Why is mainstream so bad?

D-40

D-40

Active member
I don't understand why everybody on this site is so opposed to mainstream rap. i understand that some people are rapping about ice and cars and shit ok thats just some of mainstream. the beats are way better and a lot of writers have some sick lyrics

i just dont know what you look for in the lyrics because if you are listening to underground, it sure as hell is not for the beat. i dont really know where im going with this i just want to hear the reason you are so opposed to mainstream and kinda on the undergrounds nuts.

 
its ok as long as u listen to some non main stream

_______________________________________

Fuck off signature

Representin the 518

LINE KICKS ASS
 
there are about 10 threads about this

and mainstream isn't bad to 99 percent of the people in the world

hot beats, catchy hooks = $

"Win or lose, we booze."

Underground Hip Hop Cult

PM to be invited
 
i listen to alot of undeground shit, and i think mainstream is just to complicated. its all money bitches whoes, shootin niggas and crack. underground is more about the music. mainstream is all gangsta gangsta and shit, undeground is about what life is like now, not was life was like. you know? 50's spittin shit about how hes all ghetto and all, when he lives in a fuckin mantion (sp?) underground lyricists are actually livin the life they rap about, its more personal.

 
^haha you sorta contradicted yourself..mainstream is not complicated at ALL

"Win or lose, we booze."

Underground Hip Hop Cult

PM to be invited
 
the threads i see are mainstream sucks and whose the worst rapper. i am wondering why they think this because i odnt understand it. i probably just didnt make myself clear b ecaue right now i listen to as much mainstream as underground. i dont get why people think its so abd and i just wnat to know why people think taht

 
well, when you get into pay checks, piracy, the many other businesses mainstream rappers have (record, alcohol, clothing, producing, food, etc.), stocks, and such...i wont get into it more, but you get the idea

 
two words, immortal technique.. thats why non mainstream is better, downlaod some

welcome to the den of filth....

we ride only 9ths in the J squared
 
i think dave chappelle has alot to do with talib and all. he had alot of good people on his shows. its all about exposure

 
it's not all about exposure - it's all about marketing and who's image you can sell. 50cent has a past, a unique look, and an easy marketing image. Eminem signed him cause he knew they could make money together. Gangsta sells, intelligence doesn't. "truth be told, if skills sold, lyrically i'd be talib kweli" - jay z

take the time to read these lyrics and find this song: blackalicious, "shallow days"

Time and time, a brother asks why

The rhyme is not laced with a gangsta touch

I said "Simply because I don't live that way

Still kickin' them rhymes rugged and rough"

"But that won't sell,

cause you gotta keep it real

so that we can feel

where you're coming from

Because these streets is ill so if you ain't

killing niggas in rhymes

your whole sound's just bubble gum"

I said "I won't contribute to genocide;

I'd rather try to cultivate the inner side

and try to evolve the frustrated ghetto mind

The devil and his army never been a friend of mine"

"But niggas don't wanna hear that shit" said the brother

Who was obviously totally misled and yelled out

"murder murder, kill, murder" instilled in the influential (walks ?)

Of our kids' heads

Shallow days, you never wanna

Let a brother be a brother

Fully inner to the outer

Caught up in all them hollow nights

Can't escape cause everywhere that I look

People front, and it just ain't right

[repeat]

I said "Don't you know the powers that be

are using people as pawns, devouring we

until they see us all gone and outta the scene"

And as I passed the chronic, he said "look at where I be,

I tried to get a job for real,

but all the homies (hit licks?) and rob and steal

and keep fat pockets caught in a rut to catch ground

this way's in, plus who could you trust?"

I said "I'm all about protecting mine,

but neglecting minds for getting left behind.

Why don't you change your environment?"

He said "This is all I know,

plus my fam's all that I got, I can't go"

I said "You gotta make it for the fams"

"Damn," he said "I didn't make the ghetto,

The ghetto made the man"

I said "You're more than just that,"

Shook his hand, said "Damn, you gotta find a way

To break the devil's master plan, peace"

Shallow days, you never wanna

Let a brother be a brother

Fully inner to the outer

Caught up in all them hollow nights

Can't escape cause everywhere that I look

People front, and it just ain't right

[repeat]

The word "peace" is just an expression

Used to say bye when it's time to jet

And them red black and green medallions

Was all just part of the trend, I guess

Hardly ever them around brothers' necks no more

Instead of that gold (gats ?)

