Defend a song in a which a non-rapper raps

Thinking these are usually pretty awful, but wonder if ILM has some favorites.

I really like the bridge of Christine & The Queens' "Tilted," where she whisper raps in French in rhythm with the repeating sixteenth note arpeggiating synthesizer, then it drops out and she switches her cadence up. I think it's surprisingly effective and charming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc8foK41qmo

I would say Ted Nugent's rap on "Big Twelve Inch Record" by the Don, except:

- it's terrible
- it's Ted Nugent

I don't know if what Ed Sheeran does on Taylor Swift's "End Game" quite counts as rapping, but I like his verse.

"Rapture" by Blondie seems like the obvious one, it's a corny rap but somehow is charming and works

This is one of Prince's least embarrassing raps imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thHOvLmkcvo

prince would have had such a better career if hip hop had never existed

Mr. Yellow - "Yella" (1981)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBY0WlUQjGs

prince would have had such a better career if hip hop had never existed

soooo true, just imagine

"Rapture" by Blondie seems like the obvious one, it's a corny rap but somehow is charming and works

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, September 5, 2023 12:32 PM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Were there any rap songs released in 1980 that weren't corny?

This doesn't need defending. Its merits are entirely self-explanatory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_rUb7v6B7g

this one neither

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH4p_MX4YG8

i think it’s horrible but it failed to scandalize anyone so I’ll nominate Matt Healy’s rap on “everything revealed nothing denied”

this is the first rap record I ever owned, would say Marc Riley is absolutely a non-rapper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvmh67ImoPc

I don't actually hate "World In Motion", fucked if I'm gonna defend it though

Also is Falco ein rapper oder nichts? Cos Der Kommissar is all-time

World in Motion is good, John Barnes' rap is good, fuck it, The Anfield Rap is also good.

felt primitive painters

oh this isn’t a list thread. I don’t know if he’s deliberately rapping the end of the chorus but it sounds good

Were there any rap songs released in 1980 that weren't corny?

― peace, man, Tuesday, September 5, 2023 12:50 PM (fifty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

>:|

Also is Falco ein rapper oder nichts? Cos Der Kommissar is all-time

― NickB, Tuesday, September 5, 2023 12:30 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

first time I heard of Falco was from that Bloodhound Gang sound which seemed to think he was one. I mean if you listen to say "Machine Brennt" or "Auf Der Flucht" on the first album, if that ain't rap idk what it is

Facts just twist the truth around!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z92avHmgDRA

Do I even need to defend this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMqp28o_bU8

I still find Justin Timberlake’s verse on “Shades” enjoyably dumb, i just assume Diddy called him up demanding a verse ASAP while he was high and watching X-Men.

weird al is a pretty good rapper

This is obviously a classic too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q6YJ-r5SQs

nobody has mentioned "magnificent seven" yet, so i will

"Rapture" is the one that came to mind before I opened the thread.

"Magnificent Seven" is a good call.

"Alphabet Street" is dorky but charming.

I'll defend 'The Beta Band Rap' even though the band members have dismissed it as fetid rubbish or whatever. 100% of its appeal (or lack of appeal) is that they're self-aware indie nerds who really ought to know better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EDW4ScJ4l4
toast is ready at 1:48

the defense is primarily "if you did the original, you get a pass" but I also like Neil's gusto.

I looked for The Knack doing "It's Tricky" but just got a bunch of mashups instead.

I was not aware of Dr John's attempt at rap until a few years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz4o2tWp8Vw

beta band rap hell yes, thumbs up

Matt Wilson's bullhorn rap on Trip Shakespeare's "toolmaster of brainerd" is a highpoint of non-rapper raps. The other band members backing him up with emphasis words puts it over the top: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv8TsCXo1ZQ

nobody has mentioned "magnificent seven" yet, so i will

― is he disgruntled adrian? (voodoo chili), Tuesday, September 5, 2023 1:37 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Damn, how'd I forget this?

