I ask this question because I just found myself listening to Outkast's "13th Floor (Growing Old)" and was out-of-the-blue genuinely touched by it. This is a song (and album) that for years has been in my catalogue and I've loved but haven't listened to in god knows how long. But I was struck by the idea that a lot (though obviously not all) of rap music seems to harken back to a better time where things were much simpler, etc. in a way that even the most nostalgia-dripping pop ballads don't considering that it's a much more conversational medium.
Off the top of my head, guys like Nas, Biggie, Jay-Z, Tupac, Wu-Tang, Tribe, and probably every single boho okayplayer rapper ever seem to have overly sentimental songs like this in their catalogue that, to your average Fall or Boredoms fan would sound outrageously syrupy and gag-inducing. I'm not saying I don't enjoy any given "back in the day" song whatsoever, but does it take a certain kind of listener to enjoy it or am I just
When you add into the equation the plethora of old soul samples that dudes like kanye or pete rock or jay dee or whoever pepper into their tracks the nostalgia/sentimental factor goes through the roof. But does this make it any less powerful than a lyrically ambigous MBV track or ethereal LSD-induced Beatles song? I guess it depends on the listener, obviously.
But, whaddya think? Rap = overt sentimentality? Yay or nay?
― Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (Plastic Gas Booby Trap), Friday, 31 March 2006 05:16 (twenty years ago)
eh, i forgot the finish the last sentence in that second paragraph. fill in the blanks and you get the general idea.
― Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (Plastic Gas Booby Trap), Friday, 31 March 2006 05:17 (twenty years ago)
Ghostface's "All That I Got Is You" rules this genre. Brings a tear every time too, so I guess I'm a sentimentalist.
― Robocock (noodle vague), Friday, 31 March 2006 06:11 (twenty years ago)
Ghostface's "All That I Got Is You" rules this genre. Brings a tear every time too, so I guess I'm a sentimentalist.-- Robocock (noodle_vagu...) (webmail), March 31st, 2006 8:11 AM. (noodle vague) (later) (link)
OTM
― i am not a nugget (stevie), Friday, 31 March 2006 13:02 (twenty years ago)
no, i think you just have to be white
― corey c (shock of daylight), Saturday, 1 April 2006 14:23 (twenty years ago)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHHAAAHHHHHHAaaahhhaaaahaaaahhhhaaaaaahhhhaaaaaaaahaaaa
*cough*
*sniff*
*cry*
― Mystic Handyman (noodle vague), Saturday, 1 April 2006 14:55 (twenty years ago)