Rap in Anime :P

[Sparnage]

It seems lately in a few new Anime titles rap has been slowly pushing it's way into opening intro music and frankly it concerns me a little. I don't watch much TV anymore and mostly spend time on the computer and internet, looking at stuff im interested in and downloading things I want to (Anime and Manga in particular). I guess I just got sick of reality TV and temporary fads like the new teen movies and a variety of pop music.

Anyway that is just in my opinion, and I know there are rap fans here but I still don't know why any Anime creator in their right mind would put in such music. Currently I can only think of two particular Anime titles that has been using rap as a opening intro, this would not overly bother me if the music suited the kind of quality it opens up with but these are in my eyes good series.

I speak of Gantz and Samurai champloo, both series show alot of potential but why oh why did they have to use such garbage? If Samurai Champloo wasn't recommended by many people here I probably would have considered deleting it after a few minutes in.
I enjoy watching them but I can't help but worry that rap will slowly become a way of Japanese Anime creators to attract more of a young western audience.

I'm sure there are people that agree with me, along with people who probably like the new change.

 

[trenchteam]

I dont care what music they play. Im in it for the plot and storyline

 

[CRAZYBERSERKER]

Rap is starting to get popular in japan and yeah they rap in japanesse. Here in L.A. from time to time I'll watch channels that are from japan and broadcast here and I remember a japanesse teenager raping in japanesse.

Oh and the anime Magical Shopping ARCADE Abenobashi has a rap opening intro. Deal with it Biatch!!! 8) just kidding that's what my homies would say. What I would say is just deal with it.

 

[Mage]

Did you watch the opening and ending songs of "hanada shounen shi"? Somehow I think you would find rap preferable to that kind of music..

 

[Sparnage]

Did you watch the opening and ending songs of "hanada shounen shi"?  Somehow I think you would find rap preferable to that kind of music..

No I can't say I have seen it.

 

[trenchteam]

Rap is starting to get popular in japan and yeah they rap in japanesse. Here in L.A. from time to time I'll watch channels that are from japan and broadcast here and I remember a japanesse teenager raping in japanesse.

Oh and the anime Magical Shopping ARCADE Abenobashi has a rap opening intro. Deal with it Biatch!!! 8) just kidding that's what my homies would say. What I would say is just deal with it. 

My last trip to Japan, I knew the hip hop world hit hard there. Every young teen in jerseys, baggy pants, Cortez and Nikes, Headbands, cornrolls.......etc..... Hip Hip is in out there. Animation is just tryin to keep up with the trends

 

[Griffith]

OMG!! WAITER, THERE'S RAP IN MY ANIME SOUP!!!

Yeah, two shows with hip hop openings; sounds like a real fucking cultural emergency. Lock up the white women, the darkies are taking over! ;)

Do not fear though, as you are emersed more in culture outside of what you already like to google, you will get used to the presence of unfamiliar forms of expression such as this rap, you will eventually learn appreciate it on a higher level of understanding, you may even learn to like it. Scary how that works, huh?

Did you watch the opening and ending songs of "hanada shounen shi"?  Somehow I think you would find rap preferable to that kind of music..

No Mage, because you see, the best rap song in the world is worse than the worst song in the world outside of the rap genre. Rap is just "garbage" and doesn't belong in classy anime programming about titty aliens and whacky Samurai hijinx. But it would be okay if those shows had typical non-threatening cheese rock, pop, and techno tracks; I would just feel safer at night.

 

[skeletonmf]

i like rap. i'm not sure it has much place in anime though. it just doesnt fit.

 

[White_Hawk]

I don't think champloo has a classic rap theme, but whateevr it is it fits the series nicely. It's no takeover, just a fresh breeze over the cheesy jpop,glam, funk,crap,doink and whatever the japanese consider music intros.

And the champloo ost reunion is a nice background music for everyday activities like having a beer with the crew.

 

[Shouki Slann]

Initial D uses a lot of rap, in its opening and throughout the show, and I think it fits the series very well. Its not really fair to say rap doesn’t fit in anime, it depends on what kind of anime it is. Initial D is about street racing and the like so yea, it fits, but if I ever hear Griffith bust a rhyme or witness Guts slaying apostles  to Jay-z's brush your shoulders off that’s when I'd have a problem with it.

Basically it comes down to creators choosing music that fits the series but, still, its not fair to target just rap music in this situation, after all, many people feel the music of berserk didn’t fit the series very well especially the opening and then again there are those who thought it all worked well.

bottom line; its not fair to target just rap music in this situation.

 

[Mage]

Ah..well, to clarify, Hanada Shounen Shi has opening and ending songs from The Backstreet Boys.  I seriously spat out what I was drinking when I loaded an episode up and heard the opening song, then I subsequently laughed like a maniac.  I still find it hilarious and bizarre.

Anyhow, I like both Gantz's and Champloo's opening songs...I don't care for rap (aside from the Beastie Boys), and these songs aren't really even rap.  I wouldn't say Gantz's op is rap at all..more like reggae if anything.

