https://greydonsquare.bandcamp.com/album/type-ii-the-mandelbrot-set

...most of my fans don’t even like rap /

.

#...hopefully, after me, they’ll know some nice tracks /

And now for something GOOD.

GREYDON SQUARE -- PEACE, PEACE

https://youtu.be/28C5YFLMvhc

.....................................................

...me, I get lost in the music /

Apart from the foolishness I dodge as youth in /

A locked institution /

An animal, far from the humans /

80’s garbage tossed in a huge bin /

... the universe was art for the viewin' /

We are one now but I was scarred in the union /

Every runner up has a Starks and a Ewing /

You just play the part of the chewin'... /

...It’s like, i’m livin' a part in a movie /

This is the scene where I’m sparkin' the doobie /

With the audience arguing and booing /

Partying and mooning /

Grabbin' sexual partners of their choosing /

Why so serious? You won’t be here that long /

And since I’m not, I choose to spend my time makin' rap songs /

...maybe hit the glass bong /

Try to enlighten with music while hopin' that people latch on /

HOOK:

The bottom looks even worse when you've seen the top /

...what we blazin' here is nothing, you should see the crop /

Watch another take his place when the leader drops /

It’s only what you read about, "peace" us when see us out /

Peace peace!

Try to remain in control when you weave the route /

I don’t care if she thinks I’m ugly, music thinks i’m hot /

I don't need to be a star - I just need a spot /

That's why whenever you happen upon me man, i’m peace’n out /

Peace!

.............

Ask people, I’m an asshole when it comes to music /

And i’ll remind -- it comes before you like there’s nothin' to it /

...not doing what you love is foolish /

On the cusp of stupid /

Why would you not, when you love to do this? /

...my dedication you could never doubt /

...Can’t keep a girlfriend, but I can keep putting records out /

These days, i’m only focused where my flow goes /

That’s why i’m no longer nice - to women that I don’t know /

On the road so, much things tend to move in slow-mo /

But so quick - you couldn't take a photo /

Just hit em with the pound G.U. logo /

How far down you wanna go though? /

Load the ship - we now leave for Qo’nos /

That’s why our final gig was a no show /

Cuz we were doin' warp in the promo /

Tryna get as far from the ozone /

As you and your crew are - from a dope flow /

After leavin' our mark on the whole globe /

Exactly, when I listen to RAP I wanna hear some actual LYRICS, not a bunch of indecipherable gibberish!!!

Even "Speedy Rappers" like Tech N9ne or Busta Rhymes can still be ~understood~ despite the high amount of words & syllables they manage to fit into a short song. But the Mumble Rappers got me like "The hell did he say????"

Example:

Playboi Carti - Flatbed Freestyle

https://youtu.be/szFh0BdHFkc

.....................................................

Here's what ~I~ hear.

Lyrics:

Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh!

Buh.

Buh buh buh buh!

..................

Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh ushy mirt day.

Pushy mella smoke dat wernk yay.

Fitty dolla smokin' ornk gey.

Unny dort yay.

Iffy need I'm smorkin'

...................

Effy nin I'm smorkin' ort gey.

Shippy nashin' nee-shum Mort breff.

I got shmoke all inna air.

Fut-dis-up in-yew-git-leff.

A.P. on my fuggin'-lap.

Stack-it-alright on a shop.

Yull-be-luffin' me A.O.

I got drip on A.O.L.

I got cash on A.O.L.

I'm-en-dooda Bobby Show.

Earnin'-chit -- by-by my-shelf.

I tudge-down-n shood-da gesh-tenk.

I tudge-down-N-git-my finnies-wett.

Mommy's sketti gold head.

Raleigh-round on Mo-Ped.

Mah-bish ot'ta-packa-shed.

Pot-dat benny Cap'Nin Dead.

Pishie-shock-me Eye-Kaint-Feel-Muh-Leg.

My-bee-yocky she dun-need-no-hand.

Dish-flow with the Dawn dish.

Dish-flow with the Dime-ish dish.

Dat-way-Yukon-Bombay.

In L.A. eye-smoke dat gey.

In L.A. eye-lerrim-shlett.

Them-bish-we-kish-We-Gay-You-Bet.

Eye-fut-dem-bish-en-givvit-beck.

Eye-nun-on-her she-make-me-lax.

Dat-gun-on-me eye-ken-ott-leck.

Yull-be-rotchy getty-klap.

Icky-dah-bah-yors-but-you-gett-klap.

Eye-tuk-da-lil-boi--right-off-of-deh-map.

We-kill-dem-boys--right-here-right-in-da-trap.

Eye-Lemon-Leena-here-for-a-Relapse.

Eye-Fet-Dat-Bih-He-Runnin-Runnin-Laps.

Yew-tudge-down-in-my-sea-yew-better-Tap.

Dat-Bitch-Round-Here She-Nurse-She-Got-A-Tap.

Eye-Seen-Dat-Bish-Run-Round-In-Newy-Cat.

Dat-Bish-Wit-Me-N-Now-She-Own-A-Pet.

On-Side-Side N' Wearin' A Crack.

On-A-Shy-Shy-He-Hearin'-A-Gat.

