Interesting question.It is just beatnik jive talk without the use of music.

it makes money!

Rythm and Poetry is nothing new. The 'Beatnicks' did it in the 60's (and I thought it sucked then yo...:)

You mean it is ?

What can you classify as music? There are many different genres of music. Music is an art form and it's constantly evolving and changing. We all have different tastes, ideas and conceptions of music and that is why it is so diverse and wide ranging. What you like - I might not. Think about all the different types of music from every corner of the earth - some of it you may not even recognize as music because of the unfamiliar rhythms and instruments and melodies used. We all like different stuff, and that is one of the things that makes the human race so interesting.

Whether anyone enjoys the genre or not, it has enough elements to be considered a musical style. Some historical background: "Hip hop arose in New York City when DJs began isolating the percussion break from funk, or rock songs for audiences to dance to. The role of the MC was originally to introduce the DJ and the music, and to keep the audience excited. The MC would speak between songs, giving exhortations to dance, greetings to audience members, jokes and anecdotes. Eventually, this practice became more stylized, and came to be known as rapping. By 1979, hip hop had become a commercially recorded music genre, and began to enter the American mainstream. It also began its spread across the world." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_hip_hop

1) Rap is often classified as music because it is usually chanted or rhythmically delivered. Moreover, it is often accompanied with music. It can also be inserted inside another music piece. However, "rap occupies a gray area among speech, prose, poetry, and song". 2) "Rap or RAP may refer to: - Rapping, genre of poetry and music in which rhyming lyrics are chanted, with or without musical accompaniment - Hip hop music, also known as rap music" Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rap 3) "Rapping (also known as emceeing, MCing, spitting, or just rhyming) is the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes, wordplay, and poetry, one of the elements of hip hop music and culture." "Rapping can be delivered over a beat or without accompaniment. Stylistically, rap occupies a gray area among speech, prose, poetry, and song." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapping 4) "Hip hop music, also referred to as rap music, is a music genre typically consisting of a rhythmic vocal style called rap which is accompanied with backing beats. Hip hop music is part of hip hop culture, which began in the Bronx, in New York City in the 1970s, predominantly among African Americans and Latino Americans. The term rap is often used synonymously with hip hop music. Rapping, also referred to as MCing or emceeing, is a vocal style in which the performer speaks rhythmically and in rhyme, generally to a beat, recently, however, a difference has developed between "rapping" and "MCing". "MCing" has been used to describe those artists who possess and exercise superior lyrical ability and prowess. "Rapping" in recent years has become a prejorative term used to describe those artists who focus less on lyrical talent and ability, and has been used to characterize many of the mainstream artists of today. Beats are traditionally generated from portions of other songs by a DJ, or sampled from portions of other songs by a producer, though synthesizers, drum machines, and live bands are also used, especially in newer music. Rappers may perform poetry which they have written ahead of time, or improvise rhymes on the spot with or without a beat. Though rap is usually an integral component of hip hop music, DJs sometimes perform and record alone, and many instrumental acts are also defined as hip hop." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop_music Here some example of Rap: "'95 Theses' - rap music video" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt5AJr0wls0 "Large Hadron Rap" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM

Because once upon a time, years ago, it started out as a musical expression. This was before it devolved into what it now little more than an image to be seen and a style to be worn. A tired recycling of the same cliched images.

Same as heavy metal, HOW? My 2 cents.

atleast the underground hip hop...Akir, Diabolic Immortal Tech they all have something to say and messages.... Fuck I love rock and metal...but when is the last fucking time we have had a NEW band come out and rock the fuck out and have messages dont say Tool cuz there in another relam and have well established there credintials and System of a Down is broken up...Rage is nothing new Underground Hip Hop..not your lil sisters Hip Hop 97.9 radio station is the true reason for why this music exists

Hey it's a Democracy, learn to live with it!

Don't you sound old.

You know, there are genres out there that I dislike but I'm not arrogant enough to think that my dislike means that it's not music.

Same way country did I imagine.

I could start pounding my fist on my desk and I could call it music. Anything can be considered music.

I dont like some moron chanting or screaming either- is it music?- i guess some is , but some aint. Word to your mother.

When it started to outsell other genres of music.

To each his own. I don't like rap, but why hate on it? Just don't buy it. My only real gripe is that is seems to be the genre of music who's fans insist that everyone within 10 blocks MUST enjoy it too. That part sucks. I have been at an intersection and can't even hear my own music due to the booming rap from the vehicle next to me.

Some of the most profound songs I've heard have been rap. Nothing you'd hear on the radio, scholarly rap, aka rap that is a commentary on political, social, cultural, and other issues are where such songs would fall. Usually, scholar rap doesn't break out of college radio as it just doesn't provide what most rap fans want. Lyrics that confront issues aren't what people want to hear. There are quite a few white rappers delegated to this genre as well. Not every white rapper can attain the "gangsta cred" like eminem to go widely popular. Oddly enough he's very much a scholarly "gangsta" rapper like Tupac was. Gangster cred is pretty much all a rapper needs to get popular really. Usually gangsters aren't really known for their ability to eloquently dissect and analyze social and political issues. Which is why everything popular is usually void of depth and just garbage.

The minute it sold a billion dollars worth of sewage to the youth of a nation :-)

beats the heck out of me

I don't like rap as a rule, at least not the juke neck throw down with elbows, shrugs and grunts. I did enjoy one great routine in a rock tune called Roll the Bones by Rush, That was good rap, as for the main genre, rap is an integral part of crap.

I've never listened to it so can't really comment. The two or three songs I heard were so vulgar and filled with profanity I never listened to it again. There may me some redeeming musical content in some of it but I'm not going to wade through the adolescent sexist profane lyrics in most of it to find it.