<p>Uhhh, more like T Pain in the @ss. How can anyone listen to rap crap like that?</p>
<p>^how is that crap?</p>
<p>Most mainstream rap songs have little or no creativity in them. It gets old fast.</p>
<p>You think that making those captivating beats takes little to no creativity? If so, you are sadly mistaken.</p>
<p>^ I agree completely. I’m not anti top-40, but I’m anti emptiness. Beats are repetitive now.</p>
<p>Also, it’s not just the music in consideration. It’s the dancing moves that go along with the music. That takes great skill to perfect</p>
<p>If you don’t believe me, watch the ending of Step up 1 or 2. Those moves are crazy. The rap songs make the dancing possible because of the beats.</p>
<p>Thread fails really, really hard.
And we all know anybody who doesn’t look beyond mainstream is either just too lazy to find really good music or doesn’t enjoy appreciating good music.</p>
<p>Indie is good music. Ska is good music. Punk is good music (real punk, not today’s alternative stuff).</p>
<p>^ I never said that I didn’t look beyond mainstream. Just that mainstream is not as bad as people think. But i guess it also depends on how much exposure one had when they were little (im assuming you guys had some type of exposure to the different music you listen to now when you were little). I was exposed to ghetto music because i hung out with ghetto friends/lived in a ghetto area.</p>
<p>And what’s “good” music is all extremely relative nowadays because of the vast genres available for music.</p>
<p>There is good “ghetto” music. Not all ghetto music is totally new millennium mainstream. 50 Cent, T.I., T-Pain, Jay-Z are mainstream, but take a group like NWA - I don’t think they are like today’s rap and I think they are skilled.</p>
<p>There is good music available in every genre. I personally think good music is a mix of skill (at your “trade”, be it rapping, playing guitar, or playing banjo for a bluegrass band), meaning/relating, and a degree of catchyness.</p>
<p>My 2 favorite bands are Streetlight Manifesto and Neutral Milk Hotel because personally I think every one of their songs fall into these 3 traits of “good music”.</p>
<p>^Ok give me one song from each of your fav bands. Im open to exploration.</p>
<p>Streetlight Manifesto - Failing, Flailing comes to mind (you’ll have to get past your initial 3 second impression though)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Two-Headed Boy Pt 1 best captures meaning and catchyness. </p>
<p>NMH isn’t exactly a skilled band but Jeff Mangum is extremely skilled in working with very simple chord progression and writing lyrics that could be mistaken for famous poetry.
I’d say Streetlight is more catchyness and skill (especially We Will Fall Together is an extremely catchy + skilled song…the arrangements will blow your mind, especially during the chorus <a href=“Streetlight Manifesto - We Will Fall Together - Live on Fearless Music - YouTube”>Streetlight Manifesto - We Will Fall Together - Live on Fearless Music - YouTube; and yes that IS a live recording, not a recording sped up…they are just that good at their instruments [especially the solo in that starts at 2:49 which is a bummer because his microphone is a little softer so you it’s tough to hear the most incredible part when the other horns join in) but they also have some meaningful lyrics as well.</p>