I used the quote of Chazelle's not to support my opinion, but to illustrate an example of a thoughtful take on rap.
Before I challenged you, you said:
"It NEVER was any good and 30 years from now ...no 5 years from now, do you think that you will be listening to any of the, for a lack of any better words ; songs that are being played now ???? I think not...I am amazed that crap is still around"
Now, you say:
"I have listened to 2Pac and Jay-z and they are good and actually had a message......a message that unfortunately I could not be part of nor will I ever understand or know and much less, ever experience..... the life of inner city blacks. Instead of being combative - that viewpoint should have been expressed as I would have least understood more of what you were trying to say - and not use someone else's '' paper'' to support your opinion.......So, then I guess I never will understand that music or it's message, however, I will continue to listen to possibly gain a little more insight. But I will never condone the violence it promotes, the objectivity of women or lack morals that seems to promote - along with a very distorted value system."
That's some serious dissonance, though I'm glad that you have changed and softened your stance.
Look, I'm a 58yo white guy, so I can't directly relate to the inner-city black experience, either. But I can empathize, in the same way that I can empathize with Palestinians, etc. So, simply understanding that the best examples of the genre contain important insights into the struggles of a large underclass should be sufficient to have some respect for the music, even if you don't care for the sound.
Your final line in the quote above, though, is another example of you painting with far too broad a brush, as there are many examples of rap that contain messages that are the opposite of what you describe.
To answer your other question, yes, I have listened to the artists that you mentioned. My tastes are eclectic, and my preferences are jazz, soul, funk, and world music. I actually listen to relatively little rap.
