I was about to throw out JMT , but you took care of them. I’d also like to throw The Coup onto the “let’s name underground hip-hip artists we listen” list.

Whether people like it or not, Lil’ Wayne is art. Art is interpretive. You throw out Weezy simply because you don’t like the sound, or the race of its creator, or don’t get it, you might as well tell Picasso, Lennon, and whole slew of artists to eat a fat dick because that’s not music/painting/sculpture/etc. I’m not positing that “lollipop” was intended to be more than moneymaking hip-pop, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be considered music. If there’s some restrictive definition of what “music” is, then you could easily argue that some of that experimental free-form jazz stuff out there would also be excluded.

I think Toby Keith is a close-minded individual who’s well marketed songs have sadly retarded the growth of the American collective subconscious, but it’s still music.

Anyho, back to the redheads with tig ol’ bitties.

I wasn’t necessarily responding to your comments as much as the thread as a whole, sorry for any confusion. I actually pretty much agree with all of your thoughts. Somewhere in my ramblings i got on an “art is subjective” kick (which I agree can be unfair) when I was actually trying to say that music doesn’t always have to be art. Lords of Acid may make great music to bone to, but I don’t know if I would call it art.

And I agree, I hate when music fans aren’t open to learnin’ their history. It’s even worse when the artists don’t know the relevant history. Rap/Hip-hop is a genre that has strayed very far from it’s roots, but dA and noodles have kinda covered that.