Inspiring gangstas and macks

Who at the young age of four

Be seeing more drama than war veterans

Instead of learning God's laws

And hip-hop is ((all the ways ?) till we enlist that ??)

To express how we be feeling about this and that

But music does reflect life

And kids look up to what you're portraying

And mimic what you act like

It's time for a new day

An era in rap, conscious styles,

Makin' them aware of the happenings

But their ears seem more steered towards

Self-annihilation so then they might laugh

And write this off, like I'm out here just

Blowing wind, maybe label us soft or unreal,

Something they just can't feel, while they yell

"murder murder murder, kill kill kill"

a bad day'll make you really notice ones this good and that'll make things a little better understood - blackalicious
 
what good is an image, or a past, if you dont get any exposure. thats why there is underground and mainstream. the different levels of exposure.

 
word i love krs.... blackalicious ,,, nia so dope

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

"aj's booty is pretty crunk... wait, shit, i mean booter... ajit's BOOTER is pretty crunked... yeah. yeah, that's it..."-teddy

"In school i did cool always go them grades but i acted real bad so the teacher said what you gonna do boy u gotta go get paid, man ill be rhymin' doing my own thang" - Zion I

THE LAB

rootbeer in yo fridge son!
 
i dont really like mainstream...i think mostly because its really annoying seeing 12 year old girls singing something like "i'll take you to the candy shop" or some over played rap song like Nelly or whatever. it just sucks. plus its no fun to hear the same song 3904890480 times.

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high north session 3!!
 
Is as easy as this mainsream rap is so dumb becuz the majority of the public is that dumb!! To sell cds in mass quantities u must keep it at their level stupid people = stupid lyrics. Intelligent lyrics= intelligent ppl= very few = underground!

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Skiing isn't a matter of life and death. It's much more important than that!'

I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just gonna ask where they're going and hook up with 'em later"

 
mainstream is bad because artistic creativity and freedom is sacrificed in order to be marketable and appeal to a wider audience.

____________________

-Laura McIsaac

Skiing is the single most extreme form of motion attainable by a human being.
 
^bingo... major rap labels won't sign people who are original and creative... becuase the mass population doesn't want that. SO the labels will only sign people will make them money and therefore the only ones that get videos are the ones who rap about something everyone can relate to.

 
i agree...except i don;t think most people can relate to big escalades..."bling"...and being pimps.

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high north session 3!!
 
yah by relate to i mean, everyone will know the song and the catchy chorus so its easy to dance to.

 
well said.

a bad day'll make you really notice ones this good and that'll make things a little better understood - blackalicious
 
wrong - it's not about exposure. It's about marketing and what sells. Exposure occurs because companies decide to back artists and market their music. The main difference between mainstream and underground is not levels of exposure, but levels of marketability, image, and the contents of their work.

a bad day'll make you really notice ones this good and that'll make things a little better understood - blackalicious
 
well all the music on the radio sucks and most everybdoy agrees with that. its just that it seems like most people on this site wont even listen to a mcs cds just because they heard a song on the radio. i listened to the hood hop album by j quan (sp?) and there was like 3-4 tracks that lyrically are quite simaller to the underground. and most of the mainstream mcs are like this. they make a few tracks about bullshit that will get radio play and then a few songs that mean something too them. i dont know it just seems that people base a whole mcs career by the radio and that isnt right.

 
mainstream rap just sucks overall. everyone who likes mainstream always talks about how wonderful the lyrics are, but who friggen care...you can't understand them anyways...and if you are a big enough douche bag to study the lyrics so that you understand them, than you need to slap yourself

Save the whales
 
Were Famous By Aesop Rock ft. El-P

El-P]

