I really don't claim to have the most superb taste in music or much anything else, for that matter. I'm not a music snob. There are plenty of those going around. I listen to mostly metal, and I'll defend my genre up to a point.
I've often said that I don't like hip-hop because it lacks depth. My guitar player even said that was an unfair generalization. But I just watched a video on eMpTyV because I was flipping through the channels, caught a second of it, and thought it had to be a parody of something, like maybe it was a clip from Saturday Night Live.
Anyhow, the song was called Ice Cream Paint Job. I'm not making that up. The rapper was completely ridiculous. He had the whole bling, plus an oversized t-shirt that was spray-painted with the words "Ice Cream Paint Job."
The title refers to the paint job of his convertible, and most of the video involved him driving around in said convertible, winking at scantily clad women in other cars and on the sidewalk (not that I have anything against scantily clad women, believe me).
My point is this guy had lyrics about his shiny rims, driving around showing off his ride, and basically how awesome he was. I listen to music because it moves me. I don't understand how that can move anyone. One of the lyrics that I do remember goes, "Cream on the outside, clean on the inside, cream on the outside, clean on the inside."
At least metal is about real emotion. More often than not, it's negative emotion - despair, depression, anger, alienation - but metal never makes that out to be a good thing. If anything, it's a release. There's generally an imagery that the song writer attaches to these emotions.
Hip hop is simple. If there's a song about someone getting shot, it goes, "Tyrone got shot, it was a bad day." It usually doesn't get deeper than that. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe someone else sees something I don't.
I really don't claim to have the most superb taste in music or much anything else, for that matter. I'm not a music snob. There are plenty of those going around. I listen to mostly metal, and I'll defend my genre up to a point.
I've often said that I don't like hip-hop because it lacks depth. My guitar player even said that was an unfair generalization. But I just watched a video on eMpTyV because I was flipping through the channels, caught a second of it, and thought it had to be a parody of something, like maybe it was a clip from Saturday Night Live.
Anyhow, the song was called Ice Cream Paint Job. I'm not making that up. The rapper was completely ridiculous. He had the whole bling, plus an oversized t-shirt that was spray-painted with the words "Ice Cream Paint Job."
The title refers to the paint job of his convertible, and most of the video involved him driving around in said convertible, winking at scantily clad women in other cars and on the sidewalk (not that I have anything against scantily clad women, believe me).
My point is this guy had lyrics about his shiny rims, driving around showing off his ride, and basically how awesome he was. I listen to music because it moves me. I don't understand how that can move anyone. One of the lyrics that I do remember goes, "Cream on the outside, clean on the inside, cream on the outside, clean on the inside."
At least metal is about real emotion. More often than not, it's negative emotion - despair, depression, anger, alienation - but metal never makes that out to be a good thing. If anything, it's a release. There's generally an imagery that the song writer attaches to these emotions.
Hip hop is simple. If there's a song about someone getting shot, it goes, "Tyrone got shot, it was a bad day." It usually doesn't get deeper than that. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe someone else sees something I don't.
I've often said that I don't like hip-hop because it lacks depth. My guitar player even said that was an unfair generalization. But I just watched a video on eMpTyV because I was flipping through the channels, caught a second of it, and thought it had to be a parody of something, like maybe it was a clip from Saturday Night Live.
Anyhow, the song was called Ice Cream Paint Job. I'm not making that up. The rapper was completely ridiculous. He had the whole bling, plus an oversized t-shirt that was spray-painted with the words "Ice Cream Paint Job."
The title refers to the paint job of his convertible, and most of the video involved him driving around in said convertible, winking at scantily clad women in other cars and on the sidewalk (not that I have anything against scantily clad women, believe me).
My point is this guy had lyrics about his shiny rims, driving around showing off his ride, and basically how awesome he was. I listen to music because it moves me. I don't understand how that can move anyone. One of the lyrics that I do remember goes, "Cream on the outside, clean on the inside, cream on the outside, clean on the inside."
At least metal is about real emotion. More often than not, it's negative emotion - despair, depression, anger, alienation - but metal never makes that out to be a good thing. If anything, it's a release. There's generally an imagery that the song writer attaches to these emotions.
Hip hop is simple. If there's a song about someone getting shot, it goes, "Tyrone got shot, it was a bad day." It usually doesn't get deeper than that. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe someone else sees something I don't.