On-A-Shy-Shy-Ev'ry-Day-Wit-Black.

On-A-Shy-Shy-Ee-Yay-Yay-Yeh.

KEE-LEE-LEEN. TO-MY-LANE.

OOH-MY-PAINT.

OOH-MY-PAINT.

TO-MY-LEENE.

TO-MUH-LANE.

ON-MAH-BAYNTE.

ON-MAH-BAYNTE.

ON-MAH-BAYNTE.

ON-MAH-BAYNTE.

ON-MAH-BAYNTE.

ON-MAH-BAYNTE.

TO-MY-LEENE.

TO-MY-LANE.

ON-MAH-BAYNTE.

ON-MAH-BAYNTE.

(instrumental)

I try to give everything a chance at least once, in case I might find something good.

Here's what I like.

.......................

Rock / Industrial / Metal:

Slayer, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Tool, A Perfect Circle, Smashing Pumpkins, Dredg, Fear Factory, Korn, Slipknot, MUDVAYNE, Mushroom Head, KMFDM, VNV Nation, ELUVIETIE.

............................

Foreign Stuff:

~Japanese~

DIR EN GREY, MUCC, Camui Gackt, Malice Mizer, The Gazette, Luna Sea, L'arc en ciel.

~German:~

RAMMSTEIN, Oomph.

~Finnish:~

TURMION KATILOT, Ruoska.

~Polish:~

Lady Pank.

~French:~

Indochine.

..................

~80s Stuff:~

Duran Duran, Men At Work, Pat Benetar, Depeche Mode, New Order, Joy Division, The Smiths (the Smiths is 80s, right?). Paula Abdul, Prince, Michael Jackson.

...................

Classic Rock:

ELO, Elton JOHN, The Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Fleetwood Mac, HEART, Rush, SuperTramp.....

...................

Rap / Hip-Hop:

Wu Tang, Bone Thugs, 2pac, Biggie, Cypress Hill, House of Pain, NWA, Nas, Mos Def, Busta Rhymes, Tribe Called Quest, Beastie Boys, Rhyme Asylum, The Four Owls, Vinnie Paz (Jedi Mind Tricks), iLL Bill, Necro, Mister Hyde, Eminem, D12, PaceWon.... And my personal idol -- Greydon Square.

.....................

Country Music:

Reba McEntire, Pam Tillis, Lorrie Morgan, Hank Williams Jr, Willie Nelson, JOHNNY Cash....

A little bit of Garth Brooks ("Standing Outside The Fire" still jams!)... Ummmm... First Aid Kit I guess??? I mean they're ~country-inspired~ so it kinda counts I think.

[Also, I couldn't ~STAND~ country as a kid, but later on I grew to enjoy it, Reba has songs that'll straight up make me cry]

................................

"Music makes me forget myself, my real position; it transports me to some other position not my own. Under the influence of music it seems to me that I feel what I do not really feel, that I understand what I do not understand, that I can do what I cannot do. I explain it by the fact that music acts like yawning, like laughter: I am not sleepy, but I yawn when I see someone yawning; there is nothing for me to laugh at, but I laugh when I hear people laughing.... Music carries me immediately and directly into the mental condition of the man who composed it. My soul merges with his and together with him I pass from one condition into another, but why this happens I don't know."

~LEO TOLSTOY

....................................

Good Kid, Mad City is actually not a bad album. It tells a ~coherent~ story, which is more than I can say for anything by Playboi Carti. I can't even make out what that guy is saying in his songs....

Rap stagnated because people got addicted to the "ABBIDY-DABBIDY-DOOBITY" triplets flow, mumbled half audible lyrics and those ratchet Trap Beats.

I would say it really depends on what you define as "Rap."

And there are many different sub-genres of Rap, just as there are different sub-genres of Rock.

There's your classic retro 80s Rap like LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys, Run DMC, etc.

There's G-Funk like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog, Warren G & Nate Dogg.

There's Gangsta Rap like 2pac & Biggie.

There's "cerebral" Rap like Wu Tang Clan, Grave Diggaz, Jedi Mind Tricks, Company Flow.

There's "Horror Rap" like Insane Clown Posse (who owe much of their style to Esham, as does early Eminem -- the dude literally says in a track "I'm a cross between Manson, Esham & Ozzy").

There's dark abstract rap like Cage (Chris Palko) -- and his later albums like "Depart From Me" & "Kill The Architect" dabble in an Industrial sound that's kinda reminiscent of bands like Skinny Puppy & OhGr.

There's "Conscious Rap" like Common, Talib Kweli & Mos Def.... Also, Sage Francis & B. Dolan.

There's super underground stuff like Eyedea, who made tracks that were practically art. Like "Music Music" and "Birth of A Fish" and "Here For You."

There's Rock Rap like Kid Rock (he ended up going fully into Country).

There's also purely Instrumental stuff like The Avalanches, Nujabes, Vanilla.

There's "Melodic Singing Rap" like Bone Thugs N Harmony.

Rap / Hip Hop was diverse ~ even before it was fully mainstream.

DEA --- Open up!

