I am a music producer. I will give you a good perspective on hip-hop and rap and why this is a style (won’t even call it music) that I have learned to “love”. Music is always subjective. I hated country music until I had to sit in an office for a year that played it. Then I started liking some of it (not all). Music has its biggest impact when its relatable in some way to the listener. I encourage everyone to view this documentary:

See rap stands for “Rhythm and Poetry”, poetry predating melody (music and song) for centuries. It is simplistic and just that, poetry over a melody. It is heart felt, referring to the struggles of blacks in the early 70’s who really had little artistic outlet and public voice. Rap, when it started was just music played by an MC, but MC’s were looking for a way to keep people on the dance floor without breaks, hence the two turntables with bleeds from one song to another. MC’s looked for beats (referred to as Boom Bap), an off centered beat that was easy to dance to. So they picked up various popular artists and played mostly the rhythmic sections of songs. MC’s started speaking over these tracks to encourage more dancing, and that evolved into the Rap that we hear today. This blew up in Harlem, became increasingly popular, but they had no radio play until Grand Master Flash and later Sugarhill Gang. Even then it was underground music until MTV and help from Aerosmith (i.e. Run DMC). So what some call liberal agenda - no - this was real life to these folks. So I hope you understand the beautiful perspective and evolution of this underrated art form. Comparing it to music (as we know it) is really an unfair comparison.