top 5 rap-rock songs

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bootlegs don't count

(my ulterior motive is to prove that rap-rock doesn't actually exist)

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 31 October 2002 18:43 (twenty-three years ago)

"walk this way" -- run dmc (rip) and aerosmith
"no sleep till brooklyn" -- beasties

― JasonD, Thursday, 31 October 2002 18:52 (twenty-three years ago)

"Run-DMC notched rap's first platinum album, "Raising Hell," in 1986 and the biggest hit from that record, a remake of Aerosmith's hard-rock anthem "Walk This Way," was the first hugely successful marriage of rap and rock, styles that many had believed were antithetical. Today, they are deeply intertwined."

Are they?

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 31 October 2002 18:54 (twenty-three years ago)

i mean, "rap-rock" is supposedly what all the kidz listen to now, but i can't think of a single group, playing rock-type music, fronted by someone who can actually rap with a modern flow we could recognize from the rap world. limp bizness et al get called rap-rock continually but just a lack of note values in the vocal line does not a rap make; otherwise DRI would be rap rock innit?

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 31 October 2002 18:58 (twenty-three years ago)

erm... what about "N2Gether Now"? Although the 'rock' is kind of missing.

― Dave M. (rotten03), Thursday, 31 October 2002 19:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What about Candiria?

― Kris (aqueduct), Thursday, 31 October 2002 19:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Corn Cob Pipe - BTK
Beats Dont Stop - BTK
Peppyrock - BTK
Superchile - BTK
No Sleep To Brooklyn - Beastie Boys

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Thursday, 31 October 2002 19:14 (twenty-three years ago)

BODY COUNT MUTHAFUCKAAAAAA

― s magnet, Thursday, 31 October 2002 19:21 (twenty-three years ago)

Off the top of my head and could probably stand some revision:

Hip-hop incorporating rock:
DJ Z-Trip, "Rockstar" (and "Rockstar II")
BDP, "Dope Beat" (AC/DC!)
RUN-D.M.C., "Rock Box" (and Chris Rock's "Champagne" by extension, heh)
Beastie Boys, "Looking Down the Barrel Of A Gun"
Public Enemy feat. Anthrax, "Bring the Noise"

Rock incorporating hip-hop:
The Clash, "The Magnificent Seven" (even if said rapping is pretty cheesy - but it beats "Rapture")
Beck, "Loser"
The Beta Band, "Won"
Gorillaz, "Clint Eastwood" (which is probably "rock" in a very loose sense anyways, being produced by Dan the Automator and sounding more like reggae than anything)
Blondie, "Rapture" (which works better as a disco song anyways)

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Thursday, 31 October 2002 19:29 (twenty-three years ago)

"Doesn't Even Matter" -- Staind.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 31 October 2002 19:34 (twenty-three years ago)

why isn't the beta's "won" just straight-out hiphop?

― Mitch Lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Thursday, 31 October 2002 19:43 (twenty-three years ago)

Def Jam owns this thread. For some reason, it seems like no one points out that Kid Rock/Limp Bizkit/Korn et al explicitly owe their entire collective sounds to mid-to-late '80s Def Jam like "Licensed to Ill", "King of Rock", "Rock the Bells", "She Watch Channel Zero" etc. Merging rap with rock (be it AC/DC, Slayer, or Aerosmith) was done best right at the beginning.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 31 October 2002 19:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Sterling has accidentally sent me into hysterics.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 31 October 2002 19:52 (twenty-three years ago)

"rap-rock" is supposedly what all the kidz listen to now, but i can't think of a single group, playing rock-type music, fronted by someone who can actually rap with a modern flow we could recognize from the rap world.

But there are black performers who can't rap (ahem, Puffy?), but they are still considered rappers. Just because you are bad at something doesn't mean that you can't be classified as doing it (God that's an awful sentence). I mean, Greg Ostertag's a terrible basketball player, but he is a professional basketball player nonetheless.

