Reading Rap: How do people interpret music?

This article was written by David Aidoo and appeared in the 201 edition on media magazine.

This article looks into how different people interpret different styles of music. He starts off by mentioning his opinion on the top 40 music that is considered to be the best of the best that is always played on radio stations like Capital fm and Kiss fm. He mentions that these songs tend to lead into a style that goes along with it including fashion trends, ways of dance, meme's ect. Also, it mentions about the conspiracies that modern music is 'brainwashing' the younger generation even though the music is pretty basic standard that 'doesn't take much interpreting'. He mentions that the music we hear on a daily bais is constructed in a 'rudimentary format, lacking taste and feeling'  

He goes on into leading into his main point of the article, instead of attempting to find the meaning behind the song people should just listen to the song instead of listening in for meaning behind the song; 'That's where basic interpretation comes from: the emotions that the music evokes'

This is where he bring in his argument of rap music. He argues that when it comes to rap music the artist creating the music should create the lyrics as the music is playing. This way meaning that the artist will 'connect with the beat more' and get a general feel for the words from the emotion the beat evokes in them. He also uses Twista as an example of this. In 1992 he gained a Guinness world record of spitting out 598 syllables. This proves that the words that he is saying can't have full meaning behind them as they are just following out of his mouth; that people listen to rappers like this as they enjoy the 'perpetual rhythm and flow of it all' 

He also criticises websites like Rap Genius that allow audiences to put their interpretations of what each verse of the song means. He believes that this is a dangerous thing to too as art should just be left alone and not tempered with. 

At the start of this article I do agree with what Aidoo is saying that top 40 music is just biased on a format that many artists stick to in order for them to just stay at the top of the charts and to keep their followers. You can clearly see this in the song that is currently still in the charts after 9 months of the realsese by Justin Bieber called 'What do you mean?' 


This song takes a very numerical form that is also prominent in many songs. It begins with a calm steady beat as Bieber sings the verse to kick off the beginning of the song. Then as it beings to go into the chorus it pick up a dance beat.