Rap & Hip Hop fans: What do you think about Metal music?

Here is my opinion on Metal vs. Rap/Hip Hop First off let me start by saying that I am a Metal fan and not a Rap/Hip Hop fan. I do have respect for Rap and Hip Hop, particularly early Rap that was political and had real lyrical purpose. I imagine there are still some good underground Rap artists as you said, but Its just not my cup of tea.

The same thing can be said for Metal actually, I don't really like most mainstream Metal bands that much. Now as far as comparing the complexity of their song writing that really isn't a fair comparison since it is in fact two different styles. Lyrically they can be equally good, depending on the band, but have different styles.

Rapping seems to be more reliant on rhyming and keeping with a beat, which is hard to do and can be very poetic at times. In Metal sometimes the lyrics rhyme and sometimes they don't, but either way it is hard to get either type of lyric to flow with the music, both Metal and Rap do tend to give more thought to their lyrics compared to most other genres. However close they are in their ability to write thoughtful lyrics, you can't really argue that the music writing process is the same.

Metal is going to win in musical writing ability and their level of skill at playing instruments every time. It doesn't mean Metal is better than Rap/Hip Hop that is a matter of taste, but it does mean it takes more skill instrumentally. Though I have seen Rap/Hip Hop artists that have incorporated bass, guitar and/or percussion in their songs, most of the time the music seems to be done by machines.

Even when they do use instruments in their music you can't really say they are as proficient with them as technical death bands or progressive metal bands that use complex time signatures and often have years of experience and musical theory under their belt. There is also some bit of cultural difference to these genres as well that may effect how much someone likes one or the other. Somebody who grew up in the suburbs isn't going to relate very well to a Rap song about growing up in the ghetto, just as much as someone who's ancestry is from Africa probably isn't going to relate to a Metal song about Viking Mythology as much as someone with European ancestry.

Not trying to make it a race issue, but you have to admit that cultural backgrounds do probably play a small role too. Pete G - Once again I'm not trying to make it a race issue, it just so happens that different races do often times have different cultural backgrounds. It could just as easily be two of the same race(one growing up in the ghetto and liking Rap, the other growing up in the suburbs and liking Rock or Country) I'm sure there even exceptions to the cultural idea, like someone growing up in the country but liking Hip Hop, but I think culture does play a little bit of a role for a lot of people.

Well, I think modern music has all pretty much gone to sh!t. I think the music industry has definitely ripped at the seams; rarely any great music on radios anymore. IMHO, you actually seem more R&HH-biased to me, but glad to see some people appreciating two different ends of the musical spectrum.

I *love* metal, and I actually like a little bit of Rap & Hip-hop myself: namely early Black Eyed Peas, some Cypress Hill, and a bit of Beastie Boys. And that's about it. But hey, it's something, right?

But I do troll my friend sometimes on how he really likes that music, but it's just for both of our laughs. I am slightly annoyed by the fact rap artists tend to sample from others, but I've heard people like the Beastie Boys make their own music, so I don't think the genre's ALL bad, but I still only stick to the old stuff.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.