I brought that genuine shit in '96

Before you knew the underground or independent existed

I watched the whole scene straight jump on the dick

After stepping to KCR lit and flexing my shit

No gun talk, no gimmicks, just rounds of raw-dogging

Dirty dusty intelligent wit and word murdering

A hardcore poetic informed without burglary

Potent and shook the shit out of rappers who just learned of me

Everytime I prescribe a new pill, revolution

Quickly defined the standard for indie rap distribution

Arrogant unafraid shit developed riding a train thinking of brain fucks

"Bad Touch Example" that soon became bucks

Had everybody sprung wondering where I came from

Screaming out "Independent as fuck" with an insane tongue

With an indelible squad of design monsters

Innovating the styles that made biters look like imposters

So we scripted an album and signed to Rawkus

Selling a hundred thousand without a radio chart hit

Imposterous son is taking the world hostage

Classic hip-hop bombage dirty with style progress

Now I've come from the '80s juvenile Brooklyn

Where cats was like: "Gimme that subway pass, kid. Good lookin."

Now someone else is taking a ride with what's mine

So I had to develop styles with a death device cooked in

So when I battled in basements I had eight sentences

Waiting ready for the four you had laced in

And I was taught to wait patient (Why?)

Only faggots make shit up just to get famous

So when I finally blew up I remained sick

Earning respect in ghettos and 'burbs for word placement

Back when the independent scene remained faceless

We were the only crew who promised your ass we'd take it

Mold it, shape it, living outside the matrix

Hold it, make it, more than miniature major labels

Hold it sacred, living it for the culture

Told ya plainly, protected it from the vultures

That's why I always get respect from true soldiers

That laugh at the critics claiming every year: "Hip hop's over."

FUCK YOU, hip hop just started

It's funny how the most nostalgic cats are the ones who were never part of it

But true veterans'll give dap to those who started it

Then humbly move the fuck on and come with that new retarded shit

New slang, new thought, new sound, new heart, you thought you hang

You clown, you don't, you drown

I won't dumb it down, I'm dumbing now for these rounds

I'm a live mothefucker plus I'm gunning for clowns

You're a mime motherfucker, don't be coming for pounds

Till you can break out of that invisible box, you're not down

My favorite ones are the ones who started out young rappin about

Comic books, spaceships, and Omnicron 1

And even though they were soft they had fun

But they couldn't break out the frame of the town they came from

Some of these faggots used to send me their demos

Keeping their puppy styles in the Company Flow kennels

But since they had no identity from the start

They started to resent the scene when they couldn't become a part

They've been failing for years and call themselves Vets, that's bold

Motherfucker, you're not a Vet you're just old

I'll slap the shit out you to continue my nerd rap

Making this money fist over fist, fuck what you heard

Rookie cats talk about boom bap and golden ages

Pat themselves on the back for making that new outdated shit

But i've been putting out vinyl since '93 and never looked back once

At ya'll trying to chase me

You don't innovate because you can't innovate

It's not a choice despite what you might tell your boys

Keep your identity crisis under the table

I always knew who I was and I'll always be more famous

[Aesop Rock]

Check it

For the best in the bendor biz

1-800-Lazerface

Leave the last CE-Off for crabs and bobbin hatorade

Dig it, daddy dug his own tunnel under the gutters where the numbers bleed

Hunters froze up and exposed Rapunzel weeds

Tugboat, tug a rut out brutal dirt first

The fuedals fuming oodles, it was right under your poodle skirt

Welcome to Bazooka Works, halogen halo eyesore

The revolution will not be apologized for

Warbucks exlex megaphone on the fashion piggy pageant

While my dick's raw-dogg in a style magnet

Fraggle rock your four figure watch

I clock ninety-nine cent wristbands

And still know the time when you record flops

And this is on a sick with it factor

Exhibit A, E, S, Genesis of the klepto reactor

Wanna burgle the buzz over definitive cast

After a life of labor camps starts paying innovaters back

Baby, you ain't felt the collect? (Coooool)

Stuck running bases with little bears under the wing of punchdrunk butter makers

That engine sputters while the hound dogs wire cutter mechnical rabbit bantomweight puppies ain't rabid enough to snatch him

Poplock dynamos, is approached with a golden focal point

Come soak in it, resume sturdy composer soldier bliss

Wrong name by a molar can often expose your phobias

Watch a cobra grow hands to hold his own tongue when he notices

All city legity critter, bark with me

All filthy documents, cats piss on their kittie litter moccasins

Welcome to mi casa, Monsters Inc, dropping bangers out the rocket ships

Your own private apocalypse

[El-P]

