I hear plenty of music in Rap. It's not melodic necessarily but it works around a beat which at the heart of things is a basic element of music. I'm not a musician so don't shit on me for not having things 100% right but even with my friends in their bands a lot of times they will base there timing around a beat (the drummer in most cases sets the tone). So when someones rapping they have to base the same rhythm and timing around a beat. That definitely backs up the talent inarguably even if my bid for the musical nature doesn't come through. If it's stripped down to it's essentials so are other things we enjoy like the man and his acoustic or even A Cappella. The basics don't mean it's less music. Not everything is a band of something.
For me, I see talent as this. Can I do it? Can anyone just do it? It's speed, rhythm, timing, flow, diction, etc. Usually people get mad when I bring that up as an example because I/they know it's not something they could bust out and there's an art/skill to it. I'm not even going into rap that does use real instruments or has some singing in it, etc. but the very basic rap. The fact that's there are really shitty examples of the craft that I likely equally hate as much as the rest of you and better examples kind of shows there's a variance of talent and that it is a musical craft.
Now the lyrical nature of it particularly at one point in time was misogynistic, violent and raw. I don't agree with all points of it but at the same time I liked the grittier realistic content. They wrote about violence as there was violence. There was drugs, cop conflict, a fear for ones life, etc. You ever hear of a vicious cycle. Anyone can say what they want but if you are birthed into a vicious cycle then you have no place saying what lifestyle you would live under a certain culture or environment. If anything rap gave people a reason to adapt a skill of storytelling that was a step removed from actively being part of that cycle. It's the same catharsis where writing or music gives us a place to put any negative energy and make a positive.
The same way that rock/metal has had it's very violent, bloodthirsty, hail Satan, sex, drugs and rock n' roll in both past and present there will be some uncomfortable subject matter. Nickelback gets away today with tons of innuendos and that damn Buckcherry "Crazy Bitch" still gets the same crowd in which a grand majority would condemn rap dancing or singing along. It's a no win situation though. If a rap artist sings realistically about a violent lifestyle it's condemned but if the lyrics and content is more dance club, nonsensical fun it's condemned. Simply once someone has a vendetta about a genre they will back it against a corner and it's not like they will ever see it rationally in any sense past that.
The whole thing about rappers just killing each other is a little exaggerated. Biggie and 2Pac! There's your pattern right there yet blown out of proportion. If you want to use the same exaggeration there are plenty of rock stars killed at concerts, killing people through D.U.I.s, burning churches, killing themselves through their own hand or drugs which may as well be suicide, doing lewd misogynistic sexual acts on a grand stage and G.G. Allen!
I've always gotten the right to like and hate what you want but your emotions don't back up your feelings on the content. YOU JUST DON'T LIKE RAP!
It's no deeper than that and the genre doesn't reflect or lose cred based on that. It's still music and a skilled craft in music. It's just not your genre of music.
