Why do People listen to rap?

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

Well I am pretty sure that the people who listen to rap are saying, how can anyone listen to Opera or Jazz. It's just because everyone is different. I see what you are saying though. How rap can be rude, violent and no good tunes yet there are some really great rap songs that can make you feel good.

I personally love all types of music except for REALLY heavy metal. Head might explode if I listen to that for more than 1 minute. I love Opera, Jazz, Country. It gets annoying for me though because I am 18 years old and I don't know many people around my age who like to listen to Al Jolson or The Andrew Sisters or John Denver and the list goes on and on and on.

But again everyone is different and it's just people different type of taste that get them into rap music.

there is positive lyrics, you just choose not to hear them or were told that there isn't any. these rappers are just talking about where they came from and how they grew up, and everybody swears but i guess it's more acceptable in rap. some of the most positive songs i've heard came from rap no lie. rap is a double edge sword, of course people are going to pay attention to the negative more because the f word and guns get's more attention than positive stuff. also some times rappers will be saying something positive and it will be confused as negative because people arn't understanding what the lyrics are really about. plus they only play the ignorant stuff on the radio and tv. i don't know what you mean by no tune, i guess that's a person opinion.

listen to
2pac- keep your head up
nas- i can
dmx- lord give me a sign
bone thugs- change the world

and there's much more if anybody wants to add a song.

Rap is just a crap!
Do i sound that i just rap? LOL
I really don't like to listen to rap music. i just don't like it.

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.

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.