Yes, it is. Rap is folk music.

And its not an outgrowth of talking blues, or based on a rediscovery of that form.

And despite the 'cop killer' forms of the genre, that get everybody screaming about rap in much the same way that Helms and his ilk scream that "the arts arts are decadant" everytime some isolated shock artist slaps a religious icon in excrement, it originally evolved as a form of dance music for street parties. It was the black urban equivalent of hoedown music. The gangsta stuff came later.

Like it or not its Folk Music with a captital F.