Why do People listen to rap?

If you are listening to the garbage that is being played on the radio and on TV then I can understand why you would ask this question. Commercialized rap is horrible and a disgrace to what was intended by the originators of the genre. There are two parts to original rap: 1. To claim status and promote oneself. Rap was often used to 'battle' other people instead of physically fighting. It was a way to confront people that you had issues with or people that had issues with you in a non-violent way. 2. To bring to light social and economical issues, often issues that were challenging the low income urban communities. Now that the commercialized rappers are making money they can only rap about their jewelry, cars, and how great they think they are. If you want to hear real hip hop that has meaning you need to look underground. Some suggestions: Mr. Lif - political, somewhat clean Immortal Technique - ultra political but not clean, lots of swearing Brother Ali - life lessons, somewhat clean Edan - his album Beauty and the Beat mixes hip hop with the psychedelic music from the 60's and 70's, very interesting Qwel - very poetic, often hard to grasp Braille - christian rapper, lots of positive messages and never swears Unkown Prophets - feelgood pop type rap None of these artists are disrespectful towards women either, another disgusting element common in rap.

I listen to a very minimal amount of rap. I can only take it in small quantities. I like rap that is clear, concise, witty, tells a tale, talks about real life... I actually love the rapper Jin. I like that he talks about his ethnic and cultural background. He has a sense of humour, personality. His lyrics are some of the most interesting I've come across in a long time. Of course, he fits my own personal preference, what I look for in music. I don't want to judge someone else's taste, although I may not particularly enjoy a genre or musician so much. I guess that it's just different strokes for different folks. I don't listen to certain genres, but I know that they aren't all bad, and that they inspire passion and creativity in other people. I do suppose it would be nice to hear about more rappers coming out with positive, intelligent messages.

I reckon most of us dont get the choice as its blasting out of "boy racers" car stereos !! If I liked to play music like that, I'd want to keep it quiet so no-one knew