Rap can be seen as a cultural expression. It may be wider than we associate it with the radio. It may be just part of the bigger realm of hip hop which may be part of a bigger picture, the music of African-Americans. The idea of spontaneosly making up verses adn couplets is a feature of African-American folklore. The violence in rap is only to be matched in the content of the Child Ballads, outlaw ballads, Grimm Fairy Tales or even in "Rock-a-bye-Baby". It's currency scares me, though. It refers to things going on in the streets today. But as I am given to understand it, there are subject matters that are not offensive in some alternative rap.

I guess we'll have to see whether it lasts long enough in the future to be a "folk music". But it has venerable antecedents.

Frank Hamilton