Schopenhauer: Melody vs Harmony, Melodies in Rap and Hip-Hop

"Music is the true universal language which is everywhere understood; and so it is constantly spoken in all countries and throughout the centuries most eagerly and earnestly, and a significant and suggestive melody very soon finds its way round the globe."

- Schopenhauer, Metaphysics of the Beautiful and Aesthetics (Pg. 119)

One of the thoughts that came to mind when reading Schopenhauer and his preference of meoldy over harmony was rap/hip-hop music. Rap/Hip-Hop is a genre that focuses on lyricism over melodies.  Although there is a beat playing in the background, the most successful and respected rappers seem to be synonymous with the most lyrical.

However, when taking a look at the Billboard Top 100, including the rap category, a lot of the music is heavily focused on melody. So Schopenhauer may be right to argue that Melody is the meat and everything else is just the sauce. When we go on YouTube we see many parodies of hit songs that imitate the melody, but we rarely see the opposite which is the same lyrics with a different melody.

Furthermore, many of the most successful rappers, like Diddy, Jay Z and Kanye West, are also producers. Producing beats and melodies that other artists use in order to make a hit song. So maybe Schopenhauer is right?

As evidence I am going to link Fergie's LA Love (La La La) to this post. A song which lacks a narrative but instead lists as many locations that Fergie has toured/visited as possible, while using only the chorus to create breaks between the list.

I do like this song, however I do find this to be an example of a catchy melody being the reason for a songs success on American radio.http://youtu.be/fQTqPRojc8Y