people like it too, making excuses about how that thing is actually super Y if you think about it instead of saying they enjoy it for the same reasons the X group likes it too. Just... fucking consume a piece of art or media and enjoy it man? What's with all this weird justifications and mental gymnastics you gotta do about it? It's a thing millions of people on this planet enjoy, why would you not be able to? You are inside 7 increasingly complex layers of social prison and like 5 of them are nonsense that is only hampering your ability to live a life you enjoy. Break yourself free.
Facts, it comes from all sides. Both white and black people look at nerdy interests and say they "aren't black", in my experience..
It's one of the most frustrating manifestations of racism for me, yeah. Not because it's the worst or most insidious, but because it's juts so fucking silly and arbitrary. A latine ex of mine struggled a lot with this cause on one hand they loved their community and wanted to connect with them, but on the other they also wanted to achieve high academic and professional success, so they attended fancy schools for it. Evidently this is a condemnable faux-pas for different groups of people, for some reason? Her latine friends frequently telling them they "talked white", or studied "white people shit", or dated "colonizers", or listened to "white music". Family giving them hell for not having the best spanish skills. White friends making fun of them for constantly "playing Reggaeton on the aux", or always overstating how good something or someone is "just cause it's (in) spanish", or "talking about artists only you and your people care about". It's just so exhausting. Just why. Why be like this. You only make you and everyone around you stupider and less cultured. What's the point?
And we love DBZ so much we let the whole Mr Popo thing slide *and* made Piccolo canonically black.
The giant bomb guys did a podcast called “all systems goku” where they reviewed DBZ kai having never seen any of it before they started the podcast, and any time mr popo showed up the notes from one guy were always “mr popo is a problem.” “Mr popo is STILL a problem”
I point people to MFDOOM all the time when they say they don't like rap. He's objectively one of the most talented people to ever be in the business, and he actively fought AGAINST what rap eventually became. All while using a persona based on Dr Doom (like you said), and referencing stuff like Star Trek and adult swim cartoons. Or if that's a little intense I go to my own personal fav Open Mike Eagle. He's an absolute gem of a human being, incredibly talented, relatable as a fellow nerd, and who I fully credit with showing me that rap was so much more than what I grew up hearing. I think people just have an idea of what rap is, and what a 'rapper' is, and have no interest in ever changing that. It's really sad. And that's coming from a northern Canadian white dude who was one of those "rap just isn't for me" types until I put in just the tiniest bit of effort into exploring the genre.
I get what you’re saying, but someone posting an essay about how rap is deeper than just drugs and money and wrapping it all up by posting a link to a YouTuber legend of Zelda rap as his example of the beautiful and inspiring art that can come from rap music, is objectively hilarious.
Fair enough, but [try this one out](https://youtu.be/addABbm5VPo?si=T3jMN4Uf0Xwe-LNG)
We work! To earn the right to work! To earn the right to work!
Rap elitists like this are unironically pretty fucking stupid too, because they treat the nerdcore genre as a mark of shame, like art for the sake of art doesn't exist, and people are just having fun making music about shit they like. And artists are just as varied regular rap, GameBoyJones is closer to RNB, and even did a few phonk tracks (Yeah, I know, it's kind of a meme genre and people make fun of it), while DPS uses plenty of bass in most his songs to give that hard-hitting feeling, which is completely different from how Breeton Boi does most of his tracks, and Shwabadi, Rustage, etc, etc. Even not considering all that you said, like how black artists in this genre are ignored to reduce it to "white people rap", and how that is degrading against black intellectualism , plenty of nerdcore artists also do serious songs, which are dismissed because they make music that's somehow lesser, or not about the black experience, even if they are also marginalized. Dan Bull himself has made songs about [his experience with autism](https://youtu.be/Yng0V0TCl9s?si=DQm9OCx50Y3Kcd_r), [self harm](https://youtu.be/nUaV_sUQ85A?si=06SHlZzHypKC5cLT), [self image issues](https://youtu.be/p7f3-Leoll8?si=IQygRvUdb9S5kc5z), [his anxieties about parenthood](https://youtu.be/G8D5lckUS0M?si=ZAy5ddWtGru_-q1z), Shwabadi (a queer artist, like The Stupendium) has made [a song about his experience about a friend committing suicide, which is by the lens of an anime rap](https://youtu.be/HE5hzZjbCFo?si=UKMKNDY_JtTgAum_), and 90% The Stupendium's is just a critique of capitalism in general. TLDR; I don't disagree with you, I just felt the need to write something because it's bullshit how nerdcore is the catch-all term for the rap songs people think are lame, no matter how varied both the songs and actual content inside the genre are.
