《速度與激情7》主題曲 一名流行詩人的"See You Again"

US singer Charlie Puth, 23, skyrocketed to stardom for his vocals on chart-topping single “See You Again”. But he knew his name alone couldn’t sell the “Furious 7” song. Puth told Entertainment Weekly his team asked well-known American rapper Wiz Khalifa, 27, to lend his voice to the track to beef up its appeal, and Khalifa agreed. Three months after its release, the song is still sitting pretty at the top of the Billboard charts.

今年23歲的美國歌手查理•普斯因獻聲榜單冠軍單曲《See You Again》而迅速走紅。但是，最初他也深知僅自己一人之名並不能保證這首《速度與激情7》主題曲的銷量。他在接受美國《娛樂週刊》採訪時表示，爲了增加這首歌的吸引力，他的團隊請來了美國著名饒舌歌手維茲•卡利法。《See You Again》發佈3個月後，依舊穩穩佔據美國公告牌榜單榜首之位。

More than ever, when the biggest hits on US airwaves aren’t rap through and through, they feature a rapper as a guest artist or boast hip-hop influences. While promoting “Yeezus” (2013), his most recent album, cultural firebrand Kanye West, 38, declared rap the “new rock and roll”. It was a provocative statement, but one of its underlying messages is indisputable: hip-hop has become a pillar of American music and culture.

美國電視廣播中大熱的歌曲並非徹底的嘻哈歌曲，它們或邀請說唱藝人獻聲或標榜嘻哈風。今年38歲的坎耶•維斯特則在2013年發佈新專輯《Yeezus》時宣佈說唱就是“新搖滾”。這一說法尚存爭議，但其隱含意義卻是個不爭的事實：嘻哈音樂已經成爲美國音樂與文化的支柱之一。

What’s the difference between rap and hip-hop? Definitions vary depending on whom you ask. US documentarian Peter Gerard insists a New York DJ was the first to describe rap as a broader part of a hip-hop culture, a myth that’s become widely accepted as fact. However, in common usage, the words rap and hip-hop are used interchangeably when describing the music.

那麼，說唱與嘻哈有何區別？二者的定義因人而異。美國紀錄片製作人皮特•傑勒德堅持認爲是某個紐約DJ首次將說唱定義爲廣義的嘻哈文化，而這種神祕的說法也被當作事實廣爲接受。不過，通常這兩個詞在描述音樂時可以互換。

That music began taking shape in New York City’s black neighborhoods in the late 1960s, and about a decade later it emerged as a fully-fledged genre. Since then, the music has gone through waves of reinvention prompted by changing social dynamics and music industry influence. Throughout the 1980s and 90s it was a raw and unflinching expression of the joys, sorrows and aspirations of the US’ black underclass. In today’s Internet age, it’s become a platform anyone can use for creative expression.

這類音樂出現在20世紀60年代後期的紐約黑人社區，10年之後風格趨於成熟。自此之後，該音樂形式又在社會變革與音樂產業的影響下經歷了一波又一波的革新。20世紀80至90年代，它表達着美國下層黑人最原始、最直接的快樂、悲傷與心願。在網絡時代的今天，它則成爲了任何人都可以表達自我的平臺。

Rap’s broadening appeal has allowed it to latch onto other facets of global music and spin off in unexpected directions. Everyone from your favorite K-pop boy band to pop queen Taylor Swift, 25, is hopping on the hip-hop train. These new influences are forever changing the face of the music just as the music itself is changing the face of American culture.

說唱音樂不斷擴大的吸引力也讓它得以與其他音樂風格相結合，衍生出意想不到的新方向。從你最愛的韓流男團到25歲的流行女王泰勒•斯威夫特，他們都是嘻哈快車上的一員。這些新的影響將不斷改變音樂的面貌，正如音樂本身也在不斷改變着美國文化一般。