re: Do you consider rap and hip hop to be music?

I find in this debate more times than not, the lines are often drawn between musicians and non musicians as to how they feel about hip hop/rap.

The day someone could sit down with a drum machine and create beats with their fingers was the day the quality of music began to wane.

Even punk bands who played songs with three or four chords were forced to learn an instrument. To study and woodshed and become at least mildly proficient at playing their instrument.

I submit that if you’ve never spent those hours, days, months and years alone, learning everything possible about your instrument, it’s hard to understand where the negativity surrounding rap comes from.

Add to that the fact that for many musicians, the performers they looked up to or were inspired by may have often been overlooked by the general public. They may have struggled after pouring themselves into writing a piece only to see it whored out as a music bed for someone to mumble over.

In conclusion, when music no longer required an immense effort to write and perform, music became a shadow of itself.