Sunday, June 21, 2015

RAP-METAL APOLOGIA


Rap-metal (and all its permutations) has always been met with opprobrium, generally deserved, in a consensus so complete that the possibility of reconsideration is close to nil.  It is a music so illicit it's ostracized by even the most kneejerk contrarians.  Still, catch a millenial by the toe, and they'll probably be able to recite the lyrics to at least one Limp Bizkit song with alarming accuracy.  The breakdown of "Break Stuff" can send otherwise mild-mannered souls into mad Dionysian fits. GIVE ME SOMETHING TO BREAK, they cry. HOW BOUT YOUR FUCKIN FACE? they propose.  America, these are your sons and daughters.

The era of rap-metal, for all its popularity, will be stricken from historical record and written off as a collective mistake.  It was all of our fault.  But I remember.  I remember hearing Faith No More in the back of my mother's Subaru, when 92.3 was WXRK and the polished head of Matt Pinfield hosted The Buzz.  The Faith No More revival brought me back to two of rap-metal's finest moments: "Epic" and "We Care A Lot."  I'll give "We Care A Lot" a slight edge for the way Chuck Mosley's delivery matches the lyrics, affecting the boneheaded sincerity that "Institutionalized" and "TV Party" used to great effect.  This will always be better than Death Grips.

Keep on rap-rocking in the free world,
Rap Music Hysteria

5 comments:

  1. Never forget GLC made a nu-metal song in 2009 with a video where Bun B delivers a dead-eyed intro whilst wearing a Kraftwerk Man Machine-print cycling shirt: Take It Off

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  2. Good lord that is gorgeous.

    I gotta put together a mix of metal/rap crossovers, if only for bartenders tryna clear the joint out at the end of the night.

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  3. Next time some simp comes sniveling up to me asking questions about conscious rap I'm gonna be like "yeah like Faith No More? hell yeah those dudes rule, they care A LOT"

    Also word to Body Count, fuck a vegan

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  4. Yeah that version of "Institutionalized" is gr8. I like that Body Count morphed into the chugga-chugga wiggacore sound they helped create. "Talk Shit, Get Shot" is the best revenge-killing video I seen since the video where the members of Terror work at a school and go postal on the students with mop handles and meat cleavers.

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