 

[skeletonmf]

Initial D uses a lot of rap, in its opening and throughout the show, and I think it fits the series very well. Its not really fair to say rap doesn’t fit in anime, it depends on what kind of anime it is. Initial D is about street racing and the like so yea, it fits, but if I ever hear Griffith bust a rhyme or witness Guts slaying apostles  to Jay-z's brush your shoulders off that’s when I'd have a problem with it.

Basically it comes down to creators choosing music that fits the series but, still, its not fair to target just rap music in this situation, after all, many people feel the music of berserk didn’t fit the series very well especially the opening and then again there are those who thought it all worked well.

bottom line; its not fair to target just rap music in this situation.

good point. i guess i never watch too much anime where a rap song would fit in well. of course, if i saw an anime about life on the streets, then i suppose some hip hop would be in order.

 

[Sparnage]

OMG!! WAITER, THERE'S RAP IN MY ANIME SOUP!!!

Yeah, two shows with hip hop openings; sounds like a real fucking cultural emergency. Lock up the white women, the darkies are taking over! ;)

Do not fear though, as you are emersed more in culture outside of what you already like to google, you will get used to the presence of unfamiliar forms of expression such as this rap, you will eventually learn appreciate it on a higher level of understanding, you may even learn to like it. Scary how that works, huh?

Yes put words in my mouth, yo. No i'm not a big rap person at all, but I can at least see that Gantz's music is more suited to it as a weird techno type world, Samurai Champloo I just know there were better options for it.
Look, I understand it is a "funky" type of Anime in a "Cowboy Bebop" way, and Bebop used Jazz which I thought was great and really suited music for such a series (dispite people that could say it is just as much like a real fucking cultural emergency being Jazz and all) but despite being just a funky series this is some of the lyrics in it:

YEAH! Sharp like the edge of a samurai sword, the metal blade cuts through flesh and bone, my minds at piece, the worlds out of order. This and then the heat, life gets colder, oh yes I have to find my path. No lets walk on earth, water and fire....

Steel packed tight in microchip over all but a sign of all pro  ???

A free lancer, a batle cry of the hawk, make a dove fly and a tear dry. Wonder why love won't, don't run with the clan. Only trust instincts if you want with the plan. Some days, some nights, some live, some die in the way of the Samurai. Some fight, some bleed, sun up sun down, the sons of a battle cry.

Oh and I really love how he gets from saying "some" to "sun" then "sons", sheer poetry.  ;)
Do I really have to say more? I know you probably believe more than me that it suits the way it's made but c'mon, am I the only one who thinks it sounds like it was conceived some adolescent rapper who just started studying Samurai's the day before from a book that had lift up flaps? Maybe im just going crazy.

I don't think that song isn't much less suited to it's themesong than Kenshin is to that opening song it uses during the "wondering samurai" series, yet I think the music used in the Samurai X OVA's was fucking spectacular and more suited to the feel and atmosphere beyond most music in Anime I have seen. Powerful, dramatic, much more appropriate to the old era the story is set during and did not feel the need for lyrics of any kind!

Seriously you tell me which music is more suited to the anime it comes with, Griff.

Ah..well, to clarify, Hanada Shounen Shi has opening and ending songs from The Backstreet Boys. I seriously spat out what I was drinking when I loaded an episode up and heard the opening song, then I subsequently laughed like a maniac. I still find it hilarious and bizarre.

Ok, I'll give Champloo that much.

 

[Griffith]

Yes put words in my mouth, yo. No i'm not a big rap person at all

It's what you say between the lines that's disturbingly ignorant Sparnage, I'm just spelling it out for you.

Do I really have to say more? I know you probably believe more than me that it suits the way it's made but c'mon, am I the only one who thinks it sounds like it was conceived some adolescent rapper who just started studying Samurai's the day before from a book that had lift up flaps?

That's a problem with the show first, Sparnage. It's not as if it would be a great Samurai drama and then someone ruined with mediocre rap. The whole show has lift up flaps right down to the core concept. If you changed the music to something more traditional sounding, it would just plain suck instead of sucking with a hip hop edge, probably much more blatantly too without the gimmick to use as a crutch. But then again, I don't really give a shit about the state of hip hop within anime. I'm speaking out against your obvious bias against an entire genre of music.

Before you make a blanket statements out about hip hop, you should try to expose yourself to it beyond what you're forced to hear via your new favorite cartoons. It's one thing not to like a certain musical style, it's another thing to totally dismiss it without really trying to appreciate or understand it. I don't think you're going to be able to get away with that the rest of your life. As in, you're going to think back to now someday and feel embarassed.

 

[Sparnage]

That's a problem with the show first, Sparnage. It's not as if it would be a great Samurai drama and then someone ruined with mediocre rap. The whole show has lift up flaps right down to the core concept. If you changed the music to something more traditional sounding, it would just plain suck instead of sucking with a hip hop edge, probably much more blatantly too without the gimmick to use as a crutch. But then again, I don't really give a shit about the state of hip hop within anime. I'm speaking out against your obvious bias against an entire genre of music.

I'm not saying all hip hop, rap and pop music is talentless, im saying its statistically easier to find cliche basic music played (try not to take that the wrong way) but in such genre's I think they have some interesting stuff at times because alot of music is made for time in society over quality, not all but alot, I can't even believe i'm arguing about it.

