re: What makes Hip-Hop music so appealing?

Word play, great beats, inventive sampling (not anymore, but for a brief period). Hip hop is, at its truest form, stripped down and low BS. It's very close to the old talking blues and at its best, is a lot like the punk of disco (hip hop came out of the disco scene).

I think writing off a whole genre is pretty silly. There's lots of great rap. There's also lots of terrible rap, too.