I like when Taylor Swift covers "Lose Yourself" though I'm not sure whether what she's doing on that song is rapping per se

this was my ACAB anthem when i was a kid. i actually started singing it once while me and my drunk friends were being escorted out of a movie theatre by the cops during a screening of Friday the 13th: A New Beginning. that should give you an idea of just how stupid i was at the time. anyway, i never minded the rap in this! felt fitting. i mean its still kinda stupid. i dunno. i can remember cringing so hard when the style council rapped and when the dude from that petrol emotion raps at the end of "big decision". i mean, i was a rap fan. most "ha ha we are so funny" punk/metal raps were the dumbest thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSP4l6f3AgM

Pretty hard not to ride for this track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfi7ME_Y5Vs

Ummm does Beck count?

Coincidentally I was just listening to The Wallets the other night for the first time in years. For a band who started out aping The Contortions, they softened their rough edges, tightened up their dance beats, and became immensely popular in Minnesota for a number of years in the 80s.

But the rapping...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlDnPHqv0cs

That song and video are all-time for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P45Dav1SPzY

Though that maybe better described as toasting.

Lindley may get a pass because he's generally gnomishly charming, but I wish he didn't get so close to fake patois.

The Browne original doesn't go as far in that direction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P45Dav1SPzY

West End Girls

Whiney, me too! I was totally into The Wallets, and was at the video filming at First Ave. (where everyone's throwing clothing onstage.) So I guess I *am* defending and you can forget "but the rapping."

Not sure I want to defend this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfLTJRscdqQ

But it does have some clever internal rhymes like "You're fenced in and Phen-phened to no end and no zen guide to men will help you fend off the brethren."

I will never not love "West End Girls."

The Flight of the Conchords pastiche if it is oddly compelling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNfV1dTTMLU

I unironically and unapologetically have always loved “Ant Rap.” It helps that it’s completely silly from start to finish, and some of the lines are pretty funny. But I also think it’s a good rackety groove. I especially love calling all the Ants out by name in the chorus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4z__lCCBX0

Never forget:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRBeaaRk0jU

samuel t. herring from local natives is a genuinely impressive rapper, in the aesop rock mold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swTU3n1vkwM

as far as a i know he never raps during a local natives song, tho. could be wrong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqDEn7uUhFc

Utterly ridiculous yet oddly credible. Tom Jones - If I Only Knew

the same Samuel T Herring from Future Islands?

Is this rapping?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j09Q4jle9mQ

It's certainly the only folk song I know that contains the phrase "projectile vomit."

the same Samuel T Herring from Future Islands?

― the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, September 5, 2023 4:33 PM (seventeen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yes future islands, brain fart. not local natives

Explains why he’s never rapped on a Local Natives album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqn3NhlqoeA

I started a similar thread many (19!!) years ago:

Rap songs that aren't normally considered to be rap songs

>:|

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, September 5, 2023 1:44 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I'm not trying to disparage the rap of 1980! Just saying that Rapture was in good company.

"World Destruction" by Time Zone et al still sounds great.

How about "Pills" by Primal Scream...?

Does Kim Gordon doing something closer to spoken word than rapping over a trap beat count?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHVqm7FUI-8

Caroline Polachek - "Welcome To My Island" arguably has a rap bridge, it wasn't my favorite part of the song at first, but it works really well as a bridge because bc it literally bridges the flat monotone delivery of the verses and the wailing emotional peaks of the chorus.

big black - kerosene ;)

I unironically like this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRQpnJ37Iw8

I don't know if I missed it in one of the embeds, but if not then I'm assuming no one mentioned the rap in "Square Biz" because its greatness is so obvious it needs no defending.

I refuse to be bullied into defending the rap in "Roll The Bones" by Rush, you can't make me!

Moodles, relax...

How about "Pills" by Primal Scream...?

Recently I put on XTRMNTR after maybe a decade, was thinking "man, why don't I listen to this album more often?", then "Pills" came