How I (and music) brought joy to a 13-year-old boy today

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I had an enjoyable outing with my 13-year-old kid client today. We've been seeing each other for about six months, and have established a pretty good relationship. Today, we were on our way to hike a bit and shoot some hoops. He took control of my radio (in the truck) and settled in for awhile on a "young people" pop music station. I'm not a big fan of Justin Bieber, or whatever the heck they were playing, but I went with the flow and started singing along. Much to my surprise, he started singing along as well. Two guys rockin' out and singing along to young people music. And he was singing in key! "Hey, you're a good singer," I said. He smiled and said something humble, but I could see in his eyes that he'd taken my compliment to heart. Then he found a rap music station. I can't stand rap, and basically think of rap as to music what Jack in the Box is to fine French cuisine. I could write a dozen posts about how much I dislike rap music. But he's a black kid, and has been exposed to rap by older kids in his neighborhood. In some rap "songs" there ARE melodies being sung in the background (some sampled, some not), and occasionally in the foreground. I dug deep and started singing along to the melodies I could find in the rap music we were listening to. Sometimes, I'd listen to a line, and then repeat it during the next measure, kind of creating a call and response pattern to the song we were listening to. He did the same thing again. So now it was two guys rappin', crusin' to the music. Again I complimented him on his singing, and again he beamed. When we got back to his house, I told his mom something like, "Hey, this young man can sing!" (He's told me not to call him "young man" in front of other kids, and I've complied. It's one of our running jokes.) I didn't know if he'd get mad at me or get all humble, but I saw that look of pride in his face again. Now, I look forward to "cruisin'" with him again and singing along with music. I don't really care if it's Justin Bieber, rap, old school soul, or straight rock 'n roll. I love music, and if I can help this young man (he'll never read this) feel comfortable making music, I'm going to be one happy guy.