Would Elvis Have Liked Rap Music?

[ELVIS_]

Would Elvis have liked Rap "Music" if he was still alive?

Please Remark: Yes or No and Leave a reason why you think Elvis would or would not like Rap.

Thanks

[debtdbruno]

hard to give an objective opinion as I hate it.
Honestly?.....I don't think so.....but who knows

[Diane]

I don't think he would have like it either nor the street gang look that goes with it.

[King Of The Whole World]

I don't think he would have like it either nor the street gang look that goes with it.

LOL. I don't think I could see Elvis with his pants down to his knees.

[Nicole Presley]

I think he wouldn´t like rap because in rap people only talk and don´t think. And because rappers always insult other people.

[J.P]

i think he would have liked rap music cos he was all kinda music appreciator.

[elvia7]

LOL. I don't think I could see Elvis with his pants down to his knees.

Good comment Chris

[ELVIS_]

so far we got some interesting views on the subject.
I agree with Nichole that due to the negative nature of it and most these rappers can't sing to save their lives.
The one's that try to sing are so off key that it makes Mike Tyson in The Hangover sound like a pro.

The Only thing that sounds like Elvis doing Rap I found was this..lol
Starting at (0:29)

[KPM]

No, because of the negative message that a lot of rap sends and possibly he may have thought (like Chuck Berry) it is more backbeat and rhyme than it is music.

[Raised on Rock]

Rap is not that far away from Talking Blues, and Hip Hop is the grandson of R&B. We know Elvis was an R&B freak and loved the blues.

I think mostly he would have objected to the street drugs, crime, gangs and pimps image/message of it. But not everything in rap and hip hop is about that, and there are some smart people talented enough to go beyond the frivolous clichés. So I guess, as always with Elvis, it wouldn't have been about the musical genere but about the performer and the song.

I think if Elvis would be around today he would have sticked to his: I like all kinds of music IF its good... So maybe he would have liked a few performers and a few songs. But no, not a fan at all of the whole rap aura I guess. Although he loved guns and bling! lol

[ELVIS_]

I hate to burst your bubble but Rap is not even close to R&B or Blues by it self. I had asked a rapper once if Rap is like a modern day blues and he laughed at me and said, "it's not even close". I asked some guys at work that were playing it in their car if it's like blues, I got the same reaction. So If it's not a forum of expression like blues then all that's left is a Bad Attitude with bad "music", by the way Blues has a cord progression and either a trained or natural born "musician' to have an organized thinking process, natural or trained ear to put vocals to music, not a blabber-yapper-japper-yabba-dabba-do-do tude. Rap is just the epitome of people lowering their values of life and does nothing but provide a short cut to thinking.

I don't think Elvis would have done Rap cause it doesn't make sense to natural musician like him. Let's not forget that he did stayed away from certain types of music while alive.

[ELVIS_]

I think if Elvis would be around today he would have sticked to his: I like all kinds of music IF its good... So maybe he would have liked a few performers and a few songs. But no, not a fan at all of the whole rap aura I guess. Although he loved guns and bling! lol

I agree with this part, Raised On Rock

[Turbo]

Elvis, apparently didn't like Heavy Metal according to those who were close to him, so Rap would have to be a bigger "no" in my view.

You have to remember Elvis' age group. Some Rap is quite crude, too, of course it refers to love and sex.

If you think about it, the songs that Elvis chose from those brought to him, were melodic with a message or there was a definite "something" about the song. There was also a lot of talent in the writing and the musicality. The songs that were reported that Elvis personally liked, are similar to those he chose to sing.

When a young man, Elvis' music was modern for his age group, in his time, and had a good beat. Rap isn't the same type. In my view, it goes against his upbringing, his outlook.

If you place someone you know in Elvis' age group, with his background, how well read Elvis was - it would seem an impossibility, in my view. Someone who is raised with religion, in the South, raised to be respectful and to think of others, and practiced that daily, in my view, wouldn't go behind closed doors and listen to "f YOU". If my recollection is correct, Elvis didn't like Bowie. We know he resisted the Beatles because of what they represented at that time, the drugs and that they weren't roll models. So Rap? It is an impossibility.

In my view, and from what I've read when those close to Elvis were asked the question if he liked Heavy Metal; with regard to Rap, a definite "no" as it makes absolutely no sense and his friends said "no", too.

[Turbo]

Being helpful

Elvis didn't know much of hard rock artists
because he didn't listen to them on the radio or their records.

That was the only way he would know of them because he was not exposed to them


If he didn't like their music he would have no reason to want to meet them.
Then again, he really never expressed the desire to meet anyone. That goes for
The Beatles or anyone else.

Marty

He didn't care very much for any of that music, he thought it was a bunch of
noise.

