I created a post a while back, in the earlier days of the blog about my opinion of rap music. My views have changed a bit since then, and I felt it necessary to write out a post detailing my argument.
I can appreciate some aspects of rap, such as the poetic qualities of the lyrics and the skill it takes to mix a track. However, in general, genres like metal (REAL metal), ska, rock and punk take more skill to write, convey emotion better, and are generally of higher quality.
Here's a breakdown of some of the aspects of music, comparing rap and rock in each respect.
Instrumentals
The "instrumentals" of most rap artists aren't actual instruments, they're computer generated noises. They're mixed to a pretty simple rhythm, often just 4/4 time. The most variation you'll get is maybe adding on another (thin) layer of sounds every few measures and a change during the chorus. For the most part it's just a loop of the same sound while someone raps over it.
The instrumentals of rock consist of (commonly) electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums, all of which take a certain amount of skill to play well. And since each instrument is played by an individual band member, it also requires the skill to coordinate with the other band members to create a good sound. This is particularly true for Ska bands, since Ska also includes brass instruments such as trumpets, trombones and saxophones. At any given time, there are a LOT of people playing, and since it's Ska, they're playing very fast, and therefore rather skillfully. While some of the smaller bands usually use simple time signatures such as 4/4, bands like Tool use extremely advanced time signatures called polyrhythms.
Vocals
This is where rap gets the most credit, because this is basically all rap is. Rap gets points for rhyming lyrics and their poetic qualities, but that's pretty much all it gets points for. Rapping isn't singing, it's just like reciting poetry to a beat, so there's no need to have the skill of a good vocal range, only a decent talking voice. During most songs, their pitch stays pretty much the same as well, it's practically monotone. The emotion of the lyrics doesn't carry through into the music.
Unfortunately for rap, rock also gets big points in vocals. In terms of lyrics and meaning, rock is on par with rap, but in terms of emotion and vocal range, rock takes the cake. In rock, the singer is able to convey his emotion with the pitch and the volume of his voice, screaming out anger or agony, or smoothly singing out happiness or quiet despair. Rock conveys emotions that rap can never convey with its droning.
Live Performances
Rap artists have the whole stage to themselves during a performance, and often they use that space. Rap seems much better live because the artist can punctuate the ideas he's trying to get across with his motions. In terms of effects, there are mostly colored lights, backdrops, and pretty standard things for any performance.
Rock effects are essentially the same, because there's only so much you can do on stage, but a rock band's stage presence is drastically different. The whole band is up there, dominating most of the space on the stage, and they're all active, able to show their emotion through the music and through their motions as they play. The singer's presence is often most dominant, depending on the way the band sets itself up onstage. Because of the way that rock is able to convey more emotion, the singer is far more active, and far more fun to watch onstage than a rap artist.
To finish this off, I'm not saying rap is bad, I'm saying rock is better, and that's why I listen to genres closer to rock than I do rap. Rock takes more skill and more emotion than rap, and an equal if not greater amount of lyrical ability. Rock is better. Period.
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