And why the fuck hasn't anyone mentioned Linkin Park? I mean, they have a designated screamer and a designated rapper. How much more rap-rock can you get?

― Yancey (ystrickler), Thursday, 31 October 2002 20:04 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah i fucked that up entirely. but you know what i'm talking about.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 31 October 2002 20:11 (twenty-three years ago)

Doesn't Mos Def have a "rock" band behind him now, called "Black Jack Johnson" (sometimes referred to just as "Mos Def's Rock Band")? maybe a rapper making rock doesn't fit the question. Not sure they're any good, either.

― arch Ibog (arch Ibog), Thursday, 31 October 2002 21:05 (twenty-three years ago)

why isn't the beta's "won" just straight-out hiphop?

Well it could be, but I'm talking about rock bands incorporating hip-hop, technically (and vice-versa, ask "why isn't 'Dope Beat' rock?").

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Thursday, 31 October 2002 21:36 (twenty-three years ago)

not sure what tracks... but rage against the machine probably have some pretty damned convincing crossovers stuff... biohazard probably deserves some mention amongst many of the above...new york hardcore had a lot of early fusion in that respect.

definitely none of this NU-metal shit in recent memory. i feel like it lacks any of the real power it should have to be worthy.

― msp, Thursday, 31 October 2002 21:37 (twenty-three years ago)

Biohazard was just as bad as any nu-metal band though. And who could forget Urban Dance Squad? Or Anthrax I'm The Man?

Can't we just call the whole rap/rock fusion thing a bad idea, and forget all about it?

― Siegbran (eofor), Thursday, 31 October 2002 21:58 (twenty-three years ago)

'Bring The Noise' with Anthrax wasnt so bad

how does Campag Velocet's 'To Lose La Trek' fit in? terrible 'rapping' but strangely brilliant at the same time - i feel no shame in loving it - its probably not 'rock' enough tho - only jangly Clashy guitars in more of a skunk-rock style

― blueski, Thursday, 31 October 2002 22:05 (twenty-three years ago)

The Moody Blues invented this genre back in the '60s with the coda of "Knights in White Satin."

― Mike Appelstein (mike a), Thursday, 31 October 2002 22:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Does Eminem stuff like "White America" and "Lose Yourself" count?

Otherwise my fave is the Kutmaster Kurt remix of Linkin Park's "In The End".

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 1 November 2002 00:23 (twenty-three years ago)

'Burn Hollywood Burn' - The Roots, Zack De La Rocha and Chuck D.

There's probably someone else on there too, but I forget.

― James, Friday, 1 November 2002 04:14 (twenty-three years ago)

1) Rage against the Machine - Bullet in the Head

2) Mike Ladd - 5000 Miles

3) RatM - Take the Power Back

4) Saul Williams - 1987 or Om Nia Merican

5) RatM - that one really hip-hop sounding one off Evil Empire

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 1 November 2002 07:23 (twenty-three years ago)

$$ limp biz f meth - n2gether now

$$ x-ecutioners f linkin park - its goin down

$$ korn - freak on a leash

$$ ratm - i like all their songs

$$ swizz beatz f metallica and ja rule - the FUCKING RAP METAL APOCALYPSE!!

― ep, Friday, 1 November 2002 08:45 (twenty-three years ago)

the best of those are ITS GOING DOWN and freak on a leash

― ep, Friday, 1 November 2002 09:02 (twenty-three years ago)

faith no more and b.o.o.y.a.t.r.i.b.e., 'another body murdered'

i remember the helmet/house of pain collab on the flip to this being pretty ace too...

sxxxx

― stevie (stevie), Friday, 1 November 2002 11:35 (twenty-three years ago)

"Freak On A Leash" came perilously close to redeeming Korn, at least in those opening bars.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 1 November 2002 15:20 (twenty-three years ago)

Personally, I don't refer to a band as "rap/rock" unless the vocalist seems to know what the hell they're doing when it comes to "flowing"...thus ruling out POD, Papa Roach, Limpkin Bizpark, Korn, Staind, and just about anyone else y'all try to call "rap/rock".

