"Rapper's are NOT musicians"

[ill-matic]

"Rapper's are not musicians"

I, personally, am not that much of a hip hop head to shed my own opinion before this discussion begins because i'm not 'educated' enough. I was hoping that you fellow Heads could argue this; for and against, so I, and others like me can look at the different opinions to make our own.

So what do YOU think? Are rapper's musicians, or are they just some people who rhyme to a beat? Can they be labelled as musicians when those such as Mozart, Beethoven etc are musicians?

Opinions?

 

[Hankaveli]

Rappers=Artists

I personally would not call Britney Spears a "musician" she is a Singer, or I guess "recording Artist"

however I will say RAP or Hip hop dose have Musicians, The producers and such.

 

[The.Menace]

Yeah SOme Rappers definatley aren't musicians - if I listen to the new rap, like GUnit, I don't feel the "music", jsut loud beats and shit. Rap songs like many Pac songs (esp. Og's) got a piano and stuff in the background, a female singer etc and it sounds like music in fact.

 

[2PAC4LIFE2006]

i guess most rappers are most musicians where there is a paino or something is played in the backround, tupac is 4 sure 1 of them, not lil john who is like " what, ok, yeah!" and metal artist that just scream and u can't understand a word they say, but they do have some insturmnets. rap= music, no matter what anyone fucking thinks

 

[Pittsey]

2pac wasn't a musician. What?? Because he had a piano in the background that made him a musician??? He didn't write the music for the pianio. That's what a musician does.

A musician is someone like Scott Storch, or Jonathan Rotem. Someone who is able to arrange music and play musical instruments.

A rapper is more like a poet. Or as Harry Potter aka Hankaveli said an artist. Just like most pop stars are nothing more than singers. Again not musicians.

Ray Charles was a musician. Compare what he done to what rappers or pop stars do.

 

[Mase]

Musician - One who composes, conducts, or performs music, especially instrumental music.
Rap = music.
Every rapper = musician.

 

[KanDeeMan]

DJ Quik is THE quintessential (sp?) musician in rap music, definitely. His arrangements ever since his 3rd record leading up to Trauma have been deeper than the average hip-hop head can digest. Rap isn't supposed to have cow bell, chimes, lead guitar, real piano, blah blah blah. It's sad that Quik tried to ride ahead of everyone else, and not many people caught up to him, that's why his sales suffered. The music was still, is still great, though.

In a perfect world, if real musicianship was rewarded and celebrated in ALL forms of music, Rhythm-al-ism would have been 8x plat., Balance & Options would at least have been double platinum, 2nd-II-None's second record would have won a grammy, and Robert "Fonksta" Bacon would guest guitar on every Rap & R&B record from coast to coast. Rick James would be remembered for Street Songs and not for "I'm Rick James, bitch!"

 

[dcs7]

Musician - One who composes, conducts, or performs music, especially instrumental music.
Rap = music.
Every rapper = musician.

Well said.

 

[CalcuoCuchicheo]

Despite what Mase said being perfectly logical, imo, rappers are, on the whole, just artists.

If they're playing an instrument & writing the music then yeah, they're musicians.

 

[Sebastian]

2pac wasn't a musician. What?? Because he had a piano in the background that made him a musician??? He didn't write the music for the pianio. That's what a musician does.

A musician is someone like Scott Storch, or Jonathan Rotem. Someone who is able to arrange music and play musical instruments.

A rapper is more like a poet. Or as Harry Potter aka Hankaveli said an artist. Just like most pop stars are nothing more than singers. Again not musicians.

Ray Charles was a musician. Compare what he done to what rappers or pop stars do.

right sir

for example:
Alicia Keys = musician

 

[ill-matic]

so would you classify The Roots as musicians?

 

[2Pax]

It depends on your definition of a Musician

 

[sniper]

2pac wasn't a musician. What?? Because he had a piano in the background that made him a musician??? He didn't write the music for the pianio. That's what a musician does.

A musician is someone like Scott Storch, or Jonathan Rotem. Someone who is able to arrange music and play musical instruments.

A rapper is more like a poet. Or as Harry Potter aka Hankaveli said an artist. Just like most pop stars are nothing more than singers. Again not musicians.

Ray Charles was a musician. Compare what he done to what rappers or pop stars do.

true say.
rappers = lyricists,
singers = vocalists
and producers = musicians.
its based on what u rely on singer relies on voice
rapper relies on lyrics
and producer has to come up wit tight beats.

 

[Preach]

DJ Quik is THE quintessential (sp?) musician in rap music, definitely. His arrangements ever since his 3rd record leading up to Trauma have been deeper than the average hip-hop head can digest. Rap isn't supposed to have cow bell, chimes, lead guitar, real piano, blah blah blah. It's sad that Quik tried to ride ahead of everyone else, and not many people caught up to him, that's why his sales suffered. The music was still, is still great, though.

In a perfect world, if real musicianship was rewarded and celebrated in ALL forms of music, Rhythm-al-ism would have been 8x plat., Balance & Options would at least have been double platinum, 2nd-II-None's second record would have won a grammy, and Robert "Fonksta" Bacon would guest guitar on every Rap & R&B record from coast to coast. Rick James would be remembered for Street Songs and not for "I'm Rick James, bitch!"

quik's production is dope. i love live played beats. real pianos, real guitars, real bass guitars. that shit is so tight.

i agree that a rapper based on his rhymes that he writes and spits, is an artist and not a musician. i also agree that a componist is a musician, and to a further extent, a componist who plays some sort of musical instrument.

 

[Casey]

There's good arguments for and against. However, you could never say that a rapper is a musician in comparison to someone like Prince, who plays every instrument and produces everything on all his songs, writes all the songs, and does the vocals as well. he does everything.

Obviously people like Quik who produce are musicians.

But to me it sounds pretty ridiculous to label someone like Lloyd Banks (for example) as a musician.

 

[Pittsey]

To all those who say rappers are musicians, I offer the following;

John Cena
Vanilla Ice
Lil' Romeo
Young MC


Need I say more. Can you class any of the above as musical?

 

[pclvson]

a musician is someone who CREATES MUSIC yes

a rapper (raps/talks over music) no

a singer (sings over music) no

a producer (creates/makes music) yes/no
if they use live instruments yes
if they sample and use ELECTRONIC DRUM BEATS NO

 

[KAMIKAZI]

Dr. Dre, Eminem, Lil Jon = Some of raps musicians

Even though I hate Lil Jon and hes not really rap in my eyes... faggot producin for Lindsay Lohan...

 

[Farzin]

^Money makes the world go arround.

 

[KAMIKAZI]

^Money makes the world go arround.

Lil Jon has enough money... he says hes "sick of rap" and now wants to produce for people like Lindsay Lohan... faggot