Villages Rap Music
 

I've been very disappointed recently to find RAP being used as music in a couple of Village activities. I tried out the fairly new Aqua Zumba at Sea Breeze last week, thinking it would be exercise done to salsa style music. Sadly, it was Spanish-language RAP and Hip-Hop, which I strongly dislike. Then today I went to Friends Water Aerobics At Colony Cottage, which I have attended about six times in the recent past and which is an excellent workout. The instructor had a new music CD with a long RAP piece. I detest all RAP. I refuse to listen to it in any venue. I really thought when I came here two years ago The Villages would be "RAP-Free" for at least a few years. I have even heard hip-hop on WVLG. When that happens I just turn the radio to WMMO in Orlando, which has absolutely zero RAP. Am I alone? Am I the last woman on earth who refuses to accept RAP as music? I'm only 58, I love music, but RAP makes me just shake with rage. I will not call it music. It's monotone chanting.

Rap must go. I also hate rap and will not give my business to any place that plays rap. The driving range I used to practice at began playing rap. I stopped going. This is what happens when they allow kids to run a business. The Villages must be rap free and ice cram truck free.

While I am not a rap music lover I generally just like music. You might say rap is not music but as long as they are not using profanity, violence etc in their lyrics, I have no problem with it. I guess having a 19 y/o daughter and belonging to a gym with a lot of young people has made this a non-issue for me. Personally, I wouldn't want to do aerobics to classical but I do love the music.

Is there really such a thing as rap that is not using profanity, violence etc in their lyrics, ???

When Cowboy Bob started rapping on the Country and Western shows I quit watching. And I like CW music.

Yes, actually my son knows some people who sing in a Christian rap group.

I like Rap
 

Yes, there are a lot of examples of rap songs that do not use profanity or violence. But most rap is geared towards younger people. Did you know that 70% of rap music sales are to white kids? It's big business, and companies pick what sells, and when you are young, anything that shocks is cool.

It's no different than many popular songs that are out today and even in the past. Music from the 60's speaks of drugs and sex. Some older music talks of sex, which was often taboo in the past. Old movies too spoke of affairs and divorces, and premarital sex, it was just not in your face. As my ex-wife's grandmother told me one time regarding a person who was behaving poorly, "People did the same thing when I was younger, but they were discreet about it."

I really don't care for country music, but I will go to Cody's on occasion.

I hate, really, really hate rap music. Don't care who listens to it, don't care why they listen to it. I hate it and will not go where it's played.

I agree with you
 

I don't care for modern country, to much like pop music, but i like country western songs. I really can't stand the twang most country singers affect. Nor do I care what happened to their dog or pickup. Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams is what i prefer.

:agree:

I don't think I could ever bring myself to just out and out say that I hate a whole style of music.

I like some styles a lot more than others but even the styles I don't like have a few redeeming songs.

At first I missed hearing current music when I moved to The Villages. Now, listening to 50's music when walking around the square and shopping has just become part of the charm of The Villages experience.
I personally like rap music, but it is true that the majority of people here would look downright awkward and comical trying to dance to it. Not really for "The Villages generation".
Now, if they start playing country music here...well then, I will just have to move!

Hummmm!!! '50's music and now to RAP. What happened to the '60's and early '70's or was that in the mysterious 18 minute gap?

Usually I agree with you Russ, in fact I preached that for years, but I draw the line at rap. It just irritates the hell out of me. It's the only genre of music that I can't stand.
When I first heard it I thought it was a joke. I couldn't believe anybody could ever actually like that noise.

Remember when the same thing was said about rock & roll?:sing:

Yep. I don't claim to be unique in my dislike of a particular type of music. I remember record burnings and church sermons preaching about the evils of rock & roll.
The more the "old folks" hated my music, the more they dissed it, the more I liked it. That's probably the reason I started playing guitar many years ago, a hobby I continue to this day.
I really don't give a rat's patoot if other people like rap music, nor do I care if others listen to it. To me it's still just annoying noise.

And don't forget Patsy Cline & Tammy W.
Whenever WVLG Puts on RAP..........I change to another station!