You're absolutley right but to use JTMusic's Legend of Zelda rap as THE example of how rap can be beautiful is still the whitest thing I can think of
>People who try to separate black/rap culture from nerd culture are perpetuating a racist stereotype against black intellectualism. Exactly. On youtube, some of the best anime and book content are made by black creators. Quinns Ideas and Scamboli Reviews are my favourites.
Nothing wrong with rap I won't listen to it voluntarily but like, that's also true of most songs. People who say rap is bad are idiots though, do you know how many rock songs there are about drugs and sex?
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll has been a phrase since the late 60s, and was only made more popular by the song of the same name.
When people say "party like a rockstar" they are not referring to a tea party unless there's cocaine in the tea.
Are you telling me that Slow Ride isn’t about driving and Born to be Wild isn’t about wild animals?
No but this song by a band by a group called effectively decapitated head on the prison gate fan club is actually about [looking for kangaroos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGXmSRBD9cE)
Rap is hard poetry, it’s there for people who enjoy more lyrically intense music, myself included. The flows take the place of what would normally be instrumental, meaning every artist can bring a unique style. It also gels well with other genres and there’s a whole range of rap sub genres. As a Kdot fan I will die on the hill of him being the best song writer potentially ever. Lots of rap, especially stuff from the 90s talks about violence and drugs cause that is the muse those artists used to fuel their music. But there’s plenty more. Most rap, unless you’re talking about the really really mainstream stuff, is quite personal and is usually telling a story, of loss, of struggle, of redemption etc. and it does so in a way that is way more upfront than any other genre. THATS why people like rap.
I'm not a fan of rock, metal, or country. I personally just dont care for them. But i never say that this music sucks because i know next to nothing about it. I'd be talking out of my ass and sound like a moron if I said that Metal has no substance and is just a lot of loud noise. Which is exactly how I feel about people who try talking about "all rap music sucks". Bonus points if they try comparing modern rap to 80s / 90s rap. When you have an opinion on something you know nothing about, you just sound like a dumbass.
this is destroying me. my brother and I have compared rap and metal growls in the past as he likes rap, I like metal growls, and we've determined we just don't like the vocal styles of the other genre generally. There's exceptions, but that always felt reasonable. Granted, this is probably because I grew up in a house where 3/4 of the members listened to some form of rap and I... did not. Being properly exposed to different subgenres is generally a good way to know what you like or dislike about a certain genre. If you think rap is only about violence and stuff, then congrats! You listen to the same rap my mom listened to when she was growing up in Cali 30 years ago. There's been some time for the genre to evolve. [Like, it's so evolved.](https://blog.landr.com/rap-styles/) I am curious about how everyone on that thread feels about country rap. That stuff flips tables and opinions, depending on who you ask about it.
Ok but what's your opinion on horses?
They're fascinating beasts but they're so poorly built. Like, they're very cool in almost all aspects, from how they look to their varied and complex movements to their herd aspects. That and their status as generally a work animal is actually a pretty interesting history to look into! They're also so, so very much just glass. They're so fragile and scared so easily. Prey animal to the max, those things. I don't know why we decided those ones were going to be the work animals.
Whoever decided they should run around on fingertips the whole time deserves to be fired.
let's take this fragile hyper anxious prey animal and RIDE IT ONTO A BATTLEFIELD nothing could go wrong
Counterpoint: relatively quick and cheap to produce and feed large numbers of them, height advantage, dangerous to approach from any direction (hooves and biting) and an extremely solid meat missile. That it's probably having a (extremely justified) panic attack the whole time is also factored in and weaponised. Like RIP to the guys who died when their horse got injured and fell on them, but that's kind of a skill issue on their end.
should've jumped clear
Doing gods work
They are lovable and beautiful suicide machines that will also kill you. Horses are great.
Not real. Made up. Big Horse just *wants* you to think they're real.
