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Ken Rose's avatar

Rap, before it was called so has been around all sorts of genres. Country has a certain kind of song which is really talk-sung which usually tells a complicated story.

Hereโ€™s Johnny Cash rapping in 1969.

https://youtu.be/WOHPuY88Ry4?si=_Vxs85485VOy6L5O

Ken Rose's avatar

There were Rockabilly songs like 30 Flight Rock and Hot Rod

Lincoln. Iโ€™m sure if you look hard enough you can find examples in a lot of genres Black and White going back to the beginning of recorded music.๐ŸŽถ

1970s Soul had lines shouted out or talked over the track all over the place. Sly Stone, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye (right on!). BARRY WHITE FFS.

The point is that Rap was new and scary but had really been around for decades all over the place. And uniting Run DMC and Aerosmith made it stupidly obvious.

Frank Talk, Action Pundit!'s avatar

OT:

๐—ก๐—ข ๐—–๐—ฅ๐—ข๐—ช๐—ก๐—ฆ. ๐—ก๐—ข ๐—ง๐—›๐—ฅ๐—ข๐—ก๐—˜๐—ฆ. ๐—ก๐—ข ๐—ž๐—œ๐—ก๐—š๐—ฆ.

๐—ก๐—ผ ๐—ž๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด๐˜€ ๐— ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—”๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ก๐—ฒ๐˜…๐˜ ๐——๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ก๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜„๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐—”๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿด

Trump is doubling down โ€” sending militarized agents into our communities, silencing voters, and handing billionaires giveaways while families struggle. This isnโ€™t just politics. Itโ€™s democracy versus dictatorship. And together, weโ€™re choosing democracy.

On March 28, millions of us are rising again to show the world: America has no kings and the power belongs to the people.

https://www.nokings.org/news/no-kings-coalition-responds-to-escalating-brutality

The AI Architect's avatar

Fantastic piece. That detail about Run-DMC initially calling Aerosmith's lyrics "hillbilly gibberish" but Jam Master Jay seeing the potential is so telling. Sometimes the bridge-builders aren't th emost obvious people in the room. I grew up around music that crossed genres without even knowing it was suppposed to be radical, and that's exactly the world this collaboration helped create.

marcus816's avatar

I am old enough that I purchased the the cassette of Toys In The Attic when it first came out and literally wore the tape out. I absolutely loved the Run-DMC collaboration!

Oh, did Liv Tyler and Alicia Silverstone do a music video for Aerosmith where they ran around in skimpy lingerie?

I was unaware.

Sherry's avatar
4dEdited

Absolutely every culture creates music. Itโ€™s part of our very DNA I feel. Itโ€™s what connects us. Whether youโ€™re black, white or green, there is no way to not be caught up in the rhythms. This brings us euphoria, joy. If a tune is catchy, we have a tendency to move.

Jazz music was first considered โ€œBlackโ€ music. But white musicians also joined in and then it was bad for white players to embrace it as well (apparently weโ€™re a little slow to catch on). However because of this it was demonized. Had nothing to do with people appreciating this art form. Therefore it became dangerous. Support somehow became dangerous because now we were seeing each otherโ€™s humanity and for racists this tore down a structure theyโ€™d spent so long building.

Art connects us and we should applaud this bridge and walk over to join hands and hearts and humility with each other.

Linda1961 is woke and proud's avatar

Always love reading about the back story of songs. Thanks!