The champloo theme is a perfect example, are you seriously trying to tell me the beat is very different from so much rap, the voices are commendable and the lyrics are clever?
I'm not saying Samurai X music would have been more fitting for it, im saying it was more appropriate to it. I think it could have still been funky to match the sort of show it is, but I would have prefered it in a Japanese culture music kind of way seeing... well you know, when you set a movie or series in the Edo or Meiji era with samurai's running around it plays a pretty big part in the story to me, and I don't recall ever seeing much related to the hood in it aside in the first episode when it briefly went from current day to the past real fast.

Before you make a blanket statements out about hip hop, you should try to expose yourself to it beyond what you're forced to hear via your new favorite cartoons. It's one thing not to like a certain musical style, it's another thing to totally dismiss it without really trying to appreciate or understand it. I don't think you're going to be able to get away with that the rest of your life. As in, you're going to think back to now someday and feel embarassed.

Say what you want but it's fad music, I come from the family that believes good music has no time to be in or out of date, it's simply good music or not, no different from watching a great old movie.
I like some 70's and 80's stuff here and there, the odd thing from the 90's and these years (not because I think it's all shite, just not my thing in alot of cases) some classical stuff and even bits of orchestra music I really like, if my taste changes onto something else in time it won't be a group decision.

Peoples adapting taste for music isn't some conspiracy theory, this is well beyond my point of view, its fact that society has this kind of impact on people to judge music creativity to only be good to no more then a few years from when it is realised, you will find this evidence on the tv, music channels, and media studies books.

Music will always be around but so many songs just come out and die soon after they were considered worthy to play as a whole before never heard by the younger generation again unless they come out over a decade later all new and hip again. A perfect example of this is the song "Don't you want somebody to love".
Now I am not a real fan of the song or anything but I thought it was ok, now I hear it in clubs and stuff which hasn't happened for decades. All they changed it for such a pointless manner where she is repeating the first few lines of the chorus over and over like a badly scratched record along with some other new stupid features, but only then was it considered worthy to be listened at clubs and taken in by younger people again and all they did is dumb it down.

I have no reason to feel embarassed about saying that now or in the future. If you don't agree with me then fine but I really don't think what i'm saying is so irrational or anything.

 

[DarkBlademaster]

(dispite people that could say it is just as much like a real fucking cultural emergency being Jazz and all)

I would just like to put in my 2 cents in and say Jazz sucks. Its great being straight forward doesn't it.

 

[Sparnage]

I would just like to put in my 2 cents in and say Jazz sucks. Its great being straight forward doesn't it.

Didn't think much of the opening in Cowboy bebop?

 

[DarkBlademaster]

Didn't think much of the opening in Cowboy bebop?

Actully, if it wasn't due to the many praises of my friends about Bebop, that into music would have chased me away. I dont know, its just my opinion that blowing on a horn thats shaped like poped dick is very unappealing.

 

[Griffith]

MUMBO JUMBO

Like I said, it'll probably take a few years for it to sink in. Everything you even tried to sound objective about was colored by your bias.

Actully, if it wasn't due to the many praises of my friends about Bebop, that into music would have chased me away. I dont know, its just my opinion that blowing on a horn thats shaped like poped dick is very unappealing.

... does anyone here actually know anything about music? How to read it? Play an instrument? Modes? Even a romantic ideal? Someone throw me a lifeline.

 

[skeletonmf]

i say you and sparnage have a freestyle rap battle and see whoes right.

 

[DarkBlademaster]

... does anyone here actually know anything about music? How to read it? Play an instrument? Modes? Even a romantic ideal? Someone throw me a lifeline.

Well I do know how to play the piano... but I found that it was a waste of time unless I really wanted to dedicate myself to it. So I know the basics on playing piano, but I quit 4 years ago, due to its meaningless structure.

 

[Azn He-Man666]

... does anyone here actually know anything about music? How to read it? Play an instrument? Modes? Even a romantic ideal? Someone throw me a lifeline.

I can read music, and I can get by on the bass well enough, I like singing the most though, guess I don't want to fully commit myself to an instrument.

Granted I don't really hate any music style, other then country which I have tried listening to, but it just doesn't do anything for me.

I hated rap until recently when I heard some songs on the radio, by groups like The Black Eyed Peas(mainly "lets get it started") and that Kevin Lyttle character with his "Turn Me On" song.

Of course eighties metal and rock is still and will always be better then all other types.

p.s. Sparnage download(yeah yeah pirating whatever) the song "Damn it feels good to be a gangsta" by the Getto Boys

 

[skeletonmf]

Granted I don't really hate any music style,

i hate swing music and boy bands.

 

[Azn He-Man666]

i hate swing music and boy bands.

Well there was the band "Lifehouse" a while ago the had one song I liked...

And as far as swing music, bah what do you dance to techno?

 

[nomad]

now in the US..."Macross Zero"!!!!!
soundtrack includes...
Master P with "Suck yo' Mama"
50 Cents "Booooya!!!"
and lets not forget Littl Bow' ow with he's new hit "getto spank"

get you're copy NOW!!!!