Anyway, as for rap/rock songs...

Mr. Bungle "Squeeze Me Macaroni"
Candiria "Without Water", "Voices from the Lexicon"
Green Theory "Emotions", "Smear", "Loopy"
G-Love and Special Sauce "My Baby's Got Sauce", "Time For Livin'", etc
Fun Lovin' Criminals - every song they ever did
311 - I prefer the Grassroots album, but just about anything
Red Hot Chili Peppers - anything pre-Californication
Rage Against the Machine - every frickin' song they ever did
Infectious Grooves/Suicidal Tendencies - same as RATM
24-7 Spyz - ditto
Black Jack Johnson Project - all of 'em except the Hendrix cover

...not to mention the experimental stuff done by folks like Buckethead, Extrakd, DJ Shadow, etc.

...also not to mentiona the hip-hop BANDS with live instrumentation, such as...

Spearhead
The Roots (who I saw cover a Nirvana song recently)
Black Eyed Peas
Public Enemy (that's right, they play with a full band these days)
Cypress Hill

So much for proving rap/rock doesn't exist, retard. :D

― Nickalicious, Friday, 1 November 2002 19:15 (twenty-three years ago)

What Hendrix song is Mos covering?

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 1 November 2002 20:02 (twenty-three years ago)

"Land of the New Rising Sun"...one of Hendrix's later-era songs, which is very beautiful...it's cool, cause I never realized what a smooth and clear singing voice Mos had until I saw them do this song.

That band (Black Jack Johnson Band) is straight-up amazing. Not just because it is made up of Mos Def (Blackstar), Bernie Worrell (ex-PFunk and Talking Heads keyboardist), Dr. Know (ex-Bad Brains guitarist), Doug Wimbish (ex-Living Colour bassist), and Will Calhoun (ex-Living Colour drummer)...but they've got a great chemistry between 'em, and write amazing songs.

I'm kinda mad, though, cause they STILL haven't released their album yet. I'll have to make do for now with the videotape I've got of the time they played on Reverb on HBO.

― Nickalicious, Friday, 1 November 2002 20:10 (twenty-three years ago)

So much for proving rap/rock doesn't exist, retard. :D

Doesn't necessarily make it all good, though. ;-) Then again keep in mind I come from the point of view that if the members of RATM had never met in the first place, the world would be a much better place to live in.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 1 November 2002 23:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Ah, but how do you stand on the Chris Cornell/RatM merger, Ned? The single I heard rocked my ass to a surprising degree.

― Jordan (Jordan), Saturday, 2 November 2002 00:19 (twenty-three years ago)

but the guy from RATM doesn't rap, ditto Mike Patton (I almost just wrote 'Alex Patterson' haha), Anthony Keidis... Body Count counts because Ice-T's familiar with rap strategies, rhyme schemes. I mean would anybody say that dancehall MCs do "rap"?? Don't even get me started about the "rapping" on the first Massive Attack album, or whatever it is that Mos Def does. It's primitive - what Linkin Park or the Beasties do (and the others I mentioned, and others) sounds like "Basketball" by Kurtis Blow to me. That level of sophistication. "Rap" is a constantly changing set of certain styles, not just a technical definition of vocalizing (i.e. talking instead of singing a melody line - hell if that's all it took then Bob Dylan really would have "written the first rap song" as we have all heard suggested).

about two years ago my friend Mike played with a girl named April - she called herself Mary J Juana - she was 16 at the time and she had CRAZY rhymes, and kind of tough, sort of like Da Brat. one of her raps they did over "Sweet Leaf" and she turned into a f'in bandleader on stage, it was incredible. She dropped hard on the vamp and when she was getting ready to finish she'd give it a little business with the body movement and the band would go bananas on the chorus it was JAW-DROPPING.