I'm not a big fan of rap but many rap songs are perfect for zumba dancing. I have heard no profanity in the rap/reggae etc songs played in my zumba classes. Zumba is upbeat latin type dance exercise and you can't play oldies music for a new style dance/exercise. They are way too slow. I love it. It keeps me young and broadens my horizons.:pepper2:

:agree:

I like a wide variety of music but songs should actually resemble music in some way!! They might include things like a tune... a few instruments... words you could understand, maybe a decent voice.

Rap? I think I'd prefer listening to a leaf blower.

BlueDog said---"Usually I agree with you Russ."

I feel the same way. Russ is my idol. Great insight, great mind and what I can tell- "A great guy."

BUT- Rap music is terrible. It can drive a man to drink. Rap is not music, and I will not bring my busines to where it is played.

Gee thanks Tom, donations to the "bring Russ to TV full time" campaign can be sent to...But as many others will tell you - I can be a jerk sometimes (some will even say much of the time).

I'm not saying that I enjoy much Rap music. But I think it has its place. I take spinning classes and some forms of rap really get you moving. I imagine the same is true of other exercise classes.

Anyone else realize Rap rhymes with crap?:1rotfl:

Yes, and there are many who would say 'rap' and 'music' should not be used together!

While it might be a little bit of a knee jerk to categorize 'ALL' of "it' the same, rap has devolved to a large extent just like C&W has according to a recent post in this thread.

We still get a kick out of 'rappers delight' that was a big novelty in its day as it is today.

Our listening tastes are primarily anything 'good' no matter the genre,
primarily symphonic having played in high school concert bands and doo wop (which had its own R and X content)

Several years in SE Ohio/Appalachia helped with an appreciation for country and Bluegrass, (with bluegrass being unusually strong in DC)

Our son and his sax play moved jazz into the library, and the youngest kid collected early disco from 10 years before her birth, but scorned anything 80's!

We did not like much of the 'metal' in the 60's and 70's but in review we find it way way better than so much of today's.

Age and personal values aside, anyone with a truly objective outlook would probably agree that today's 'rap' and other things heard are relying much
on their iconoclastic lyrics to sell and get airplay.
Yes, we had our protest songs in the day, but the emphasis on sales was less of the drive, and more on the 'change the planet' for the better.

Except for some discreet lyrics (we aren't sure, we've never examined the 10 pages) and some lightly dressed backup singers, this act might have made it onto Ed Sullivan or Lawrence Welk.

As we listen, it's hard not to imagine our aging peers tapping their slippers and bobbing in their neck braces along with us.

That said, we're going to take another listen as we climb down from the soapbox

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6gD_CwF5YM[/ame]

[ame="http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6gD_CwF5YM"]http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6gD_CwF5YM[/ame]


L&L

Russ said:Gee thanks Tom, donations to the "bring Russ to TV full time" campaign can be sent to...But as many others will tell you - I can be a jerk sometimes (some will even say much of the time).

I'm not saying that I enjoy much Rap music. But I think it has its place

Oh well. I had two other idols in my life. Mickey Mantle and John Lennon. They both had their shortcomings and faults, so I guess I will have to forgive Russ for his rap music comment.

Russ, I can't let you hang in here all alone, going in like a kamakazi pilot. My three children grew up in the rap generation, so I am used to it from hearing it for years, and I enjoy some, even though not all, of it. I'll even confess to having participating in a group 'Gangsta' rap' performance at my daughter's bat mitzvah years ago. I was a music major in college, and I love all types of music; just, like everyone else, I like some much better than others. Some rap is enjoyable and fun to listen to, if you open up to it, and the rhythm of it is great and very energizing for exercise and (some of it) for dancing. 'It's hot'! And no, I definitely don't think Villagers are too old to dance to rap music!

As mentioned in a post above, when rock and roll - which our generation loves - started, it was thought of as 'just noise' by some of the older generation of that time. How could they have thought that?

