Dear Snoop Ricky Rick,

I think a lot of the objection to rap music is of the "shoot the messenger" variety. Music has always expressed what's going on in any given culture, and what's going on in the lives of a lot of folks who are creating rap isn't all that purty. some of it is a rhythmic scream. People hate hearing other people screaming, but sometimes it's instructive to hear WHAT they're screaming.

I agree -- it's not MY musical form, but it's interesting and worthy. Just because an art form's not immediately accessible to us doesn't mean we ought to just dismiss it out of hand. Some of my least favorite years with my kids came when my son was in his black tee shirt years and HIS music made rap sound downright melodious. (Much-anguished guitars, as I recall, and utterly incomprehensible lyrics. Very unattractive album covers...)

Still, it expressed something he needed to give voice to, so I tried very hard to stretch my listening enough to hear something of what he was hearing. (I think one of the reasons he and I are so close now is that I actually listened to his music and respected his right to make his own choices. Thank god, however, that he got past those particular choices. We do move on, if we don't have to defend our positions to the death!

And look at musical history -- every single new form has been resisted when it first burst on the scene. Human beans aren't cool about change.

WW-Run Mama