My feelings/relationship to rap music

My relationship to rap music is pretty conflicted and complicated just as the author’s relationship to this genre. Before reading this article, I have probably never thought of rap music in this deep way, mostly because it is not a genre of music I usually go for. However, I would say that reading the article of James McBride introduced me another point of view how to look at, feel, and also search for in this music.

As I already mentioned, rap music is not the typical genre I usually go for. It is for several reasons. The first reason is very similar to what the author himself mentions. To me, rap genre in general is a type of music which evokes totally different emotions than most of other genres. If I listen to pop music, the emotions pop songs usually evoke are the feeling of happiness, excitement or in contrast feelings of sadness and sorrow. If I listen to rock music, I get to feel a lot of energy. Of course, it mostly depends on individual songs, however, the rap music evokes the feeling of uncertainty and violence. I do not assume this is the feeling I get depending on what rap song I listen to because this is the feeling I get even from songs sung in languages I do not understand. To me, it is mostly the way of expressing singer’s thoughts which feels like austere and strict.

Despite my opinion that the rap music evokes feelings of violence and harshness, I find this genre unique at the same time. What I enjoy about rap music even more than when listening to other genres is the message of these songs. When I listen to a rap song and find it pleasant to my ears, I look for the lyrics and try to discover more of the deeper message, background and context of the song and its author. From my point of view, rap songs usually discuss very serious issues and thanks to the style of the music, the singers have a chance to put an emphasize on what they want to deliver. This is another point where my opinion meets the James McBride’s one.

To sum up, I find rap genre very unique. It can be both pleasant and unpleasant to my ears, however, I appreciate the message these songs and their writers are trying to deliver and show the world.