I don't have a problem with the rejection of popular mass youth culture of rap and hip hop, because that isn't the "folk" aspect of the music. The Last Poets, whom I mentioned above, Sarah Jones, and many others, have appeared on the HBO "Russell Simmon's Def Poetry" series. Try giving that a shot, and you'll quickly find that it ain't all about the adolescent male "niggas and bitches."

Gil Scott Heron was heavily influenced by Last Poets. Sarah Jones had a hip hop song "Your Revolution" that challenged the niggas and bitches shit banned by the FCC. You can read about it at her website:

http://www.yourrevolutionisbanned.com/

There is a strong connection between the counterculture hip hop movement and the spoken word/poetry slam movement.

My biggest criticism of hip hop/spoken word/poetry slam stuff is it is still monotonous after you listen to it for awhile--it is still a movement dominated by the young, screaming at their elders. Just ask me--I judged for the National Poetry Slam in Minneapolis last August.

Like anything else, there is a good deal of mediocrity and monotony to the sound of the stuff. But when it is good, man it is ASTOUNDING.