When rap came out 30 years ago I thought it was just a fad

If you ask a dozen well-fed, old white guys what they think about Rap, you're likely to get one answer.

You can take Rap out of the 'hood, but you can't take the 'hood out of Rap.  It's poetry and music, like it or not, and derives from experiences no white person has ever had.

Furthermore, it sells to a large audience of white people.  If if stops selling the "fad" will be over.

Taters, what’s your point exactly?  You don't like rap, don't listen.  You don't like the conditions that gave it birth, try to do something about those conditions.

Oh, my goodness- If only we could get rid of RAP and hip hop,etc, we could really turn this country around.  Just think of the possibilities. Economic equality- narrowing the enormous gap between the haves and the have nots,  no more racism, women treated as the human beings they surely are, no more disenfranchised voters, no more Wall Street THUGS (speaking of f*****g thugs)  no privatization of prisons, no more gated communities for the privileged, an end to our seemingly endless wars.  High-end audio systems in the homes of all who want them, a national healthcare system which really works, a secure retirement for folks who've worked hard all their lives, enabling them to grow old with dignity. Affordable and DECENT housing. No more police brutality, busting those officers who think they have a damn license to kill black people...  No offshore tax shelters for the greediest among us.... No buttholes like Trump running for president.

My GOD, if only we could get rid of RAP....

But if we can't get rid of RAP, why don't those who find it offensive, simply stop listening to it and get on with their comfy lives?

This is one of the most insipid and vacuous threads on this website.  There is an elephant in this room and it has little to do with musical taste.

If anyone is interested, I suggest you read "The Beast Side. Living and Dying While Black In America."  Written by D. Watkins. No, it's not aimed at audiophiles or music lovers.

Have a nice day.

Yo’ Whip, My Brother:
Here is the Reader’s Digest version since my "soapbox" take was too much for you.

To address OP’s question, which I already have done in an earlier post, HAD YOU READ IT:

The reason RAP has survived is because it sells. The marketplace has spoken.

It’s as simple as black and white.

Thank you RJA for clearly identifying and naming the elephant in this room.

For the OP who cannot let it go, I think your question, although it is essentially one of a rhetorical nature, has been answered, numerous times.

And, finally, once again:  If you don't like rap don't listen to it.  

Let It Go.

Poor Mr. Taters, assaulted on all sides by that nefarious evil thing called rap. There’s simply no escape. It's all-powerful and it’s out to get us all....

Will it succeed?  Stay tuned for the next episode.  These are indeed scary times in the world of high-end audio.

Or maybe rap is the flip side of an American dream that became a nightmare...for some.

Mr. Taters is on a roll with his seemingly innocuous, but essentially rhetorical questions. Is Mr. Taters obsessive, perhaps? Might he actually be a closet Rapper? Kinda like those preachers and politicians who fling fire and brimstone at whatever they purport to find abominable. And then they are found out.

But if so or not, to what end? Or does Mr. Taters have some peculiar agenda?

My questions are not meant to be rhetorical although some may find them to be so.

Tosta wrote:

"But that’s not the issue here--the issue here is whether it’s proper to call someone a racist based on comments made about music. That’s some pretty heavy extrapolation."

I did not call op a racist. I said there were racist under/overtones to his rhetorical post. If you go back and read his subsequent comments, they go beyond his original question, which is, and I quote: "Now it seems like it dominates the music industry, movies and fashion. MY ONLY QUESTION IS WHY?" (emphasis added)

Clearly this is not his "only" question. He has started at least one other thread about the same subject.

He seems obsessed. His "only question" was answered early on- as if it even deserved to be taken seriously. His "question" is purely rhetorical, and my sense is that Taters is a provocateur, a mischief-maker. He is easily entertained.

Some people have too much idle time. And yes, including me- Heck, I could be tube rolling instead of responding to this thread! :)

I have no more to say. I’ll leave it to the rest of you to sort it out. RAP on, or not....