rap

The history of rap music that the group did on the first day of the presentation was disjointed, but i really appreciated it being included especially since the group was unprepared. Megs presentation on the second day was impressive. I always enjoy her handouts, so it was nice to get two of hers for this one presentation.

What is funny to me as I am not much of a rap fan (the sort of causal white girl rap fan) but the first two tracks i knew the words to. Forgot about Dre was a prep school classic, everyone in my dorm knew that one, and Gin and Juice is just a classic. In this area at least the Gourds cover of Gin and Juice has usurped the popularity of the original, but that is because there is just not enough gansta rap with banjos.

I really enjoyed the Wu Tang presentation. I remeber people liking them in middle school, but I was never into them. I thought that the Wu Tang Clan and Bill Murray were funny in Coffee and Cigarettes but i didn't know much about them.
Hearing how they got together was very interesting, the entire concept seems very well thought out and i have never heard of it before, but now since the presentation i read an article from the DeCapo best music writing of 2oo3 that talks about the Dragon Family trying to do the same thing. The WuTang Clan is much better known and came first, but OutKast came out of the Dragon Family.

Ahh the Beastie Boys I liked both the handouts on the Beastie Boys. The Beastie Boys easrly punk rock stuff is ridiculous. it was released a couple of years ago i think its on Grand Royal Records but i am not sure, its called Aglio e Olio.
I think that it is funny that the Beastie Boys gained notority for "Fight for Your Right" and became every frat boy's favorite rappers with "Girls" both off License to Ill, and they have spent the last 16 or so years apologizing for it. The have time and time again said that they regret their treatment of women early on and how women are portrayed in their first album. Reading articles that the Beastie Boys have written, I think they would fit in well with the class. These four guys are first and foremost music fanatics. They could be classified as indie snobs but their music is so comercially available that most indie kids turn up their noses at the Beastie Boys and instead talk about Sage Francis and underground rappers. Rap like every modern genre has an underground and i am surprised that no one touched on it in the presentation.
This presentation had more of a feel of an informal conversation, albeit one that most of the class was left out of --- it just seemed like it was a conversation among the presenting group that we could witness but not participate in. It was an interesting setup and had there not been so much side conversation among the presenting group, it would have gone very well.