Hey, lighten up already! I don't really hate hip hop

[leftofthedial]

But I am now launching a new product:

A self-help DVD entitled "Sarcasm for Dummies."

Although I do think that like disco, taken in its entirety as a cultural phenomenon, hip hop is more about lifestyle than it is about music.

The rapping component does lend itself to politically aware commentary in a way that many other genres do not. Personally, I find the musical and rhythmic component to be repetitive, derivative and constricting. (Pretty much the same way I feel about country music.) As with anything else, there are exceptions to every rule.

I produced a show a couple of weeks ago that featured four hip hop acts. The performances ranged from stellar--moving, profound, passionate and articulate--to trivial, banal, insulting and pornographic. Kind of like a typical day in The Lounge. LOL!

[bridgit]

1. you're going to make a bundle off the lounge...

:rofl:

[leftofthedial]

11. leftofthedialCO presents . . .

The Sarcasm-o-Matic!

It slices, it dices, it gets people you never heard of to post angry renunciations!

And *this* easy, it even does floors!

[LynneSin]

2. Rule #1 for "Sarcasm for Dummies"

:sarcasm:

:eyes:

Either one pretty much gets your point across although the :eyes: are a bit more subtle if you don't want to slap people across the face saying "HEY THIS IS A SARCASTIC POST"

[leftofthedial]

6. I thought it was only country music fans you had to hit up-side the head

with a 2X4

but I guess it's true of hip-hop fans too.

[LynneSin]

8. who said I was a hip-hop fan

I appreciate some of the music and artists in the field but of my collection of almost 1000 Records & CDs maybe 2% of it is Rap/Hip-Hop related

[leftofthedial]

12. Sorry, I didn't mean you in particular

I just meant the overall tenor of the hip-hop defenders showed a remarkable lack of a sense of humor . . .

What percentage of your collection is country, do you suppose?

[LynneSin]

13. I own a few Johnny Cash & Patsy Cline records

But then again I believe that their genre is a world of difference from the Country Music played in heavy rotation on the radios today

[Bridget Burke]

14. Johnny Cash & Patsy Cline belong to the "Country" genre....

But belong to very different "sub-genres." Johnny Cash started out Rockabilly & showed lots of Folk influence later in his career. His last recordings were produced by country outsiders since he did NOT fit into the Commercial Country Mode of the day.

Patsy Cline's records fit into the much-derided "Countrypolitan" style. Which proves that any genre might have a few excellent practitioners.

Traditionally--& currently--Nashville country is not meant for dancing. The hard-core Protestant traditions often did not hold with "belly rubbing." (Square dancing or clog dancing was sometimes OK.) Much of the tradition has been jettisoned, but the lead-footedness has not. Occasionally, audiences will "clap along" with Bluegrass (another sub-genre)--but they usually clap off-tempo.

I LOVE Emmylou Harris. But--listening to a CD anthology of her mid-period recordings--I had to give up. The loping tempo was, indeed, monotonous. In an interview, I heard her say "I don't dance" & lights went off in my brain.

Western Swing & Honky Tonk were dance music. These forms developed in Texas & Oklahoma--& moved to California. Rhythms are a bit more interesting--especially in Western Swing. Blues & Jazz were strong influences.

There's lots of good Country music but NONE of it will be heard on Commercial Country radio.

[leftofthedial]

17. contemporary country has had an era of truly un-country

but I think some vestiges of "real" country are finding their way back in to the mix.

Generally, you have to get out of the Nashville mainstream to find country music, whether old school or a newer take in the traditional vein.

[LeftyMom]

16. Sometimes that doesn't even make it clear to some people.

Sadly some people are really deeply humor-impaired and there's not much that can be done for them.

[Heidi]

3. When you're finished patting yourself on the back,

learn to use the :sarcasm: smilie. (LOL!)

[hfojvt]

4. maybe there need to be two self help DVDs

One on how and when to properly deliver sarcasm
and another on how to understand it. :evilgrin:

[Heidi]

5. .

LOL. :eyes:

[leftofthedial]

10. hey pal!

I got your sarcasm delivery right here!

*grabs his crotch exactly like a hip-hop "artist"*

[leftofthedial]

7. How can I pat myself on the back?

when I'm busy scratching my unmentionables?

I hate that smilie thing, but I guess some people need a laugh track to know what's funny.

[bridgit]

9. i don't hate it either, i just think it's dumb-ass...

[leftofthedial]

19. well, there's that

all too often

[jpgray]

15. There is also some great disco

Anyone who dismisses wholesale a genre of music needs to soak his or her head in a bucket of ice-water. Say you don't like it, yeah, but don't try to argue it isn't music unless you are prepared to deal with a lot of pissed off people.

[leftofthedial]

18. I like a little bit of both hip hop and disco

probably slightly more hip hop than I do (did) disco

But I still say that hip hop and disco, writ large, are more about lifestyle than they are about music.

That's not dismissive. "Lifestyle" is not perjorative.