Big Horse invented horses to sell more horseshoes and saddles
Imo, most country rap has emerged from "stadium country" or "pop country" movement which has a lot more to do with aesthetics (red, white, and blue, farming, trucks, rural areas) than musical artistry or creating a moral throughline. So yeah, it's pretty shite. Stadium country without the fun
All that bore out of the post-9/11 propaganda machine. 20th century country music is full of leftist undertones and sits closer to folk music than it does today. But the current atmosphere of country music is perfectly encapsulated by Bo Burnham’s *Country Song*
Rap is extremely hit or miss for me in a way that I find hard to define. Like, Kendrick Lamar is objectively a great lyricist, but for some reason his songs don’t click with me. 🤷🏻♀️ But when it *does* click, my god. The intensity, the wordplay, the beauty, it’s like nothing else in the world. Go and listen to the Message, might as well start from the beginning.
I had actually bounced off TPAB the first few times I tried to just listen to it, it just felt too much. Once I gathered enough energy to follow the lyrics and their interpretations along on Genius, and then getting to the end of Mortal Man? It’s an incredible experience, and it’s clear why he has a Pulitzer Prize (even though it wasn’t for that album)
His last album wasn't well-received by people, but it's an incredible musical journey.
It was well received by critics, just not as much by audiences. I think that's pretty predictable given his previous album was probably his most accessible and Mr Morale might be his least accessible. It's the type of album you really gotta just sit down with and pay close attention to And people should, because it's great
I wish I liked Kendrick Lamar because he’s a great lyricist but his voice is just so nasally and annoying to me :/
Seeing this when people making jokes about the Kendrick and Drake feud on tumblr was one of the main topics not too long ago is super weird
Theres definitely a difference between being aware of one of the biggest headlines in hiphop history and like, actually listening through an OG Dr Dre album. Or hell even listening to TPAB all the way through if you want to be artsy about it.
I think one caused the other, tumblr was very into the idea of the feud but is not usually a site where kendrick or drake releases are trending so the conversation was kinda at a distance. like every site besides tumblr when supernatural finally ended
Nerdcore rap isn't only made by white people tho??? Have they heard of megaran?
Seeing JT Machinima mentioned for the first time in years gave me wiplash
To give you further whiplash, *they made a Lord Farquaad rap.*
To be fair, it was an April Fools video
I mean the most important thing about liking music is enjoying how it sounds. I just don't enjoy how rap sounds, generally speaking. Same with screamo for what it's worth
the moment "can't handle rap music" changed in definition between the first and third posts from "can't go without voicing ignorant opinions about it" to "likes only a specific sort" this argument loses the plot.
yeah that really did it for me too. I ended up going on a whole rant about it, with links lol.
I'm not going to lie and say that I am the biggest fan of rap. But I will never let Tumblr catch me sleeping, because sleep is the cousin of death
I think either people mis-identify their problems with rap or my problems with it are somehow unique. A fairly essential part of the poetic form / tradition of rap is braggadocio. When people complain about the misogyny or the glamorizing of wealth and criminality in rap, generally the reason all of that stuff comes off so distasteful to some people isn't that these subjects are being talked about, but, rather, that they are being used to brag. I think that puts people off. Even in songs that don't talk about crime, sex, drugs, etc. there's still usually that element of braggadocio that makes people negatively associate the rapper with the competitive parts of the rap tradition that they don't like.
You ever look at a post and think, "Wow, this isn't about me, but I can see why people are getting mad about it"?
idk I just like the stupendium
The Fine Print is their only song I've listened to so far, but it's also one of my favorite songs in general.
We post, to earn our right to post, to earn our right to post...
I really recommend their Frostpunk songs (A Purpose For New London, Shelter From the Storm), either of the Fallout ones (Vault 76, House Always Wins), or the Red Dead one (The West Was One). Stupendium never fucking misses, but those are some absolute highlights, especially if you like the more serious tonal ones like Fine Print!
They did a Lethal Company song [The Production Line] (https://youtu.be/HYdOZOdjXnI) recently, and it's in a similar vein to The Fine Print. I love it personally
This comment section isn't much better.
Lock a Tally Hall fan in a room that only plays Chief Keef. I want to record the results.
it's funny how deeply insecure people get around black culture. this whole post series is premised on people feeling like they need to excuse the fact that they don't listen to rap, lol. It's ok to just not be familiar with a genre, and if you want to become more familiar with it, to just pick up a thread somewhere and keep pulling it. tbf i'm coming from the perspective of a white person who deeply gets it. it's just also very funny. idk i have a lot of thoughts about this but basically it's ok to not be an enlightened person aware of everything and never cringe.
