Word, Mr. Id

Mr. Id is not a fan of rap music. On more than one occasion he has been heard saying that by definition, music is comprised of melody, rhythm, and harmony; rap is absent one (sometimes two) of those three elements.

That said, Mr. Id often finds himself at odds with the view of people his own age who call rap worthless, offensive, dangerous. Clearly, those individual words can describe some rap, some of the time, just as they can describe some music from any genre. Mr. Id has been offended by some rap but for him that term of derision has more applicability to Muzak. Harsh, you say? Ok, but Mr. Id feels strongly that the phrase  "background music" is itself an oxymoron. And don't get him started on Kenny G., who Mr.Id  is convinced gets paid by the note the way Charles Dickens did by the word. 

Mr. Id is also not fond of the misogyny or violence in some rap. But he and his contemporaries surely recall when Little Richard was thought to be "dangerous", Elvis was shown only from the waist up on TV, the Stones had to change their lyric to "Let's Spend Some Time (vs. "the Night") Together". Some of Mr. Id's contemporaries no doubt felt those things were not unreasonable back then, perhaps in the name of public morality. For the men in that group of Mr. Id's contemporaries - Tipper Gore is now available and Mr. Id will not stand in your way.