ChristopherNatha

My college roommate thinks that hip hop and rap are not music because they do not follow the patterns of western music theory, and thus cannot be plotted out on a music chart. Because the music is repetitive and generally lacks melody, it is defined as "boring" which is a music theory term. Instead of being music, he defines it as "urban poetry". Certainly rap can be poetry, but its poetry over music. I don't agree with any of his theories, and I think it is an extremely limiting definition of music that discounts not only hip hop, but many other genres of music. I may not know much about music theory, but as an avid listener I have a hard time accepting these dated rules and notions, and I'd like to hear your thoughts.