Hehe hehe, that's another view. :P

Yeah...there was this rap group on TV last night and there's this one guy standing behind this massive console. He's moving his hands real fast like Art Tatum and this instrument he's playing is incredible...it sounds like somebody is scratching vinyl records with a needle! Then the camera does a close-up and I realize: he IS scratching vinyl records with a needle!

NO freaking way.... :P

Some rap is shit, people can be like "only underground rap kicks ass" but there is a lot of shitty stuff out there. most rap you hear on the radio is good for clubs and shit but then you have your good underground like aesop and kastone and shit and whatever, I like some, some I dont, just like any other genre.

Rhythm can be just as complicated and inspired as melodies. There are entire percussion scores that last as long as 5 minutes and more. Rhythm can get as complex as polyphony.

And quite honestly, I don't know if Mozart would have done too well at making beats.

Maybe before we ask, is rap music, we should decide what music is. We gave it a shot here: What is Music?

Rap is its own style and has its own charms. There are some people who are incredibly talented and many, I will admit, who aren't. It's true in any style in any form.

There is a lot of negativity in rap music, but that certainly doesn't apply to all of it. I would say that there is as much to hate in the lyrics and 'vibe' of rap as in many other styles too. Look at pop lyrics. They are more often about sex than not. These days, they rarely suggest 'love' in the pure sense Rev mentioned. More often it is about getting laid or the singers having boys running after them.

Now that I think about it, I think the 'musical' nature of pop music is more questionable than that of rap.

That's hilarious, alg...

Well, Wolfgang may have had a little trouble break-dancing, Papa, but I'm pretty sure he could operate that turntable and scratch the hell outa those vinyl records. And yes, I guess Gershwin and Richard Rodgers and Burt Baccarach and all those cats wasted alot of time tickling the ivories when they could/ve been banging pots against their heads and making REAL music....but then where would your fellas get all those samples?

I'm recording track 3 of "Pot Medley" as we speak. I'll need your help to mix it Papa.

Listen to Aesop Rock algernon. If you want me to give you a couple albums just PM me.

I ask very seriously, have you ever made any music yourself?

I go to a music school and know plenty of composers who are learning to compose 'classically'. It is demanding and requires a talent, but those people won't pretend that that talent can translate to every musical style that exists.

Many composers today stick to one style, rarely straying. That is because they are suited to that style and will stick to it. Just like you don't see many rock bands going into electronica, rap or opera. Different styles have different demands and being proficient in one in no way implies proficiency in another.

Mozart was a genius, he was a great composer and took music to a great place. But he composed music in a way he knew how to and he kicked ass at it. Like I said before, I'm not so sure that he'd have kicked so much ass on a turntable.

Some of 'my fellas' (I don't know where you got that from) can make those samples for themselves actually. But I said it before. There are always crappy 'musicians' out there. At the same time there are handfuls of gems to be found too.

Banging pots can be music if you want it to. Nobody is saying Mozart isn't music, but if they wanted to, who are we to stop them?

Music is a perception and anyone can choose to interpret it as they desire.

eh?
what's this?