Compare And Contrast Hip Hop And Rock

Music is everywhere you look. Turn on the T. V. and you can’t help but hear a theme song for a show, or a commercial featuring an up-and coming band. The largest portion of these ads take take their choice of music from Indie-rock and the Rap / Hip-hop musical genres. It is impossible to avoid (not that you are trying) because it is in all areas and facets of everyday life. These ads all focus on getting your attention with the music.

The music keeps you interested in the ads.

Essay Example on Compare And Contrast Music Genres

In turn, you sit though the commercial, with the prospect that you associate this killer tune with their product. Next thing you know, you’re walking down the aisle at the local Wal*Mart, humming the tune, and you remember who’s product it was associated with. You purchase the product and the deed is done. What makes these musical genres different? There are a number of poignant differences, the biggest being the lyrical content of each style of musical genre.

Indie-rock, for instance, is generally comprised of emotional topics, such as love and the loss thereof.

It deals with the issues of self-loathing, being misunderstood and not fitting in. Hip-hop and Rap music on the other hand, tends to focus more on materialism, as well as some underlying emotional and sociological topics; gangs, drugs, sex, and alcohol. These mixed with hate and racially charges lyrics, creates a large range of emotion that strikes chords with the youth of today.

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This is one of the underlying factors in Rap and Hip-hop’s popularity. Another big difference between Rap and Indie-rock is the “sound. Indie-rock is build on the Rock n’ Roll foundation of acoustic and electric guitars melding with a good bass line and hard hitting drums. In Indie-rock, the music is as important as the lyrical content. If your lyrics are exceptional, but the accompaniment doesn’t fit the words, the song destined to disappoint. Rap and Hip-hop music, on the other hand, start with a beat. This beat generally consists of a bass line and percussion, with the occasional guitar. The rhyme or rap is built on top of, and around this beat.

As a result, the rap will more often then not mesh up well with the beat, as it was written with it in mind. In contrast, Indie-rock starts with the lyrics, and then music is written to match the lyrics as the artist sees fit. Economics provides yet another difference between the two genres. Indie-rock tends to be driven by middle class suburban angst. This fact tends to attracts people of that economic and sociological group. Rap and Hip-hop have their roots in the ghetto. Hence, the fans tend to be urban and in a lower income bracket.

With a large portion of today young adults listening to music on a daily basis, it is no surprise that marketing has moved from jingles, to tracks off of our Cd’s. With most young adults exposed to these two genres of music by their friends, co-workers, and classmates, we can see the similarities in these two forms of music. Both appeal to youth and the undertones of every day life. Rap lends it’s power to the struggling who are disconnected from everyday life. Indie-rock serves the same purpose for the more fortunate yet, still disconnected. Advertisers choose the music they do because today’s youth is tomorrow’s economy.