Honor it

[Aesop Rock]

For fuck's sake

[El-P]

Original

[Aesop Rock]

Wild fly

You wanna read the nile, I twitch easy reader

[El-P]

Father it

[Aesop Rock]

I will, dog

[El-P]

Original

[Aesop Rock]

Wide open with banged out cutlery from a slang mouth teacher

And money is an ugly god we all fall for

I got land mammal, cannibal, natural survival squackbox

That means when I wake up and decide to comprise the new shit

It's not some watered down version of what my favorite crews did

Puff the magic komodo bitch

Rappers stuffed komonos and shark fame at a perfect working unit

Look, I'm done

B-boy, feed that to the needy

Shut your liquor hole, fuck you in 3D

Easy

that pretty much sums up the underground shit

__________________

put on whatever makes you attractive

if it's not you then do it for the sake of fashion

your friends like a certain you

that's who you've got to be
 
youre not getting the point, ok, so i have an awsome body, im all gangsta with pimp juice all over and shit. so that right there should make me a superstar. how am i gonna get known and establish a following, if i dont get any exposure (magazines, photos, videos, radio shows, tv show...) you could be the hottest person out there but no one will know who you are (hense, underground) since you dont get yourself out there and all over the media waves.

 
i used to listen to mainstream, but i rarely do anymore because they're just isn't any soul to it. all of these guys just care about money, you don't get any sort of genuine feeling from they're songs. it's purely a money grab and i just can't respect that, plus they all sound the same now. nearly every mainstream cd is the exact same thing, there's no variety. it's also pretty hard to relate to the lyrics cus i don't have a mansion, gold fronts, and 20 hos a day.

 
i like mainstream rap its ok with me but wat i cant stand is the rap thats played on mtv and the radio 10 times in an hour that stuff i dont listen to

"100 % columbian, ladies and gentlemen, disco shit"

go to www.freeheellife.com

johnny likes skinny girls but never turns down a fatty

zig zag filled with the diggity dank green as a bull frog sticky as glue aint gonna stop till the bag is through

belong to a political party called the burnt thumbs
 
i dont like how this censorship shit is, if you use any curse words in songs, so they bleep it out. but theres nothing that says you cant be descriptive. Alot of rap songs that are played on the radio are all about sex. there could be a song (and there are songs like this) that basically describe how to have sex, and use very descriptive sexual terms. The censors dont give a shit about that stuff. but the second some one says "fuck" its like the end of the world.

i have noticed over the years that "bitch" and "ass" are somewhat ok now...and on late night TV you can give the middle finger to someone and they wont blur it out.

 
i listen to rap with lyrics that express feeling, have some meaning to them, and also shit i can relate to. Atmosphere is no longer underground like it used to be a long way back, but i still listen to it because the lyrics are more about shit i can relate to. so yeah i want good beats and meaningful lyrics,

=======================

don't take me for a joke, i'm no comedian. too many mental problems got me snortin' coke and smokin' weed again.
 
See i really like both aspects of rap. if im at a party or a club, some of the mainstream stuff like 50 or the game is much better music for dancing to. i acknowledge that the lyrics are not as creative as many underground rappers but at the time thats not why im listening to them. when i want really good rap or hip hop with some good meaing ill listen to Zion I or mos def or talib. these rappers people would agree are not the best songs for dancing to but are much better overall.

i really wish people would take in the dance aspect before they say mainstream rap sucks. maybe creativley its not as good but it still provides the songs that get the girls bumping and we all like that

I seek the means... to fight injustice. To turn fear... against those who prey on the fearful.
 
oh yeah i agree with that., the mainstream stuff is awesome when you're at clubs or parties cus it has so much energy and you're too drunk to care what they're talking about. when it comes to just hanging out listening to music i'm not into it tho.

 
very good, but he is getting there. i mean, he is on tour with NOS or whatever they are called. they suck ass. and he sings about gangster and shit (maybe not so much doing drugs themselves, and not alot about bitches, unless it is used to proove a point). but the gangster shit is mostly used as metaphres.

__
the next time your about to make a racial slur stop, think about all the delicious foods that come from his or her country and channel your energy towards the purchase of your next international delight.

-guttermouth

 
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