Have you considered the possibility that it is you, and not all the listeners of NPR that has no musical taste? I HATE rap of any kind. The mere sound makes my stomach upset. And no, it isn't my narrow tastes. I loath only rap and modern R&B, which sounds a lot like cats fighting to me. The horrible gospel inspired vocal tricks every modern female R&B singer feels she must employ leave me cold. But I am amicable to just about any other genre. Truthfully, I was a real fan of black music in the days before Whitney Houston ruined it. No more. How about we all just admit that modern black music sucks and folks like you are white apologists who think "It must be good, because black folks are so musical." Give me Duke Ellington, or the Temptations, or even Sly Stone any day. After all, it was Duke Ellington who said "If it sounds good, it is good." And this crap doesn't sound good to me.

angry much? How about YOU consider that just maybe you are an ignorant bigot that knows practically nothing about rap/hip-hop? There's a funny line in the book "Stuff White People Like" which goes something like,"black music black people no longer listen to." Suits you rather like a Klansmen hood, dontit?

I wish to make myself clear on this. Rap or hip hop has been around now for 30 years and it does have roots very well grounded in other American music forms which CBBock claims to like. Are you familiar with "talking blues"? No, you don't necessarily have to be frightened by those old black dudes, you can find examples of this form on Bob Dylan records. The lyrics and the rhythm you see, are big in that genre, as they are in rap, but not so much anymore in rock. How about Tennesse Ernie Ford, '16 Tons'? He was trying to do a 'talking blues song'. How about Jimmy "sausage king" Dean's "Big Bad John." Again, another white dude doing a form of music which influenced rap. Don't like my 'old references'? Are you familiar with the Lou Reed song "Walk on the Wild Side"? That's a rap song. Oh, but rap is so UN-musical, they never play their instruments (even though lots of singers in other genres didn't play instruments either. But, hey, the rap groups "The Roots" and "Beastie Boys" play their own instruments. But, they can't sing (like, er, Lou or Bob or Bruce or Leonard and so forth do)...right. Rappers sing all the time, how about Andre' from Outkast, or Mos Def, or The Roots, or Lauryn Hill; Eminem is constantly 'singing' as is DMX and Arrested Development and gosh there's so many. I think in the blues tradition of say Bob Dylan's 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' or Chuck Berry's 'Let it Rock' and so forth, many many rappers sing 'enough' to carry the melody, whether it be Lil' Jon, Little Wayne, 50 Cent, Jah Rule, Black Eyed Peas, Talib Kweli, what's his name with the band-aid on his face in St. Louis? doesn't he sing? I mean compared to say Lou Reed in "Walk on the Wild Side'? Of course he does. Just admit it, CDBoch: you PREFER black music back when, because you felt THEY knew their place better. Right?

Yet another polemic "proving" that preferences are metaphysically absurd, because "it's all good". It's interesting to me how some can unironically express a preference for others having no preferences and how lengthy they can get.

yes, tastes or "preferences" as you put it, are subjective, Mike; and certainly one might say that I'm being unfair to a likley elderly person who, no fault of his own, has so many more things to worry about--job, mortgage, kids and their education and whatnot, that he never really takes the time to listen to "now-a-days" music. BUT, this fellow does not take exception to all modern music, his complaints center on one form of music only--rap, and how he hates the very word. Every other kind of music--I mean EVERY other one, he adores. I called him on this. Note, how he inserts 'even' before Sly Stone, as if, since that guy had hits as late as the early 1970's, it was getting uncomfortably close to the total defeat of Jim Crow. Again, Mike, in my opinion, to hate exclusively on (not just rap, mind you, read what he posted again--I know I know reading taxes a white dude like you) all contemporary black music, likely indicates bigotry.

the guy with the band-aid on his face was Nelly.! I just proved I'm over '40' myself...ha

Monster Ballads Suq:

Mike, in my opinion, to hate exclusively on (not just rap, mind you, read what he posted again--I know I know reading taxes a white dude like you) all contemporary black music, likely indicates bigotry.

I'm not sure what's more offensive, the pointless ad hominem reference to race and reading, or the inability to deal with a preference without resorting to bigotry as an explanation.

So stop the presses, my opinion is different than your's. Did I REALLY offend you, Mike? then, you must be white. No reason for offense, we're both just trying to get through a Friday workday, right? I know I know, just like Colbert you don't really see race. But you know, I really gotta give you credit for one thing. Even tho I've begged Slate for a LONG time to please get an edit/spell check key, it seems you can spell ad homenem better than me. (I just abbreviated it on this other Slate thing about Seinfeld and tweeting cause I couldn't make the word look right).

I've decided what's most offensive: the inability to see the irony in making snide racial generalizations, and charging others with bigotry in virtually the same breath.

Guess I offended the white dude, go figure. Maybe it's like how the NFL did not appreciate Rush's preference for white quarterbacks...or maybe that Lousiana Justice of the Peace's preference for marrying same-race couples. That sort of thing. Oh WHY can't the unassailable preferences of white folk be protected? Poor them. Mike I would not want to get in an "appreciation of irony" contest with anyone, if I were you. You might not fare very well...

But on a lighter note, Mike, I was just reading a very funny book called "Stuff White People Like." Do you know it? Well, on one hand, I think you would feel very validated: #101 is "being offended." BUT, then I saw #50, ironic self-deprecating humor, and I became worried about you... I mean, avowed white person and staunch defender of all that is white that you are purported to be, yet, you don't appear to have ANY of this quality at all. Hmmm. I mean, for the sake of the great Caucasian pride cause and all, I just have to ask: er, how well have you researched the sexual activities of your family?

Hey Suq -

No, that's enough. Hey Suq.

Monster Ballads Suq:

There's a funny line in the book "Stuff White People Like" which goes something like,"black music black people no longer listen to." Suits you rather like a Klansmen hood, dontit?

So you're saying black people no longer listen to Sly & the Family Stone, The Temptations, and Duke Ellington? That's pretty presumptuous -- and inaccurate. Why don't you chill and lay off of the assumptions?

well I don't really have the numbers here at hand, peanut butter, but I would suspect--wouldn't you, that many more listen to hip-hop. But, if you disagree, how about find some teenage black people, and ask them to tell you some lyrics from say Sly Stone or 50 Cent, or maybe, could they hum a melody from Duke Ellingon vs. one from Lil Wayne? THEN, act REALLY angry and offended and correct them, that YOU as a middle-age white person believe they should prefer the music their grandparents listened to. Seriously, THAT would make you happy?

That didn't make any sense. Whatever. Bye.