In all the years I have lived I have never asked anyone if they like rap music. In the same amount of time I have lost track of how often I have pointedly been told: I don't like rap music. This unsolicited information has been offered to me so many times that it became a source of curiosity to me. The only other genres of music I sometimes hear people claim not to like are jazz and classical music, less frequently, country music. I began to ask randomly why it was they disliked these various genres. With classical and jazz I was most frequently told: I don't understand what I am listening to. Fair enough, that can be taught and for some, music without words is daunting. With country it was too often perceived as the music of the uneducated and sarcastically for those that needed to pine over lost lover in a bar. But when it came to rap music folks just dismissed it, en masse, as not worthy of their time. This seemed odd to me as a singer and lay musicologist. Possibly because ...
mostly gentle, sometimes turbulent