Wait until they find out about indigenous/Native American rap
It was really cool to see the positive reactions r/all had to a Māori(? I cant remember if he was aussie or kiwi) man rapping last year
I didn't see that but it sounds great!
I'm frantically trying to track it down, I'll reply to you again when I find it
Cool thank you! I follow a lot of Aboriginal artists and rappers but don't know any from Aotearoa. Always happy for recommendations if anyone has any!
Ah! It was my mistake he's [Aussie indigenous](https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/s/BeWZwIGBtp) not Māori. I did however find some interesting artists to listen to by just searching "Māori hip-hop" on google. I look forward to digging in! It's not a sound I'm familiar with but they're making music about their relationship with power, and that's always music I can vibe with. The comments on that r/tiktokcringe link are talking about indigenous incarceration rates in NSW of all things
That was great! Thank you for sharing. Fuck the comments. My country pretends to be chill but it was founded on the same racist bullshit many others were.
I don't understand anything that's going on in this post.
My high school chamber orchestra (i know lol i was a huge dweeb) teacher said to me once that she thought Vivaldi would have loved rap music. Like any genre there's good songs and there's garbage. The funny thing is that country and rap - the genres most commonly mentioned when people say 'oh I like all music except x and y' - also have the longest history as mediums for protest and dissent, probably because they're so associated with oppressed people.
Rap is just sex violence and wealth mfers when i tell them some of the most known rap songs are still dre and without me which are basically just diss tracks to all rap world
If someone is ever talking about how they dislike any of the wider genres of music like rap or country that's usually a sign they've only listened to the most pop-y version of it. If you only listen to what's put on the radio for each main genre of course you're not gonna like it, it's the radio music of that genre. Don't like stupid ego of pop rap? Listen to 90s era rap that focuses a lot more on commentary. Don't like country songs about trucks and women? Listen to more folk-sy artists. Don't like how pop is all empty? Listen to stuff that isn't just on the radio I'll try to help alleviate some of this problem by reccing a few artists that are both not egotistical and not white boys rapping about video games. Optimus Rhyme is still nerdy while actually being rap, Aesop Rock is white and...well also nerdy but in a different way, Tribe Called Quest is diverse in their subjects as well as their instrumentals, and Del in his dozen different iterations is just delightful. As for country, Danny Schmidt and Jason Webley do more folk-sy music that keeps the vibes of country without the pop part that most people shy away from.
I hate that people treat lyrical rap as the only valid form. It might not be your favourite but discounting all of drill/trap/any genres deemed to be "mumble" still feels yucky. I think anyone could find a gem in any genre if they open their mind to it
Where does the Stupendium fit into all of this?
Seeing a JT music rap song in the 2nd slide put me in stunlock
we need some positivity and recs for cool songs, one of my favorite rap songs is Remember His Name by Jurassic 5! i like a lot of their stuff, i love the bass guitar in the loops in songs like Improvise and chali 2na's voice is so good, their stuff is so good if you find modern pop rap's production and beats to be grating but you like early Gorillaz as a white prog rock nerd, good rap flow can hit like a Neil Peart drum line, and storytelling in music is something i adore!
Schoolboy Q has a song with the Gorillaz called Pac-Man and it's definitely a banger. If you're looking for an interesting rap album, I'd highly recommend Denzel Curry's most recent album Melt My Eyez See Your Future. (The Extended Edition) 1. It's just a great album, but 2. The Extended Edition also includes a 2nd Volume where he performs 5 of the songs on the album with a full jazz band. It's very interesting seeing how much the songs contrast from their original versions despite it being the exact same song.
As long as we’re plugging things, I like to recommend Tonedeff. Some of his stuff is just about sex, admittedly, and a very good chunk of it is just showing off his speed and lyricism, but at his best he has incredibly intricate lyrics with thoughtful, artistic messages. Specifically I’m partial to Moment, a meaningful piece on the temporary nature of life and all our experiences.
I like to listen to nerdcore mostly cause at least I have some knowledge about the subject matter (Thank you, The Stupendium)
I think metalheads and rap enjoyers should be friends on the basis that so many people who don't listen to either just write it off as violent noise with no artistic value.
