Re: [ARSCLIST] the origin of scratchin'

["Steven C. Barr(x)" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James L Wolf" <jwol@xxxxxxx>
<snip>
> You clearly have a personal axe to grind on this issue. To be fair, so
> do I. Even thirty years down the road, hip-hop is not afforded much
> respect from the gate-keepers of "serious" music. I've lost count of the
> number of times I've heard it dismissed by classical scholars and the
> like as "noise" or some other equivilant of the "jungle music" epithet
> jazz got thrown at it in the twenties. Even on this list, some people
> feel it is unseemly for the Library of Congress to include hip-hop
> records on its National Recording Registry. I leave it to others to
> figure out why there might such prejudice against this uniquely American
> art form.
> 
Several reasons...

1) "Sturgeon's Law" states "99% of ANYTHING is s**t...!" Sadly, popularity
is NOT an accurate reflection of musical quality (otherwise, why would
Fabian ever have existed...?)...but, nevertheless, the vast majority of
rap/hip-hop music heard on radio or other easily-accessible media falls
under the "99%" of Sturgeon's Law...?!

2) Musically, virtually ALL "urban dance" is nothing more than badly-
"played" versions of early-sixties "funk/soul" music.

3) Lyrically (i.e. the spoken content), most of the material is repetitive,
often blatantly sex-related, braggadocio...and the vast majority repeats
that theme endlessly! Yes...the content may have applicability in Black
"ghettos"...but as to the rest of the world...?!

In decades of listening to "pop music," I have so far only heard one
single "rap" performance which had worthwhile (quite humourous,
in fact...!) "lyrics!"...this was about 20 years ago...the band was "A
Tribe Called Quest," and the title was "I Left My Wallet In El Segundo"...!

Just like much early blues was predictable and repetitive (note that I
say that as a blues fan, blues musician, and blues songwriter...!)...all
too much of to-day's rap/hip-hop is an unending recital of the artist's
sexual prowess...spoken over a computerized attempt at "soul rhythm!"

Steven C. Barr