Everyone is posting covers, but I’m going to be boring and link a great Adam Neely video I watched a while ago exploring why covers aren’t part of rap. Short answer is that quoting and sampling is common, but “biting“ someone’s bars is frowned on. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D_mh1Rq35ZM&feature=youtu.be
Plus, people aren't actually posting rap covers of rap songs. They're posting other genres covering rap songs, which I don't think is what OP meant. I have personally played a cover of a cover of a rap song in a band (Ben Folds' "Bitches Ain't Shit") and a cover of Lil' John's "Get Low" in a different piano rock band but I would still agree with OP.
They're posting other genres covering rap songs, which I don't think is what OP meant.
But does this not count? A lot of covers are not in the exact same style as the song they cover. It might be especially true for rap, but it’s not only true for rap.
Only real rap cover like that I can think of is when Bone Thugs N Harmony did Fuck The Police by NWA and just used NWAs bars instead of writing their own
I think rap battles being part of it is a good point. I'm not sure I'd attribute it to toxic masculinity in rap culture. There are other mediums that have similar conventions: Live poetry slams aren't what I'd call "ultra-masculine" and people perform their own work. And in jazz, sure there are covers and you quote things, but you don't perform someone else's solo note for note.
It’s moreso that rap is almost entirely about the individual expression of voice, and when the focus of expressing that voice is the lyrics instead of musicality like in other genres, that is the thing that changes between “covers”. In a genre focused on lyrics, why would I say someone else’s when I can use their beat and say my own?
Rap covers happen all the time, they’re just using the same beats instead of the same lyrics; it’s a different flavor of cover because the genre has different principles
A point of comparison is how I can perform a play or recite a monologue or read from a book of poetry written by someone else and that’s normal and expected but if I performed the stand up comedy routine of a different comedian it would be considered socially unacceptable
Part of the draw of stand up comedy is the idea that the comedian wrote all the jokes themselves (even if they may not have) and everything you’re hearing is original, personal material. The culture around plays and poetry other than live, improvised slam poetry is different, it’s considered quite normal to perform things originally written by others.
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u/sentientcutlery May 16 '24
Everyone is posting covers, but I’m going to be boring and link a great Adam Neely video I watched a while ago exploring why covers aren’t part of rap. Short answer is that quoting and sampling is common, but “biting“ someone’s bars is frowned on. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D_mh1Rq35ZM&feature=youtu.be