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Contrary to much popular opinion, rap is a musical genre; it is a very beautiful, creative, and innovative musical genre. As many of you know, rap music is part of the 4 elements of hip hop, which include rapping (emceeing), DJing(scratching, sampling, and mixing), graffiti, and breakdancing. Rap is neither superior nor inferior to any other genre of music because it is a distinct form of artistic expression. It seems very strange that there seems to be a mutual dichtonomy between rock and rap. They are not mutually exclusive or diametrically opposed to one another because they formed for the same reason. Whether one wants to admit it or not, both rap and rock formed as a rebellion from popular culture and both serves as a voice for a particular generation. Many individuals in the 60s were speaking against rock as an illegitimate art form just as many individuals today speak against rap music. Just as rock music is not one-dimensional, neither is rap music. Just as much as person would not call all rock music satanic, neither should a person call all rap music a genre that promotes misogny and thug life. There are many stereotypes associated with rap music that should be eliminated  1) Rap appeals only to poor African-Americans It has become an established fact that African-Americans are not the largest consumer of mainstream hip hop. It's well known that white suburbanite teenagers are the real supporters of mainstream hip hop.  2) Rap degrades African-American culture Many people need to realize that it's very ignorant to judge the book from its cover. Anyone can piece together some current rap artists from 50 Cent, Nelly, and the plethora of Southern rappers and generalize. But even the most logical person will note that this is very faulty reasoning. In the words of an underground rap duo in Atlanta, Mars Ill,  "The subculture remains the same but it seems that the earth is reversed." It's very unfortunate that the worst form of rap music is advertised the most. Perhaps the root of the problem lies in the fact that most labels in rap are owned by rich Jewish individuals who would rather promote a certain image in the name of profit rather than the art form. The roots of rap music are very deep and if one searches for it, they will find true rap music. Some examples would be Common, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Black Soil Project, Company Flow, Bigg Jus, El-P, Mars Ill, Nas, Deepspace5, Tunnel Rats, MF Doom, Aesop Rock, Orko Elohim and etc.   3) Rap music is an inferior art form because of its simplicity The person that makes this argument must also think that writing poetry is extremely simple too. The person that makes this argument must also believe that free styling is very easy. Any true musician will see that freestyling in rap music is the equivalent of jazz improvisation. Both takes an extreme level of skill and a particular niche. Now it is true that there are rap songs that are very remedial (see mainstream Southern rap), but true hip hop takes talent and skill. A great rap artist can tell great stories of personal experience in poetic form (such as Nas), comment on social and political issues (such as Bigg Jus), and speak a profound message through the music. In general, people hate (and even fear) that which they don't understand; rap music is no different. Many people can't relate to rap music for whatever particular reason, so they immediately attack it or demonize it. How great is the hypocrisy... even jazz music was critized heavily, as it departed from classical music. Many people thought jazz music to be a false duplicate of classical music, but as we now see, jazz music is one of the most respected genres of music in America (since it is the first true purely American musical art form). Whether or not it relates to you, that doesn't mean that it's an inferior form of music.

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