New Class at Georgetown Univ. Studies Jay-Z's 'Lyrical Prowess'

I don't buy that. You don't need to go to college to write a good song. None of these guys went to college to write their music. They simply grew up on the streets and lived it.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QroYQzS_UAk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QroYQzS_UAk[/ame]

 

Since when is hip hop not mainstream?!?!? what year are your typing from OP 1982?

 

Some people dont need to study music to write a song, some people do. Unfortunately, the music industry requires alot more than musicians and songwriters. Go try to use a mixing board without studying it.

I would be willing to bet that someone involved with that bad brains song, studied music at a college.

 

well that explains a whole lot. im guessing alot of the college idiots in the OWS movement took stupid ass courses like this, and they wonder why they cant find a (*)(*)(*)(*)ed job with their bull(*)(*)(*)(*) degree.

sorry to tell them but having a major in the "Psychology of J-Lo's ex husbands" is not a qualifying trait lol.

 

Do you people seriously not understand the difference between a class and a major?

 

do you not comprehend a joke when you see one?

 

When you accompany your joke with what appears to be a sincere political statement about the same people the joke is about, it makes it tough. Especially since your typing it and not actually saying it to me.

 

This is quickly dropping into an "n-words are just stupid" debate... and I don't want to be in that debate or on the white team.

However, black businessmen are largely successful because black society is very easily manipulated into fad purchasing. Listen to black radio. They play the same 9 songs over and over again with some of the 6 songs from 3 months ago, and 4 songs from 6 months ago until they reach 24 hours. Look at black fashion. Look at automobiles. There are like 9 different cars black culture aspires to have... and they gotta have rims.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m37JkkGjAY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m37JkkGjAY[/ame]

They spinnin (*)(*)(*)(*)(*), they spinnin.

OWS


RUSH

You can't fix stupid. You can only profit from it.

 

to be fair, all radio stations are like that. I gave up on the radio because you hear the same songs over and over again on loops.

College radio is the only thing worth listening to. We used to have one decent rock station, but they changed format and became the 5th contemporary country music station in the area, and it makes me wanna rip out my inner ear. No offense to you country fans, I just can't stand the newer country music.

 

i would figure the part about "Psychology of J-Lo's ex husnands" would have made that clear lol.

but yes it was a joke as i know there are no majors in such things. but im sure now that i said it some idiot will find it to be a good idea of a class lol.

 

no no dont do that, that would destroy your argument that all black people are held down by the white man. are you crazy???

 

I disagree. Black radio is consistently looping... no matter the city, no matter the time of day, and always to the nth degree. And that is just one part of my argument.

As to Agent Zero: I grew up in all black schools in DC Metro. I get the song. I would not call it brilliant, and worthy of a class dedicated to its ilk... but, then, you could take scuba diving as an elective at my first college... so... whatever. Thank you for taking the time to post the lyrics. In my old age I find it more and more difficult to discern what rappers are saying.

youenjoyme420: Any jackass with 320 dollars worth of equipment can lay down driving beats and sample songs. The reason that music theory does not apply to contemporary rap/hiphop is because there isn't any.

 

Because the chances of someone becoming a successful rapper is virtually zero. In general, people should try to achieve semi-realistic goals.

I've been listening to rap my entire life but I don't think they're the types of people one should emulate or aspire to be like unless you have some serious artistic skills.

And the whole "thug" and "gangsta" image/mentality has done damage to black and white communities alike. The misogynistic machismo that rappers promulgate in their art and behavior is not worthy of emulation. It's a novelty, not an appropriate life perspective.

 

By all means please explain how a single artist of a single genre of contemporary music is really going to be worthy of a semester class in any college or university. I could see spending a week of a semester on one artist, then spending the remaining weeks on other artists and doing a comparative study on the value they might have or not have, but a whole semester on a single contemporary artist? Total BS to keep some lazy union worker employed.

 

Sampling has gone WAY overboard these days.

I can understand this stuff being lyrically driven but still.

Art? Yes..

Music? Hardly. Its just rehashes of what has come before.

 

Georgetown is a Jesuit university. Jesuits tend to stress a well rounded college experience even for those majoring in technical fields like engineering or nursing. I attended a Jesuit college also, and chose comparitive religion and philosophy as electives and I thoroughly enjoyed these classes. Are they practical in terms of applying the knowledge gained to a career? Probably not. Still I learned a few things and the classroom discussions were fun. I have never heard of Jay-Z but after watching some of the clips posted in here I have heard a couple of the songs, just not familiar with the artist. Hard to believe a class of 3 credit hours, even as an elective can be dedicated to just one artist, no matter who it is. The time is better served studying the genre of rap/hip hop as a whole rather than just one artist. Even in classical music, studying just Mozart or Bach doesn't do justice to the other brilliant composers

 

I hear this all the time, and with SOME rap its true. I've tried making beats, and sure I can make simple ones, but making a really good beat to go with a song is harder then people think, and there is some theory involved. Good back beats for rap are layered pretty heavily, and it really takes some talent to make them.

On the other hand, there's a truck load of rap groups that don't use electronic beats or sampling, and actually have bands backing them up.

 

First of all, this a new class. your lazy union worker theory fails for two reasons.1) its hard to call him lazy if he had the university create work for him.2) being a new class, they either have a teacher who works with other classes (most likely), or they hired someone new (less likely).

Like I said, it could work as a case study for how to analyze music. Their are classes totally dedicated to analyzing Mozart and Bach. Their are classes dedicated to analyzing single authors. Why should this be any different? The fact you don't like this particular artist doesn't mean that other people couldn't gain something from this class.

 

Your right but white urban kids are the #1 consumers of hip hop/rap music.

 

Newsflash Paco: people have studied the music of other people for thousands of years.

 

It's not uncommon to have the occasional light class in short periods between semesters; I know that several professors in my college would choose only loosely academic subjects for classes in maymester, usually one credit courses. For example, a class studying the "global impact of film," which was mainly just an excuse to watch some movies and talk about them. This wasn't a threat to education, it was a low-stress class students could take after they'd just gotten done with exams for the spring semester. People took them if they had summer courses and needed to bridge the time between the end of the spring semester and the beginning of summer. What's the point in trying to cram some serious class that might actually effect a student's grade?

 

How is that not music?

 

Both Mozart and Bach were multi-genre, so that theory fails.

 

What's interesting about it? I don't see you siding with conservatives against any liberal on this board about any topic. Why do you expect me to?

Judging by your answer, I'm assuming you are white. This will be helpful in putting your anti-white rants in perspective, going forward. It's always pathetic yet amusing to watch fellow whites act extremely offended when anything remotely racist is said about a minority group, especially when they launch into anti-white rhetoric immediately after, which you have done.

What priorities do you think I should have, here? I apologize that I don't share your white guilt and desire to be taken in as an honorary minority member.

 

Yup. Then the dumbasses who majored in JZ and hoes and (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)'s can get out and protest with the OWS losers to have their college loans paid by taxpayers who weren't so stupid as to major in (*)(*)(*)(*)(*).

What it is.