Over some rhythmically interesting rock it can be hot but usually it seems like rock is too four-to-the-floor straightforward for voices to slip around and play off the beats. I wasn't into Body Count when they were doing stuff but maybe I'd like them? Ice-T's kind of hit and miss. The Eminem stuff I can believe, for some reason.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 2 November 2002 02:35 (twenty-three years ago)

1. Bob Dylan - "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream"
2. Squeeze - "Up the Junction"
3. Dee Dee King - "I Want What I Want When I Want It"
4. Donovan - "The Trip"
5. Pet Shop Boys - "West End Girls"

― Evan, Saturday, 2 November 2002 05:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Body Count was pretty horrible in terms of the music. I mean, it was a fun idea, but the actual results were blah. And De La Rocha does rap on RATM. Its not subtle or smooth, but he's rapping like 75% of the time.

― bnw (bnw), Saturday, 2 November 2002 08:29 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't think it doesn't exist, Tracer. I do think Patton et al were rapping (try writing out the melody lines sometime: early Kurtis Blow was more melodic) (nb I know "rap is too music" if anyone gets the wrong idea from prev parenthetical), just not all that interestingly. That said, I literally can't believe nobody's said "Sabotage"--easily the Beastie Boys' most rap-rock moment, even moreso than anything on Licensed to Ill, meaning in the post-Korn et al sense than in the early-Def-Jam-w/Eddie Martinez-solos sense.

― M Matos (M Matos), Saturday, 2 November 2002 09:52 (twenty-three years ago)

(ok, I "literally" can believe it, I'm just surprised)

― M Matos (M Matos), Saturday, 2 November 2002 09:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Ah, but how do you stand on the Chris Cornell/RatM merger, Ned?

Haven't heard it, therefore cannot say.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 2 November 2002 14:25 (twenty-three years ago)

"up the junction" is my favourite answer so far

"The Clash, "The Magnificent Seven" (even if said rapping is pretty cheesy - but it beats "Rapture")": Nate u r bonkahs

― mark s (mark s), Saturday, 2 November 2002 14:38 (twenty-three years ago)

People, the only answers are as follows:

Time Zone - World Destruction

Faith No More - Epic

Faith No More - We Care A Lot

Beastie Boys - Sabotage

RUN-DMC -Aerosmith - Walk This Way

That is all.

― JM, Saturday, 2 November 2002 16:28 (twenty-three years ago)

"Epic"??
"We Care a Lot"??
Are you outta your blorpin' mind??

"Up the Junction" eats those songs for breakfast and pisses them all on top of the old Frank Sinatra albums that my grandma listens to.

All together now: "1-2 1-2, BOOM she-she BOOM she-she BOOM she BOOM. I beg for some forgiveness / But beggin's not my business. / And so it's my assumption / I'm really up the junction." Awwwwwww yeah... A stone classic no less.

― Evan, Saturday, 2 November 2002 19:08 (twenty-three years ago)

does the straight-aheadness of rock that i mentioned demand "old-school" type rapping? - maybe it's wrong to call it primitive but no REAL rapper these days even thinks about hanging their name on this style. the Beasties have taken their music ever more rock, but the raps are stuck in 1988. it fits a technical definition of rap-rock, as do some of the other things mentioned here, lost of which I like, but Linkin Park's not exactly impressing Eric Sermon or Eminem with their delivery. exists: sure, but it's not "deeply intertwined". just look at that NME list of "cool people" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs, White Stripes, blahbitty blah, and Nelly stuck in there at #9. it's a huge gulf.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 2 November 2002 23:33 (twenty-three years ago)

G. Love and Special Sauce is a fantastic call by the way.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 2 November 2002 23:35 (twenty-three years ago)

six years pass...

Edan.

― Moka, Thursday, 6 August 2009 21:50 (sixteen years ago)

The Roots - Seed 2.0

Does it count?

― Moka, Thursday, 6 August 2009 21:55 (sixteen years ago)

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