Dirty rap and Pornocore

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Dirty rap, also known as booty rap or sex rap, is a subgenre of hip hop music that contains lyrical content revolving mainly around sex and sexual subjects. The lyrics are overly sexually explicit and graphic, often to the point of either cartoonishness or extreme offensiveness. Musically, dirty rap often contains a distinctly bass-driven sound, as the actually subgenre rose from the popular Miami bass rap scene.

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[edit] Late 80's-Early 90's Dirty rap

In 1986, the controversial rap group 2 Live Crew pioneered "dirty rap" with their Miami bass debut 2 Live Crew Is What We Are. With the graphic sexual content of their X-rated party rhymes and songs such as "We Want Pussy," 2 Live Crew garnered much negative publicity. However, it wasn't until their 1989 As Nasty As They Wanna Be that dirty rap became a legitimate genre. Unlike previous 2 Live Crew albums, "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" featured much less humorously sexual songs and much more gritty sexual songs, with critics citing the album as "outright pornography". The album featured the hit single "Me So Horny", as well as "D.K. Almighty" (AKA "Dick Almighty"), "C'Mon Babe," "Dirty Nursery Rhymes," "The Fuck Shop," and "If You Believe in Having Sex." After being attacked by conservative critics, censors, and attorneys, 2 Live Crew responded with the 1990 album Banned in the USA, a much more political and angry album. However, Banned still featured the group's signature sex raps, including "Face Down, Ass Up" and "Strip Club."

The Crew returned to their utterly pornographic roots with 1991's Sports Weekend: As Nasty As They Wanna Be, Pt. 2, which was lambasted by many critics as running the sexually deviant lyrics of "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" into the ground. From "Sport's Weekend" onward, 2 Live Crew continued to make dirty rap and party rap.

Various rap artist followed with dirty rap in the wake of 2 Live Crew's popularity. The group Poison Clan became widely successful, as did the all-female group, B.W.P. (Bitches With Problems), who were essentially an anomaly within the notoriously misogynistic dirty rap scene. Sir Mix-A-Lot's 1992 hit single, "Baby Got Back," could arguably be considered within the dirty rap genre, however, the majority of Mix-A-Lot's work is not sexually explicit enough for him to be considered a true dirty rap artist. The pimp rapper Too $hort is also a notable contributor to dirty rap music, though his topics range from sex to the gangsta lifestyle.

[edit] Contemporary Dirty Rap

Dirty rap has remained a fairly popular, if not infamous, subgenre into the late 90's and early 2000s. Surprisingly, female artist such as Lil Kim, Gangsta Boo, Khia, and the Miami-based Jacki-O and Trina now dominate the once male-only genre. Luke Campbell of 2 Live Crew continues to produce dirty rap as a solo artist to this day. There has also been a recent resurgence in dirty rap with the success of the Ying-Yang Twins' sexually explicit "Wait (The Whisper Song)", as well as David Banner's equally dirty single, "Play." The Southern rap group D4L has also garnered recent success with their dirty rap single, "Laffy Taffy," a song dedicated to the labia.

[edit] Pornocore

Pornocore is a subgenre of hardcore hip hop that features sexually graphic lyrics and themes. Due to its raunchiness, it is very similar to dirty rap. However, pornocore has less of a Miami Bass influence and tends to be more explicit and less party-themed than dirty rap. Sexual topics in pornocore can range from conventional sex to S&M, coprophilia, urophilia, and various kinky themes. Pornocore often contains samples of pornographic films in its music as well. Despite the grittier themes, pornocore is often abstract and consciously over the top to the point of being absurd or humorous.

The phrase pornocore and the genre itself is credited as the invention of alternative MC Kool Keith, specifically on his 1997 album, "Sex Style." Keith is often recognized for his creativity and absurdity on the album, such as his elaborate sexual metaphors and, according to Allmusic.com, "explicit raps that go places 2 Live Crew never had the capacity to imagine."

Keith further pioneered his experimental "pornocore" on albums such as 2001's Spankmaster and Diesel Truckers with DJ Kutmasta Kurt, and had dabbled somewhat with the genre on Dr. Octagonecologyst.

The genre was further expanded by artists such as Porno Bass Squad, DJ Assault, Mista Naked, and Cage Kennylz's Smut Peddlers.

[edit] Dirty Rap Artists

[edit] Pornocore Artists

[edit] Music sample

  • Me So Horny (sample) (file info) — play in browser (beta)
    • Short sample of Me So Horny, by 2 Live Crew; this is simultaneously one of the controversial and well-known songs from the early dirty rap movement, as well as the Miami bass movement.
    • Problems listening to the file? See media help.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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