I am so unhip.
I'm almost completely ignorant of modern pop music, and especially of rap and hip-hop. I've been trying to pay attention to the iTunes Music Store top downloads recently; they're a way for me to feel a little more in touch. And you know, I really like some of this music.
I downloaded "Hey Ya!" by Outkast a few weeks ago. I like the song. A lot. Last week I downloaded "Hey Mama" by The Black Eyed Peas. Whatddya know? I like that song, too. Maybe I should listen to more rap.
I am so unhip.
Mostly, rap seems like only so much noise to me. Still, I know there are rap songs that I like. Here is a list of the rap albums I've bought in my lifetime:
Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
I am so unhip.
I was listening to "Hey Mama" yesterday. Tony came in, excited (and surprised) that I was listening to The Black Eyed Peas. (Tony's still very much into pop music even though he's over thirty and has two kids. (These two facts, to me, are indicators that a person might not be into pop any more.))
"I was going to buy this album today," he said. He seemed amused that I like the song.
Today Tony told me that he bought The Black Eyed Peas and No Doubt: The Singles 1992-2003 yesterday.
"What's on the No Doubt?" I ask. "Three songs?"
He glares at me. "No way, man," he says. "That disc is awesome. Just listen to it." He puts it into the CD player. He plays snippets of each song.
"You know more than just three songs," he says.
"Not really," I say. "Wait — I know this song. It's a cover of an 80s synthpop song. I know four songs."
Tony shakes his head at me.
I am so unhip.
While Tony's occupied, I go root through his car for The Black Eyed Peas. When I find it, I take it to my office and blast it so that it fills the entire trailer with rap. Or is it hip-hop?
"Are the Black Eyed Peas rap or hip-hop?" I ask Tony.
"Rap," he says without hesitation.
"How can you tell the difference?" I ask.
I am so unhip.
Tony can't explain the difference. "Go ask Nick," he says. That's a little joke. Nick is even more unhip than I am. I ask him anyhow. His answer is a bunch of jarble.
I go back to my office and listen to The Black Eyed Peas. I really like the disc.
As I'm listening to "Shut Up", my favorite song on the album, Nick comes in with a printout from Yahoo! It's a Q&A explaining the difference between rap and hip-hop. "It's not a very good explanation," he says. He goes to google for another explanation. He returns with this one. Neither answer is satisfactory. Later, I look up the differences in the wikipedia (rap, hip-hop), but am only slightly less confused.
It's not fair to say that I dislike rap music. I don't dislike it anymore than, say, country music. But, as with country music, my tastes are very specific. I mostly like certain folk-sounding female country musicians: Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Alison Krauss, Dolly Parton, etc. Similarly, I mostly like more melodic, less in-your-face rap/hip-hop: Lauryn Hill, The Black Eyed Peas, TLC (do they count?), etc.
As I'm writing this entry, listening to The Black Eyed Peas, song #8 comes on: "Sexy". I'm shocked to hear the opening bars of "How Insenstive", a pop standard (MIDI file), lilting over the rap beat. It's stuff like this that wins me over to any kind of music: tacit acknowledgment of the music's roots. All modern music owes a debt to that which has come before, but that's a subject for another day.
I am so unhip.
On this day at foldedspace.org
2005 — Real CSI In which I tell tales from Kris' life instead of my own.
'No Doubt: The Singles 1992-2003' is one of my favorite CDs as well.
Hmm...perhaps you're not unhip, perhaps you are just out of date.