Do rap and country have the same lyrics?

[Magic Poriferan]

I'm thinking this over, and I believe the typical lyrics of both rap and country concern the following.

Automobiles and excess details about them.
Substance abuse, generally presented in a celebratory tone.
Guns, and the use there of.
Objectification of women and complaints about how crazy they are.
Running from the law.
Serving time in jail.
Overblown, petty, honor culture type disputes.

Am I wrong, did that not basically cover all the lyrics in both genres? Any suggestions for what I'm missing?

Of course I'm talking about mainstream pop rap and country. I'm sure there are some odd artists here and there who write compelling lyrics for the genres.

 

[Typh0n]

I would say they have the same themes, in light of that analysis, but the lyrics themselves are pretty different. Lyrics are the words used, themes are the subject matter.

 

[lowtech redneck]

Well, here is evidence to support your theory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4hGSR5njZE

 

[WALMART]

I don't give a fuck what he's talking about, shit always sounds nice.

 

[Lexicon]

Personally not a fan of either genre as a whole, (though I enjoy Immortal Technique, & ever since I was a kid, I liked The Devil Went Down To Georgia).

I agree with Magic's theory.. but I want to see if he (or anyone else) can find a lyrical rap-twin for this country song:

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I should point out that these genres are actually really diverse musically, and there are a lot o asects to these genres beyond what you're thinking of. It's just that those flavors are the most commercial at this particular moment. But there's alt country, which has more in common with old school country and folk music than pop music, and there's a lot of socially conscious rap that isn't about being a gangsta.

edit: Oh you do qualify that by saying that you're talking about mainstream rap and country. I don't care, I'm not deleting this!

 

[WALMART]

I should point out that these genres are actually really diverse musically, and there are a lot o asects to these genres beyond what you're thinking of. It's just that those flavors are the most commercial at this particular moment. But there's alt country, which has more in common with old school country and folk music than pop music, and there's a lot of socially conscious rap that isn't about being a gangsta.

edit: Oh you do qualify that by saying that you're talking about mainstream rap and country. I don't care, I'm not deleting this!

I agree, with your decision to leave your expressions as they stand.

Rock music is guilty of the same sensationalism that is expressed in the OP.

"I fought the law and the, law won"

"Tonight there's gonna be a jail break... if you see us coming you best move away"

"I got it bad, got it bad, got it bad - I'm hot for teacher"

"Nobody gonna take my car, gonna race it to the ground"

"Concrete shoes.... cyanide.... T.N.T - DONE DIRT CHEAP!"

And so on. I view lyrics, and the voice in particular, simply as another vehicle for the convection of sensation. The lyrics... I don't know. Same shit for every genre, guaranteed.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I agree, with your decision to leave your expressions as they stand.

Rock music is guilty of the same sensationalism that is expressed in the OP.

"I fought the law and the, law won."

"Tonight there's gonna be a jail break... if you see us coming you best move away."

"I got it bad, got it bad, got it bad - I'm hot for teacher."

"Concrete shoes.... cyanide.... T.N.T - DONE DIRT CHEAP!"

And so on. I view lyrics, and the voice in particular, as simply another vehicle for the convection of sensation. The lyrics... I don't know. Same shit for every genre, guaranteed.

If you actually listen to a lyrics lot of classic rock and the blues it grew out of, it's very common for women to be talked about in a similar way (women are amazing because of sexiness, but they're crazy!). A lot of rock stars (or at least the vocalists) are wild extroverted perceiving doms, so it's probably not a specific woman they were talking . Jim Morrison is a textbook example of a male ENFP.

Doesn't matter, I still love classic rock. (Well, maybe not hair metal that all sounds the same, but the 60s and 70s are pretty great. Apparently grunge is classic rock now, so we can throw the 90's in there as well.)

 

[Magic Poriferan]

I only partially agree that the lyrics are the same in classic rock. The thing is, I find rock to generally span a much wider range of lyrics, while happening to include the lyrics that are also found in rap and country.

I'll never forget the time I was in the lunch room at PBPP talking to my one coworker, when in the back we overhear someone talk about this country song that she liked, and it was actually called "drinking beer and wasting bullets", and I just halted and stared at my coworker in disbelief.

There is overlap in lyrics. They form clouds, not rigid boundaries. But even with clouds, you can objectively find variations in lyrics due to frequencies with which things come up, and my hunch is that these things particularly come up in rap and country.

 

[WALMART]

If you actually listen to a lyrics lot of classic rock and the blues it grew out of, it's very common for women to be talked about in a similar way (women are amazing because of sexiness, but they're crazy!). A lot of rock stars (or at least the vocalists) are wild extroverted perceiving doms, so it's probably not a specific woman they were talking . Jim Morrison is a textbook example of a male ENFP.

Doesn't matter, I still love classic rock. (Well, maybe not hair metal that all sounds the same, but the 60s and 70s are pretty great. Apparently grunge is classic rock now, so we can throw the 90's in there as well.)

Yeah, for sure.

I have the same opinion, down to the disdain for hair metal, lol. It was definitely weird the first time I heard Pearl Jam on our local classic rock station. Is this growing old? D: