Rap

It took me a while to understand it, but I really like rap now. At least in concept. Mainstream rap, for example, I don't really like - A lot of it's great for the dancefloor and i'll get down to it, but I don't really enjoy it as art.

But when it's poetry - I'm in love. You can't help but love, say, the linguistic richness of a line like: "Even those who witness the sickness just get suspicious and turn to scriptures looking for reasons to burn witches." (-Baba Brinkman - "Fatalist")

I like rapping when walking places (as a college student who has never owned a car, that's a lot). Sometimes i'll be practicing my own (few) raps i've written, or practicing freestyle (I really want to learn to do it - there's a club where I go to school that has battles and it's one of my dreams to try and get good enough to enter that scene before I graduate. It's so freakin' hard though...) But most of the time I just rap out some choice songs i've memorized from rappers I like. It's a great way to keep my mind distracted from how far I have to walk, and pass the time. My feet creates a natural beat, and rapping is like a great workout for the lungs and mouth, a tongue twister that lasts for minutes and sounds awesome. And if you're freestyling it's a mental workout too - I'm not quick witted enough to think up raps in time to keep up with the beat but i'm damn near close and i'm often completely amazed with the really clever stuff that just comes out of my mouth sometimes while trying.

That said.... It always absolutely kills me when someone sees me rap, or overhears that I do, and makes a comment along the lines of "You know you're not black, right?"

There is very very few things in this world that I hate, but that right there is one of them.

I can name some white rappers who can by far out rap some of the rappers you've heard and might think are 'good'.