Rap Music's Place In Prog

I wondered whether Trip Hop had a place here?  EDIT :  A: No its not RAP idiot.  But I will leave this anyway.  Really just an excuse to post this beautiful track.  Listen if you haven't heard it before!

Edited by akamaisondufromage - January 30 2010 at 07:47

From Hungary, a mix of Balkan folk instrumentation (cimbalom especially) eastern european gypsy music, rap vocals, rock beats (played by a real drummer - not sampled loops) politicised lyrics (a Noam Chomsky speech sample is used heavily) and not a single reference to hoes, my main maaan, bitchez or gangbangin' anywhere. Features a stunning cover of the Beatles Revolution in a skanking reggae style. One of the best albums I've heard in years. (and I really loathe most of the rap based music I've ever heard)

So I discovered this forum because i get google alerts for 'Id Obelus'... I was flattered that Logan posted up an example of my music as a potential 'prog rap' candidate...  I've been infatuated with rap music since the mid 80's... and since the age of 12 i've been "rapping".

I greatly applaud all who mentioned Dalek. I just love the band! Actually, they're the only hip-hop group I've ever really enjoyed.



That's one of the best album openers I've ever heard I think... The way the noise comes in after the vocals only, amazing.

Delineation and exclusion.

Angel: Yeah, what CAN we be thinking, bringing traditionally unmixed musical forms together, that's not what prog is about at all.

i can't belive this, 3 pages discussion about rap music in Prog..there is no such thing..what is rap anyway, few beats and reciting something. so where can you find rap influence in prog,maybe Gildenlow's fast singing on some tracks? well, it is singing ,not reciting.. 

On Gong's Shapeshifter Daveid Allen does some rap. It works out quite nicely. It fit in to the concept of the Gong mythology and it's worthwhile stuff. I am not a fan of rap, but I can appreaciate the talent that goes into being a poet. Especially rap that is improvised. The ability to improvise and make words rhyme. That is an amazing talent that just comes right out of a rapper's head. It takes a lot of practice to pull it off. Sort of like a night out at a poet gathering. About 10 poets perform for you while you sip coffee and eat donuts During the course of the show, at least 4 of the poets will do rapping and it's very creative.

I preface this by saying I know little about rap, don't like rap and would be extremely put off if a prog rap subgenre got added to this site.

Rap, from what I know, is spoken word put to a beat that is easy to bob your head to. The label of prog does not get applied based on popularity or lyrical content. Atypical lyrics in prog are an effect of prog, not a cause. The main argument I can see pro-prograp posts is that the lyrics are about fanciful subjects and don't deal with the standard rap content. You need more and better arguments dealing with the music rather than the words.

Also, PA is a prog site, not a progressive ROCK site. There are genres here that could not be labeled as ROCK so that's not the problem. The problem is that, from my experience. prog and rap are mutually exclusive due to musicality. If someone could get me a definition of rap/hip hop I could dispel this nonsense quickly.

While rap may not have a place in prog, prog apparently has a place in rap. [Disclaimer: the language in that song would not fly here on the forums.]


Edited by TheCaptain - October 10 2009 at 17:32