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

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The problem in this argument is some people say all music is art. That is simply just not the case. There is some rap music that you can consider art, but it’s a much lower percentage, similar to bro country and hair bands.

It’s music, but most of it just isn’t very good.

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I would mostly agree with this statement. Then the question becomes, "What is art?" which is something people have been debating forever. I think we would all likely agree that Pink Floyd's "Time" is art in a way that Nikki Minaj's "Starships" probably is not - but why is that the case? Is it because the former deals with themes that are deeper than just "I like to party"? What about Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love"? I mean, we all know what that song is about: "Girl, I want to frick you." Is that theme really so much deeper than loving to party? Where do we draw the line?

People use various arguments to try and show that rap or hip hop are not music. "It doesn't have enough melody!" "It's nothing but repetitive beats!" "It doesn't take any talent to make a rap song!" To those points I would contend that Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica has precious little melody, any riff-based rock song is really nothing more than a repetitive beat, and most punk bands made a point out of not being very good at their instruments and writing simple songs, and yet we aren't here debating about whether any of those things are or are not music. I wonder why that is?

In the end this is an objective question to which some people want to give a very subjective answer. Those who hate rap or hip hop want to denigrate it by claiming that it is not music. You never hear anyone say, "I'm a huge rap fan, but yeah, I agree that it isn't actually music." And let me be clear: I do not care for most hip hop or rap, at all. But I don't have to be a fan to appreciate its musicality. I cannot stand most jazz but I am certainly not going to try to convince anyone that it isn't actually music.