ITT: Insecure teenagers share their feelings about a genre in which they have no contextual comprehension of because they have disassociated themselves with society, and somehow feel like their conformity to anti-culture is superior to any other form of conformity. Thus they cannot understand the context with which this art form is to be received, ultimately failing to see it as art. I'll get back to the topic of discussion, I just wanted to put my thoughts in about the various responses in this thread. Many of you who are criticizing rap for being solely focused on guns, violence, drugs, etc., are the same individuals who will call Kanye West a bad artist. If you don't understand what I mean by that, you are exactly who I am talking to. Rap, and more generally Hip-Hop, has always been a reflection of the community. You criticize rappers like Chief Keef for rapping about violence, when Chief Keef gained popularity the same year Chicago had over 500 murders. What kind of music do you expect young kids who have grown up in this environment to make? Bedtime lullabies? Is art not purposed at being an expression of oneself? How are you going to discount it because you cannot possibly relate to it? Furthermore, most of those who criticize rap for the reasons aforementioned hardly understand the scope of the genre. It's funny to me that people specifically refer to modern rap. Before people like Andre 3000, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, MF DOOM, etc., your criticisms would have actually been valid. The diversity of sounds in hip-hop is at the highest it's ever been, and you would have to be either stuck in the past or unknowledgeable of the genre to disagree with that. That being said, back to the OT. Outside of the music itself, die-hard fans of classic rock are incredibly annoying. That time has past, and their supposed musical superiority is completely unfounded. Swans, Radiohead, Bon Iver, Godspeed You! Black Emperor; go listen to them. There is very high quality music being made these days. That new Bon Iver album was absolutely fantastic. This goes double for Metal fans. Musically speaking, I can't stand music that encapsulates feelings of negativity, and self-destruction. I've always tried to like metal, because it's an incredible body of music with some of the industries most talented individuals who are given far less praise in the mainstream than they deserve, however their lack of recognition is not unfounded, because of the subject matter and receptivity of their sounds.