Expanding Borders.....

[Snowden]

It seems to me that the genres of music are starting to branch out, and blur into one another slowly but surely.  Or, at the very least, finding a middle ground.

I speak mainly of the dividing like between rap/hip-hop and Rock.  Eminem doing a song with Elton John, People like Kanye West and Jurassic 5 have had crosses with names from other areas of music (Kanye did a song with Maroon 5, while Jurassic 5 teamed up with Dave Matthews).  But even as far as that went, it was still 2 separate noises, and you could tell them apart for the most part within the songs they collaborated on and their own work.  Then the other groups begin to appear.

Gym Class Heroes and Flobots are the two groups I'm mainly thinking of.  Both clearly hip hop, with the basic rhyme and rhythm.  The difference?  Instruments instead of DJ mixing.  GCH has 2 guitars and a drummer.....Flobots has 2 guitars, 2 emcees, viola player, trumpet player, and drummer.  They keep the sound and rhythm of hip hop while using all of the elements and instruments that are normally added via DJ mixing.

Some might say groups like Linkin Park did this already, but I disagree.  While there is clearly a hip hop influence in their music, Linkin Park is clearly a rock group on most of their songs.  I can't say what it is exactly, but their sound feels more rock on all their tracks.

Thoughts?

[Cardinal]

Flobots are absolutely brilliant, not just in the beat of the songs, but in the lyrics as well.
I have yet to check out Platypus, but I do have Fight With Tools, and it's amazing.

I like this blend, but then again, I like each genre stand-alone.
Now, I'm going to sit back and watch a poopload of rap haters come in this thread, and ruin it.

~toodles~

[Snowden]

Things such as the lyrics for the first track on that album:

There's a war going on for your mind
Media mavens mount surgical strikes from trapper keeper collages and online magazine racks
Cover girl cutouts throw up pop-up ads
Infecting victims with silicone shrapnel
Worldwide passenger pigeons deploy paratroopers
Now it's raining pornography
Lovers take shelter
Post-production debutantes pursue you in nascar chariots
They construct ransom letters from biblical passages and bleed mascara into holy water supplies

There's a war going on for your mind
Industry insiders slang test tube babies to corporate crackheads
They flash logos and blast ghettos
Their embroidered neckties say "stop snitchin'"
Conscious rappers and whistleblowers get stitches made of acupuncture needles and marionette strings

There is a war going on for your mind
Professional wrestlers and vice presidents want you to believe them
The desert sky is their bluescreen
They superimpose explosions
They shout at you
"pay no attention to the men behind the barbed curtain
Nor the craters beneath the draped flags
Those hoods are there for your protection
And meteors these days are the size of corpses

There's a war going on for your mind
We are the insurgents

[major tom]

Linkin Park isn't a rock group, they're a poop group.

If you want a mix of rap and rock that doesn't suck, try Rage Against The Machine and RHCP's 80's material (The Uplift Mofo Party Plan would work).

[Snowden]

Linkin Park isn't a rock group, they're a s*** group.

If you want a mix of rap and rock that doesn't suck, try Rage Against The Machine and RHCP's 80's material (The Uplift Mofo Party Plan would work).

I don't know any songs from Rage that are the same thing.  They flow in a very different manner

[Zovistograt]

The only rap (besides comedic stuff like nerdcore) that I care about is the rap that is inserted into hardcore and gabber tracks.  You wouldn't believe what a hardcore beat can do with a rhythmic and fast rap.  It gets you excited!...although the rap is never like the mainstream crap out now.  It's more along the lines of an MC's normal spoutings, but to a beat and with a rap edge.  For example, from "Power and the Glory" - DJ Hixxy...

As I look around I can't believe what I'm seeing
I look into the skies and hear the
MC MC'ing
I'm lost for words as we continue to explore
This wicked hardcore music
Hyping up the dance floor
First I was a raver
Now I'm an entertainer
I found the fire burning
As the rush inside gets stronger
Standing in the queue in all the wind and the rain
With nobody to blame
You won't hear me complain
Raving 24-7 raving 365
The vibe is alive and it fills me with pride
When I see what we've achieved since the good
Old days the perpetrating doubters man
This wasn't a phase
A limited edition no we ain't selling out
Check the Whizzkid and DJ Storm
And you'll see there's no doubt
Raise those hands to the sky for the
power and the glory!
Hardcore till I die ya'll this is my story!


ehhh, looks like crappy rap lyrics, actually, without the music, but with the music, it's a killer choon.

[Java]

Isn't that what Run-DMC and Aerosmith did when they collaborated for Walk This Way or are you talking about completely blending the two genres together?