Still, as a lifelong representative of hip-hop, I really am bothered whenever the drum gets treated like melody’s stepchild.

My major beef is that when this anti-drum bigotry rears its ugly head…it usually stems from an assumption that melody is the prime determinant of musicality, the core element of music to which rhythm is always secondary.

And it’s largely due to this perception of rhythm as subordinate to melody that hip-hop has so often faced an uphill battle to earn respect as a legitimate musical form.

I’m sure you can all recite the hater’s anthem by heart: “How is that music? It’s all just drum beats and talking, they don’t even sing!”

And this bias infects heads inside the culture too, as reflected by the often overblown praise for emcees like Cee-lo or Dre who shift towards singing, as if it were inherently more “artistic” or “musical” than emceeing.

The musical=melodic equation is just never healthy for hip-hop. ~Jay Smooth on Respect for the Drum

This quote was taken from the post Return of the King, and Respect for the Drum where Smooth shared his thoughts about the drum and Hip Hop.

The “How is that music?” part is dead on as well as the part about emcees who shift towards singing getting a lot of praise. They crossover too and can end up pretty successful. This post was written in December of 2003 and all this time later this strategy still works. Drake anyone?

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