Can you understand the appeal of every genre?

What a hard question to answer.

Probably. I don't like drone music at all, but it would probably work great in a horror film.

Yeah I can't understand screamo, although I do like Enter Shikari and Bullet For My Valentine it's bands like Bring Me The Horizon I can't stand, all I hear is a load of screaming that I don't understand.

Rap is not a genre

Hip-hop can indeed have brilliant vocals, but I think that the music can add a depth to the lyrics that you can't get through poetry. In the more mainstream tunes, the music is rather vestigial. In the better songs, though, the music not only carries the vocals, but adds a new depth to the song. I think in particular it creates the environment in which the lyrics are meant to be heard. Bands like Public Enemy, for example, can put together a nearly industrial-sounding tapestry and paint an urban environment (which does tend to be the image that most hip-hop groups strive for). It doesn't have to be a single environment. The music can set up more than the location. The time of day, mood, crowd or lack thereof, among other things. That's how I enjoy it, anyways.

quote FortePenance

You mentioned hip-hop as a music genre so why point out the superfluous lyrics in Jay Z's song?

I kinda assumed that he was a hip-hop artist and stuff. I'm not quite sure where you even going with this. If you are implying that I should look at less mainstream artist in the genre, I have. Apart from vocal delivery (or some shit about flow) and improved usage of dictionary I do not feel any more engaged by them.

quote FortePenance

I can't exactly see a repetitive nature as a flaw in the music either. Couldn't you say the same for minimalism, drone or certain subgenres of electronic music then?

In such musical genres repetition plays a role, in drone it is used to induce the atmosphere and create and almost hypnotic effect in the listener. In minimalistic and electronic music the gradual addition to the sampled sections causes the advance in the song itself. In both cases the songs changes although in something like drone it is a very gradual. In hip-hop I see virtually no progression, that does not grab my attention. Like Shao Dar pointed out, the music is there to create an environment for the vocals. In most cases (not all) it feels tacked on, an afterthought which is simply there to get the rhymes out. I'm forced to look further into cross genre collaborations to find something enjoyable.

Repetition is not always a bad thing, and as the point of the thread is to discuss whether you can understand it. I particularity do not see how anyone can find an appeal in such stagnant element in hip-hop music.

The only reason why I can see hip-hop appealing to some people, is the culture it is based on. But then again, I fail to see any relevance it has to my life. The general themes simply do not provide anything though provoking. Maybe the genre had something to say back in the 80's but at this moment in time, 30 years after its exposure to mainstream media, it is running out of ideas.

I was talking to Phil on the MSNs just now, really intellectual debate btw. And I realised that the whole discussion is pretty pointless, as you can just as easily say:

"Yes. I can understand that people can like any sort of music, because different people like different things"

Let the wallowing in our carefully planned posts with "IMOs" in them commence.

Maybe you should give The Streets a try Icedevil. It might still not appeal to you, but Mike Skinner lyrics are awesome. Out of any genre his lyrics most constantly make an emotional connection and leave me with a tear in my eye.

quote Icedevil

I can see the appeal of pretty much every musical genre, they all have their own merits... except rap.

of course not, white devil