Marty

[boquo2]

Rap is not that far away from Talking Blues, and Hip Hop is the grandson of R&B. We know Elvis was an R&B freak and loved the blues.

I think mostly he would have objected to the street drugs, crime, gangs and pimps image/message of it. But not everything in rap and hip hop is about that, and there are some smart people talented enough to go beyond the frivolous clichés. So I guess, as always with Elvis, it wouldn't have been about the musical genere but about the performer and the song.

I think if Elvis would be around today he would have sticked to his: I like all kinds of music IF its good... So maybe he would have liked a few performers and a few songs. But no, not a fan at all of the whole rap aura I guess. Although he loved guns and bling! lol

I think this is a fair assessment, but Elvis' age difference would also contribute to his lack of empathy with rappers.

[ELVIS_]

Marty Lacker

From what my older cousins told me, they never played Heavy Metal on the radio so Marty might be correct this time.
There's been lots of times Marty got his fact wrong or just wouldn't remember any of what was facts at all.
To quote Paul McCartney "Our fans know more about us than we do at times, they remember everything".

[Turbo]

From what my older cousins told me, they never played Heavy Metal on the radio so Marty might be correct this time.
There's been lots of times Marty got his fact wrong or just wouldn't remember any of what was facts at all.
To quote Paul McCartney "Our fans know more about us than we do at times, they remember everything".

I agree with you, "Elvis _"

[hounddog]

when i was at writing at Uni I used US Male and Guitar Man as an ealier step towrads rap than, Blondies Rapture which gets totted around a lot as being the first white rap song. The teacher said she would have to agree that U S Male had the rap swagger as did Guitar Man and in some ways much more so than Rapture.

Personally i don't think Elvis would have liked the negative tones in some rap, but it is as Raised on Rock said Rap is not that far away from talking blues. And there is gospel rap. But Elvis seemed to like big singers, full voices people that used their voices. He may have liked some of the non agressive rap, it's got a good beat.

[Raised on Rock]

...all that's left is a Bad Attitude with bad "music", ...a blabber-yapper-japper-yabba-dabba-do-do tude. Rap is just the epitome of people lowering their values of life and does nothing but provide a short cut to thinking.

Its funny, but that could have been a 50's news article trashing Elvis.

Now about the Blues/R&B - Rap/Hip-Hop link, here's some wiki cut and paste:

Much like dub music, hip hop as a DJing form started with no vocals and was purely of an electronic nature. However, the roots of spoken hip hop music are found in African-American music and ultimately African music, particularly that of the griots of West African culture.[17] The African-American traditions of signifyin', the dozens, and jazz poetry all influence hip hop music, as well as the call and response patterns of African and African-American religious ceremonies. Soul singer James Brown, and musical 'comedy' acts such as Rudy Ray Moore and Blowfly are often considered "godfathers" of hip hop music.
Within New York City, performances of spoken-word poetry and music by artists such as The Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron[18] and Jalal Mansur Nuriddin had a significant impact on the post-civil rights era culture of the 1960s and 1970s, and thus the social environment in which hip hop music was created.

Not that Rap is the same thing as blues or the modern blues, just as rock and roll wasn't either.

As a side note, rap music started as an effective way of expression from a segregated group of people, just as the blues, it was limited in resources and immediate, more wiki:

Rapping, also referred to as MCing or emceeing, is a vocal style in which the artist speaks lyrically, in rhyme and verse, generally to an instrumental or synthesized beat. Beats, almost always in 4/4 time signature, can be created by sampling and/or sequencing portions of other songs by a producer.[26] They also incorporate synthesizers, drum machines, and live bands. Rappers may write, memorize, or improvise their lyrics and perform their works a cappella or to a beat.

Blues in the pre-war era had african chants and rythms over european folksongs structures, Rap had funk,disco, and electronic music around, blues had diddley bows, old guitars and harmonicas, rap had turn tables and synths, blues had a train beat going from rural to early urban, rap had the hiper noise contaminated modern urban life, blues discovered the electric guitar, rap discovered hardware and software. They both rapped about their alienation and everyday life. "Im going to beat my woman until I get satisfied" was in the lyrics of Robert Johnson right? If rap is more sordid is because this times are.

When blues went mainstream it was mellowed, it got more complex, and richer. Rap, made of alienation and crime a look, that's the cinism of our times, but Rap wasn't that in the latter 70's and early 80's but more about social expression. In recent days some artists are going there again.

No I don't think Elvis would have done rap, and he most likely have disliked the latter 80's and 90's mainstream Snoop Dog type thing, but he might have respected some other kind of rappers.

[Brian Quinn]

No. Elvis was mainly interested in 'the voice'. Further, Elvis did not write his own songs and rarely made social or political comment in them.

Brian