That's All I Can Stands, I Can't Stands No More

I'm so sick of hearing people refer to rap and hip-hop as "music." That's like calling a pile of drywall a "house." That's not to say I don't listen to rap. But I'm more than willing to admit it's not music. Would you call a guy punching the air in front of his mirror "boxing?" Would you refer to a pile of unused canvas as "art?" Would a box of matches be considered a "forest fire?" Is a bag of marshmallows sitting on a shelf just another name for "smores?" Of course not. Sure, the foundation is there, but it takes more than a beat to make music. First, it takes white people. Second, it takes white instruments. Third, it takes an ability to perform live on those instruments without the aid of a DJ. And fourth, it requires at least a mediocre grasp of proper language. And words that aren't made up because they rhyme. Calling rap a powerful form of music is the most naive and self-defacing statement a person can make in the presence of thinking individuals. And that includes "I am a baseball fan", "I voluntarily listen to NPR", "John Mayer is great", and "Hi, I would like to join the Church of Scientology."