I was brainwashed...

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Well technically, rap is a vocal technique and not a music genre, some of my favorite bands that use it are Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, and Linkin Park. If you mean the musical genre of hip-hop, then I would suggest some of the 80s hip-hop bands such as Beastie Boys or Run DMC.

I like The Beastie Boys.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpW4inaD3o8[/youtube]







But you youngsters can keep your L.L. Cool Bean and your Fifty-Cent M&M's...

Though the Beastie Boys' lyrics can be a bit simplistic and low on content, I must say their flow style is damn catchy, and Ill Communication and Hello Nasty have some of the greatest beats ever. So I have to agree. In terms of sound, the Beastie Boys are excellent. A rare case of actually great turn-off-your-brain-and-just-listen-type hip hop.


Though, to be fair, L. L. Cool J. has been around for a while. And while I wouldn't count him as a great rapper (or even a decent one), one song of his, "Mama Said Knock You Out", might possibly fall into the category of great turn-off-your-brain-and-just-listen-type hip hop. Mostly thanks to Marley Marl's beat... Actually, entirely thanks to Marley Marl's beat. The lyrics are kinda crap. But the beat is excellent.

Non-ironical gangsta rap is for the most part unappealing, but so is much mainstream ballad pop. The musical styles are not inherently unenjoyable.

Some of it is just plain funny.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjLw28UVWEU[/youtube]

Some is just plain good.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv759wmsSFk[/youtube]

Some at least contains seemingly sincere emotion.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR4UAeCQefA[/youtube]

My position used to be basically the same as yours - no objection to rap in general, but never heard any that moved or engaged me. Until I heard this, from what is now one of my favourite albums of all time:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85E9Q5Wx210[/youtube]

Of course, if you want both funny and good, you'll sometimes have to make a detour into jazz-rap.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8fIVTH0TiM[/youtube]

Most people on this board don't understand Swedish. "Funny" may mean something to you and me who understand the language, but for those who don't, not so much.

Here's some funny rap in English:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTySwu39ZXA[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQQJ1OhARWk[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGL5aE7Wayo[/youtube]

True.

I used to be biased and hate rap, like most of you guys, but after several years, I discovered that even hip hop has an amazing underground scene.

If you are willing to have a open mind towards rap, without the fake imagery, but with clever, witty and criticizing lytics for a couple of minutes, I'd strongly recommand Aesop Rock and as a second, probably Busdriver.

After that, you'll just have to google for undergroup hip hop if you're interested.

P.S. I'd post some youtube videos here, but because I'm a new member here, I'm not allowed to yet.

I used to hate hip hop.

Later, I came to a certain mindset about music where I listen to them, and look for their unique good points. I didn't like country either, and still generally don't, but like hip hop, it had elements to it that were quite good, if you take it on it's terms, and are willing to admit which moments are good.

One thing I particularly enjoy about hip hop now is when they use samples creatively. When the artists manage to take a source completely out of context, or combine it with others to give it a completely different flavor. I kind of think of hip hop artists as junk-yard sculptors, who've taken a mish mash of items that shouldn't work, and make it work. Not only that, the way in which it works is often times a niche that's been carved out, and reserved for hip hop. Some melodic elements and soundscapes would sound absurd and awful in other music, yet when I hear it in a hip-hop context, it makes me smile. As a person who used to loath hip hop, that's powerful stuff.

All that said, I'm not big on 'bout 90% of the lousy vocals that get put over the music....
I can only take so many permutations of ways to claim "I'm hot s**t."
But then, I've never been lyrically oriented. I prefer a melody or sound-scape to tell it's own story.

I was a late convert to rap. I don't like all of it by any means. But to dismiss it categorically is pretty ignorant, as ignorant as dismissing any entire genre of anything. By delving into rap I feel like I understand African-Americans and their culture a lot better - not by getting all of my info from hiphop music, but by absorbing what it has to say and cross-referencing it with other input from black activists, philosophers, other black-dominated music genres, even comedians.
For example I immersed myself in a sort of primer of gangsta/ghetto rap, consisting of the following albums:
Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die, Life After Death
Nas - Illmatic
Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt
Dr. Dre - The Chronic
Jeru the Damaja - Sun Rises in the East
Even just this small segment, when I gave them all five listens apiece, caused me to absorb by osmosis a lot of information and attitude about racism, poverty, history, hopelessness vs. striving for betterment, and yes, a great deal of posturing, slang and preferred product references.
This is coming from an open-minded metalhead whose preferences formerly ranged from Slayer to Satriani, Metallica to Ministry, Carcass to Melvins, Tool to Minor Threat.