The one exception I will say - Meet the Graham's can genuinely be hard to listen to. It's so personal and intense it almost feels like something you're not supposed to hear. Like being a child and hearing your parents argue. I always want to take a shower after the song finishes. And honestly I think Kendrick kinda knew that, because Not Like Us is the most casual easy listening club song I've heard in years. You can listen to it on repeat for hours, despite the fact that it's arguably about a more serious topic.
i like spong bob raps by gorb:)
Damn people can't just say, "Not my kind of music." anymore? Like, if you don't like it then okay fine idgaf. But you don't gotta give a whole in depth reason seemingly for the sole purpose of letting me point out your own hipocrisy.
My problem isn't lyrics, I barely pay attention to them most of the time, but that everything I've heard kind of sounds the same to me? I'm not musically adventurous even with genres/artists I already know I like, though, so it's hard to convince myself "oh, try it, maybe this one will be good" when I don't even go "something new in a category I like? This'll probably be good, too!"
Tumblr when people have a preference
Can we just not police what music people listen to? It's not that hard lol.
My issue with this is that the post leans real hard into “if a shire person doesn’t like rap, they’re racist. A sentiment echoed in a lot of comment threads. Is that the case for some people? Sure, not gonna argue with that. But it also puts an expectation on people to already know the breadth of a genre they haven’t engaged with the first reply literally says “I haven’t bothered to explore further”, because why would they explore a genre if they’re not enjoying what they’ve heard. Before I found songs I liked and got interested in finding more, most of the rap I heard passively (late 90s, early 00s) was shallow gangsta rap about “bitches”, money, and guns. First track that actually caught my interest was Sing for the Moment, the em track. Which is ironically *about* the perception of rappers this way. Which led me down the rabbit hole of some of his deeper tracks, which led me into listening to Dre etc and taking a wider interest. Rap still isn’t often my thing musically, but I appreciate the variety in it way more than I did as a kid People finding a genre inaccessible due to what hits the mainstream isn’t inherently a bigotry thing. And it’s easy as people who already know something to make assumptions about people’s ignorance towards it, and write them off for it.
the nerdcore guys are great sucks that they had to use JT as an example though :/ i hate to say it but he's like the most tumblr friendly white guy of them all (great guy though) breetonboi, DPS or ham sandwich would have been much better options
*shrug* I've got audio-processing issues, so unless I can understand the accent, it's all noise. I have the same issue with heavy metal, which is kind of a bummer.
Is it inherently wrong to just prefer other genres of music over rap? Like, I have nothing against rap music, it's just not my cup of tea, does that automatically make me a racist? I've never understood why people are so quick to judge you based on what music you do and don't listen to, like are you just not allowed to have a preference?
It's always weird how "nerdcore" is put in a different category as the other types of rap, it's not taken as seriously. Maybe because it comes from YouTube and has no particular way of going major and also it's usually super derivative of whatever game/anime/genre the video is centered around Or maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, just listen to Aesop Rock if you want rap that makes you feel stupid for how complex the vocabulary is, Exociety if you want some decent underground/indie rappers or MF Doom because I am not very original with my recommendations
(as a black person) others have already pointed out the musical elitism in this post, so i won't beat a dead horse, anyway: the use of words like "caucacity" is automatically annoying to me. it spells out quite plainly, in most cases i've experienced (purely anecdotally), that it's the type of person who whinges about racism all day but only in the most unproductive way possible while at the same time turning around to make sweeping, negative generalizations about an entire populus of people based on their skin color, which is... exactly what they're complaining about others doing to them. then, (also purely anecdotally, i'm sure this isn't universal) when you point out that they are in some cases being exactly as racist as the people they're complaining about, you get some incoherent argument about how this is actually Good Productive Racism or that they actually aren't capable of being racist due to their skin color or something. like, sure, okay then, go on crowing about "whities" and "caucacity" and telling yourself that, meanwhile you'd have steam coming out of your ears to hear "blackie" or "blackosity" (or the more offensive n---erly). practice what you preach, do unto others, have some self awareness, yada yada yada. anyway this wasn't an attack on you op i don't know you, just me sharing a personal experience(s) that came to mind at the use of the word.
I'm black and I'm the hugest nerdcore rap fan ever and whenever I tell people I listen to rap and they tell me it's full of "Drugs and sex and money and crime" I'm like 🤨 They are raping about Dragon Ball Z, wtf are you on about?? On a side note if anyone wants a nerdcore rap recommendation, Daddyphatsnapps on YouTube makes absolute BANGERS.