Are hip hop producers really musicians?

This question depends on Terminology.

If you can give your definition of Music, Musician and Hip-Hop producer, one can answer, specifically for you. But these are somewhat difficult concepts because there is no general agreement to the definition of Music. Is music any arrangement of sounds or only that which sounds nice? And if so, isn't Music subjective? It's difficult to answer objectively but I can give you my opinion. I only call people Musicians who display Musical talent. So I would answer your question by saying: Only talented Hip-Hop producers are Musicians.
 
I was thinking about this earlier actually, just like guitar and drums making beats has techniques and styles and a certain skill level is needed by the person doing it to get a certain result.
 
Yes, but there's so many of them that you have to do something really solid or really different to be important.
 
J Dilla was a musician.

Who's gonna challenge that statement?

DJ Quik? Challenge it!

Mike Dean?

C'mon, RZA?

Jeff Bhasker before his jump to Pop music?

TIMBALAND?
 
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highkoo said:
Well, apparently, some genres have become infested with hordes of teenagers who just throw loops together and call themselves 'musicians' and 'producers'.
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(not directed in particular to the person quoted above... I just go into a general rant :D)

That does not mean "the genre is not music"... it means "some of the people attempting to make this music are not 'musicians'".

The same holds true for EVERY genre... classical, pop, rock, country, reggae, avant garde, disco, techno, metal, etc, etc, etc.

A person who picks up an instrument or sits in front of a sequencer and fumbles a song or two out of his ass does not, by virtue of that fact, become a "musician"...


If you want to debate "what makes a person a musician", that is a whole different debate and is a perfectly valid one... but the answer is NOT based on "genre"...

A person is a "musician" if they personally identify as a musician... if they dedicate their life to the craft and art of music... if they actively work to further their musical growth... if they can consistently make music intentionally without just stumbling on melodies and chords that "work"... if they can play music in a manner that expresses their emotion and can duplicate the essence that performance at will... a person is a"musician" if that is what they "do"... a person is a musician if a person is a "musician".

being a "musician" is not a matter of "good" or "bad"... "talented" or "untalented"... in is not about "professional" or "amateur"...



And to argue that any genre is not "music" is just plain silly.


But THAT is what I suspect the OP was getting at.

"Is hip hop music?"

YES, of course. (I don't care if you like the genre or not. Hip Hop is a generally accepted form of music which is represented on the radio, in record sales, by the Grammy's, etc. Hip Hop is music. Get over it all of you closed minded people.)



But are "all people who make hip hop 'musicians'?"

NO

and are "all people who make music 'musicians'?"

NO


In the same way you are not a "chef" because you make breakfast for your little sister in the morning.

In the same way you are not an "artist" because you drew a dragon on your notebook.

In the same way you are not a "cyclist" because you ride your bike to school when you miss the bus.

In the same way you are not a "doctor" because you put a Band-Aid on your ouchie.

In the same way you are not a "carpenter" because you fixed some things around your house.

In the same way you are not a "plumber" because you fixed a leaky faucet.

In the same way you are not a "dancer" because you like to get out on the floor.

In the same way you are not a "baseball player" because you have a weekend game.


You can DO any of those things... but it doesn't make you what you ARE.
 
Well Ima have to defend it since I was the only one saying it. :P

I dont think OP was actually asking if the whole genre was music or not.
Maybe, but yeah, that would just be silly.

I agree with most of what you are saying, but not this;

dvyce said:
The same holds true for EVERY genre...
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Without making any kind of good/bad judgement on it, its still undeniable that some genres have been way way way more affected, or even created, by modern "production" techniques.
 
highkoo said:
I dont think OP was actually asking if the whole genre was music or not.
Maybe, but yeah, that would just be silly.
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Well, even if the OP was not implying that, it surely went to that direction at some point in the thread...

The thread may have taken a turn towards that :)


highkoo said:
Without making any kind of good/bad judgement on it, its still undeniable that some genres have been way way way more affected, or even created, by modern "production" techniques.
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maybe everything other that classical.

There are not so many kids who buy an oboe and start making fake orchestral music in their garage.

But there are plenty of shitty rock, pop, metal, rap, r&b, country, techno, etc bands throughout history that have recorded on their cassette 4-track machines and keyboard sequencers since the beginning of time... and who do it now with their modern computer based recording systems.

You may notice more hip hop if it is a genre you follow, or because hip hop people are the ones who are out there more trying to publicize themselves because they think for some reason people want to buy "beats" and half written unstructured songs and because you see it a lot here because there is a large hip hop community here for whatever reason... (I am not talking about the actual "real" hip hop music that is out there, of course)

But, trust me, fans of every genre are doing it all around the world.
 
Loop downloaders considered as producers ?

Hey guys
What is the amount of edm producers who create their sounds compared to those who download loops and use presets?
 
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I would make my own, prob with FL. If you try downloading loops, you end having smt similar to what other ppl did.
 
highkoo said:
I think that the numbers are not even comparable tbh.
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Well, either way, it doesn't really matter as it was not germane to what I was saying... All I said was "the same holds true for every genre"... I hadn't said anything about which genre has more "non-musicians" making shitty songs...

I am not going to argue about which genre has more noodlers.
 
This is an AAAAAAAAAAGE old discussion.

My deal is if you're going to use a loop, it should be a famous loop so it's pretty obvious you are paying homage to it. If you're using an obscure one and making it seem like you made it, I have a problem with that.

But who cares what I think, I don't like dubstep either but that seems to be a thing of some kind.
 
Well ok, but that was my whole point, which you quoted and responded to.
Some genres are/were way more affected than others.
But ok.
Im not here to argue at all really. :)
 
highkoo said:
Well ok, but that was my whole point, which you quoted and responded to.
Some genres are/were way more affected than others.
But ok.
Im not here to argue at all really. :)
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I was really responding to you saying:

highkoo said:
I agree with most of what you are saying, but not this;

dvyce said:
The same holds true for EVERY genre...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...


the other stuff was really outside of that, so it wasn't worth getting caught up in.

Doesn't matter "who is plagued by it more"... I was just saying it is there in every genre.

If you had just said that, I would not have even responded because that is an added tidbit outside of what I was saying...

I was responding to the part of my post you said you disagree with... simply that it EXISTS in every genre.

No biggie :)
 
thank you whoever combined these threads. now my joke is out of context and lame as fuk
 
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