50 years of Hip Hop- How Come?

@garebear - again personally, I don't care at all who plays, sings, or raps what. I don't care if anybody is classically trained or not trained at all. All I care about is the end result; the song itself. Other folks have other criteria as to what they like. 

I like what I like and feel no need to rationalize nor apologize for 'deviant taste'. 😏

Halfway to 72, better condition than I deserve to be, considering taking up a less 'emphatic' version of shuffle dancing to maintain that. ;)

Not black...'white', but prefer 'beige'....more accurate, anyway...*G*

Going to the symphony to absorb some piano on Saturday, but will likely de-rez later with some loudness and shake off seat stasis....

A little Tina ought to do the trick, Slick....;) 

Don't let anything slow you down.....

@garebear sorry, i failed to mention any of those artists you pointed out. because they're not. Please read more carefully. Also, your label of "typical lyrics and thumping noises" sounds like what Boomers' parents labeled rock. I guess getting old has the same cultural myopia no matter what generation you belong to. 

And to @curtdr 's point about hiphop and rap being race related; well, it is to a large extent. Rap morphed into a language of social protest when PE came on the scene in 84 and really accelerated with NWA's social commentary starting in 1988. The art form is inextricably linked with social and political commentary across the globe; Balen in Nepal, Sendata in the Phillipines, or Ukraine's Shevchenko.

Just as rock was the art of protest 60 years ago, so has hiphop and rap become the same. It's just, as @perkri wrote, Black Americans have been subject to marginalization far more than other populations. Including, I assume, most Audiogoners.  

Very good comment, @simao 

The silly stereotyping of Rap music (as in the quote that you included) is a dead giveaway of the cultural myopia to which you refer.

There are countless examples of Rap that shatter such stereotypes, and I will offer one that does so on a variety of levels: Anthony Joseph.

Not only is the music that Joseph produces (at times in collaboration) often very different from stereotypical Rap, but he teaches creative writing at the University of London (as in England), has published at least four volumes of poetry (which clearly inform his music), and a novel.

Readers should have a listen to TIME, which he produced in collaboration with the excellent NY-based American bassist and singer Meshell Ndegeocello.