> > >For example, as per RUN-DMC's careful argument in the track "Jam-Master Jay": IT'S NOT 'BAD'-MEANING-'BAD' BUT 'BAD'-MEANING-'GOOD'!!!
> >
> > Iss - you listen to RUN-DMC? That weirds me out a bit...
>
> Aw, come on, Dar. Musically, there are few things as downright fun as old-school hip-hop--stuff like RUN-DMC, Eric B. & Rakim, etc. I'm not at all happy with where rap has gone for the most part since roughly 1990, with the emphasis on establishing a gangsta image, nihilistic tales of violent crime, and so forth. Hip-hop acts that stay true to the original spirit, though, I still enjoy a great deal.

Well... okay, I suppose. I am the only person I know who actually has an M.C. Hammer tape, and the only person in recorded history to have played M.C. Hammer on our radio station, so I can't get *too* weirded. :-}

Actually, I agree with you; when rap began (with the likes of Hammer and such), I rather enjoyed it. I wouldn't say I was really a fan, but it was lighthearted and fun. Nowadays, I concur, it has become rather... lousy. Lots of violence and cursing and other unpleasant things that I dunna really want to hear in my music. RUN-DMC I haven't heard in ages of the world... I remember an old MAD Magazine feature (from probably 1988 or so) entitled "Future Headlines We'll Never See" (or something to that effect); one of the "headlines" was "RUN-DMC to perform at White House dinner."

Dar "I can't touch that" ien