Guy --- It was just lyrics, I swear!!!

I bought Skullcandy Ink buds primarily because I like ~bass~

I found an old set of the "flat pasta noodle wire" type Inks when I was helping a friend clean out his garage, I was like "These look interesting, can I have em?" And he was like "Sure, go ahead" so I took them home and I used them.

It was my first time ever hearing that particular brand of buds.

Soooo much frigging bass, it was a surprise to me. But dear Lord were they FRAGILE. The flat style cables were prone to breaking, so your stereo buds would quickly become mono.

I would go on Ebay and buy new ones, and every time they would last me a month, tops. Then I found the Ink Plus, which is a revised model with proper ROUND cables, not Flat Pasta Noodles.

I bought multiple pairs with the expectation that these would ~also~ be prone to cable tear, but to my surprise they haven't "gone mono" on me yet.

I have 4 pairs. I take good care of them, I try not to drop whatever I've got them plugged into (hard sudden tugs aren't great for cables, or my ears ~ OWWWW).

I like them. They might not impress hardcore Audiophiles who are used to more costly options, but for me it's satisfactory. I just like the bass. It's nice and thumpy, which is great for Hip Hop.

Also, if you want a nice cheap pair of Over Ear Cup Headphones, try One Odio A71. Those are pretty nice. They aren't gunna be as fancy as Sennheisers or whatever, but it's satisfactory for my tastes. I tried the silver and brown Blue Tooth model and it was a little too "Bright" for me, the regular wired A71 has a much warmer, subdued sound.

They were decent when they were making stuff like The Fake Sound of Progress, but then they switched to being an Emo band. Lol. Even without the allegations against Ian -- they were very mediocre and boring.

There's better bands out there.

Dredg, Minus the Bear, Fair To Midland.

And then you have a murky situation such as ELO vs ELO Part 2.

"""In 1988 drummer Bev Bevan approached Jeff Lynne, wanting to record another ELO album.[2] Lynne declined to participate, so Bevan signaled that he intended to continue the band without him.[3] Lynne, however, objected over use of the ELO name, and the final agreement reached between the two resulted in ELO officially disbanding and Bevan forming a new band in 1989 called Electric Light Orchestra Part Two.[4] Another term of the agreement was that Lynne would get a percentage of ELO Part II's record royalties.""

Didn't New Order form from the ashes of Joy Division?

What song do I feel perfectly encapsulates the feeling of INSANITY?????

https://youtu.be/Ka0boB28wUo

THE CARDIACS -- INSECT HOOFS ON LASSIE

Go check out DIR EN GREY - Footsteps In The Lonely Valley

https://youtu.be/davLLY1X1ig

"I have no idea what you’re referring to."

Shinobi VS Dragon Ninja is a song by Lost Prophets, it features drop tune bass, DJ scratching, and a really quick tempo.

Basically it's a Nu Metal style song.

It's certainly better than "Rooftops" and all the other Emo crap they put out later. But Shinobi (and the album Fake Sound Of Progress) was made before the switch to Emo. I remember grabbing the song off the old "MP3 dot Com" website, back when Lost Prophets were very much still underground.

Their old sound was more comparable to something like a Dredg, or a Deftones, or an Incubus. But what they turned into later with the Emo boom was just "meh."

Would you agree that "Fake Sound of Progress" was their one good album, and all the Mainstream Emo Sellout stuff was whack? They could have been a great Nu Metal band if they hadn't made the switch to Emo.

K-Pop sucks.

Japanese Rock is actually pretty good though. "Arche" and "UROBOROS" and "Dum Spiro Spero" by DIR EN GREY are some pretty damn good albums. Hell, even some of their older stuff from back when they were still a "Visual Kei" gothic shock rock band is pretty good ("Gauze" & "Kisou" & "Vulgar").

I think I just dislike K-Pop simply for the fact that it is POP... Most of those bands are essentially Korean clones of the Backstreet Boys, or N-Sync, or 98 Degrees (which themselves were all just copying off New Kids On The Block).

Yeaaaaah.... He's a creep.

Someone will disagree but I think JC's "Hurt" cover and his cover of "If You Could Read My Mind" by Gordon Lightfoot are on equal...... footing ...

That was not planned. I just kinda backed myself into it.

He died not long after the song was released.

https://youtu.be/2C43VGo5DjI

Suge Knight? You're in for a trip.

https://youtu.be/31w2reSfxnY

"Worked" as in you worked as Stage Security for one of their live shows???

I would make some statement about "How many people still adore and worship Michael Jackson?" but MJ didn't straight up send a bunch of texts to women asking if he could do creepy shxt to their kids.

And Ian did.

Whiney boring Emo crud.

Their album "Fake Sound of Progress" was better, back when they were a little underground band uploading songs to "MP3 dot com" (the early 2000s version of MySpace) but after that they went downhill and became just another Emo band like AFI & MCR and whatever... Yuck.

I mean, aside from the charges against Ian for being a Nasty Nonce, Lost Prophets is just incredibly boring. Nothing interesting going on. At least on TFSoP they had a varied sound and it wasn't all just Emo, it was more like a spacey Nu-Metal.