Just like with any other type of music (or other areas of interest) there will always be people who do/don't like different forms of it. But I don't think that rap is only for 'young' (in chronological age) people. (Here in The Villages, we are all young, at heart). And I like hearing some music around here that keeps us in touch with all of the contemporary forms of music, including rap. And when our younger family members, etc, are here it's nice that at least some of the music they hear is what they relate to.

I also love the charm of hearing the old standards, and everything in between, here in The Villages.

The diversity of what is offered here, in music and everything else, is what makes the Villages so unique. As more young people move to The Villages, I think there will be a natural movement to more contemporary music forms in what is popular.

And like it or not, rap is here to stay, from what I can see!

Rap music in The Villages???:shocked:

Now I wonder what kind of crowd that is going to draw!!!!

Do we have to wear our crotch down to our ankles when we listen to it???::1rotfl::

I'm totally in Russ's corner -- probably in my corner, actually. I like rap. Not all of it, but a lot of it. I introduced my daughter to it when she was 12 -- I couldn't stand the bubblegum, technopop and emo music she was blasting. I actually felt rap had more rhythm and definitely had more to say than some of the stuff she was listening to.

When rap first started, it was more a way of getting underground news out to those who understood the language than a big business. Today, it is a HUGE business. Even 50 Cent admitted that he changed once he started rapping and making money at it -- he's now into health foods, no drugs, etc. This from a gangbanger who'd been shot several times. Eminem went from a woman-hating, mother-despising punk to a doting father and tells it all in his lyrics. Read the lyrics to Tupak's songs. There is so much feeling in it.

My favorite music is blues -- I can listen to a good harp (harmonica) for hours. I plead guilty to running away from polka and a mezzo soprano can literally bring me to tears (the high notes HURT!!!). I've reached the point where I'm sick of the 50s and 60s -- have just heard too dang much of it since moving here.

I'm not advocating that any of you change and decide to like rap, but I do think it's a shame to so actively dislike a music form that has been around so long, actually does have some good rhythm and some great wordsmiths that you would not frequent a store that plays it or quit an exercise group because it is used to get people moving. If you want to give it a chance, read the lyrics. You might be surprised what is actually being said by some of the rappers today. If possible, find tracks of just the music and you might discover there is a rhythm and beat to it.

Rap bears no resemblance to music. It is no more then some no talent individule who couln't sing a note, screaming his lungs out with his pants on the ground. Try whispering one of those numbers in your honey's ear while sharing a romantic moment. Someone compared rap to the beginning of Rock and Roll. No way. Sixty years later we still listen to "Oldies" and Rocky and the Rollers are the most popular group here. I can not imagine that sixty years from now our grandkids will be dancing to EM & EM. Yuck!!!!!!

Yeah, it's amazing what a few million dollars will do.

Maybe. I can't begin to tell you the number of times I've looked up the lyrics to a Roy Orbison tune to find out what "is actually being said." Don't even get me started on Gene Pitney.

OK I change my vote - absolutely NO rap music in TV!:laugh:

Whew. I was afraid I was going to have to remove Russ as my idol.

Flashback!!!!!
 

I swear, if you substitute the word "Rock" for the word "Rap", that I am back in 1958 and can hear my late, great mom using the same statement. :shrug:

I promised I would never berate my kids or grandkids music. Although I'm not a Rap fan, I've heard some that is entertaining and even humorous.

Don't like the profane ones, but remember what the term "Rock & Roll" meant in early R&B music.

_

Good point, Nonie I hadn't thought of it that way! Just seeing the beltlines being pushed down beneath the bellies (and not just in The Villages) is bad enough.

Why can't people just "lighten up" on the music that is played? I don't care for rap myself but would not walk out if it were being played. I would listen to one song but if it were continuous...that's another story.
My husband is a local DJ and gets a lot of comments when certain songs get played. You can't please all of the people all of the time!

Ditto!!!!! I put rap, grunge and punk in the same no talent category.

I have grandsons who listen to this and DON"T wear long crotched pants.....shame, shame, I am surprised to read the above.

Not the type that I want to buy into.

"I hate, really, really hate rap music. Don't care who listens to it, don't care why they listen to it. I hate it and will not go where it's played. "


:thumbup: