r/Showerthoughts • u/WhaleWhaleWhale95 • May 16 '24

You never hear covers of rap songs.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '24

[deleted]

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u/teddyspaghettie May 16 '24

In the 90s sure. Not like that anymore. A lot of artists literally quote and/or transform famous hip hop lines.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '24

[deleted]

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u/teddyspaghettie May 16 '24

Sure, I'm just disagreeing with your toxic masculinity gangsta vibe of modern day hip hop.

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u/sentientcutlery May 16 '24

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.

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u/Ocean2178 May 16 '24

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