Diatribe against rap

Using examples from a few journalist comments, I'll try to put at least a solid argument against rap - even if i tend to be on one side of the fence from the start.

Nelly's debut album held the no. 1 spot on billboard's hot 100 for eight consecutive weeks. his lyrics talk about forcing himself on women, and cover content like, "pull this trigger shti off the window/thru the head of your son."

jay-z "all black in the club/the outcome ain't good/them niggaz act like wolves, how come?" Dmx expects to murder his best friend after the friend betrays him. shyne raps of rape and murder. Ja rule "guns will pop, niggaz will drop."

Lyrically, much of the material boils down to sex, violence against women/cops, drugs. If you put that sort of content into a pop song or ballad, the writer would get crucified by the media. but it seems to be culturally ok in rap form.

If you take the lyrics out, musically it is very limited. Vocally, the majority of work is delivered monotone; there is very limited variation in the tone or pacing of the rapper. Instruments consist largely of drums and repetitive bass (neither of which the rapper will generally play themselves) - and that's assuming it isn't just a drum synth.

The thing that bothers me most about rap, is that you don't need to be able to sing, you don't need to be able to play an instrument, and often you don't even need to be able to write your own lyrics. all of those things help, but what you really need is a good publicist, then you've got it made. Bring back the accoustic guitar hippies.