Why is "rap" considered as music?

That's a damn good question, because "music," it ain't.

Ditto MN's answer.

But, trying to find a clue, Merriam-Webster defines Music in the following manner:

1 a : the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity b : vocal, instrumental, or mechanical sounds having rhythm, melody, or harmony
2 a : an agreeable sound : EUPHONY b : musical quality
3 : a musical accompaniment
4 : the score of a musical composition set down on paper
5 : a distinctive type or category of music

I suppose it hits on definition 1b because it has rhythm. I suppose it hits on definition 5 because someone decided to make it a music category (distinctive, indeed). IMHO, attempting to squeeze it in elsewhere will require a lot of pushing!

Except for the fact that it has rhythm, I don't consider rap "music". And depending on it's content, I don't consider it worthy of listening to!

Agree with all of you. Regular rhythm conceived by human agency (I believe that the creator HAS to be human for a true definition of "music", but am prepared to be contradicted by any of you with a different standpoint) is the only feature of Rap which would qualify it as music for me. Friends tell me that there is NO category of music which is in itself without merit; but on this one we have to part company. For those totally unable to sing a note Rap is the lifeline...sorry, but that's my view...Duck!-here comes the Hatemail...!

As a general rule of thumb, rap is garbage, and I don't really qualify it as music. But who cares what it qualifies as? Call it "back-beat poetry" and it's still too damn loud at intersections.
However, every so often, a user-friendly rap song comes along and entertains me. For instance, I thoroughly enjoyed Air Mix-a-Lot's "Baby got Back" and Ton-Loc's "Funky Cold Medina". It can be fun to listen to, provided it's coming at you as entertainment instead of as an assault.
And to Rap's credit, it DID help pull us out of the "Corporate Hair-Bands" of the 80's like "White Lion" and "Poison".

Mr(can still get jiggy wit it)Sensitive

I am not a rap fan either, but if you listen to some rap songs, there really is some sort of melody. The melody comes in the inflections of the voice of the rapper. Think of a popular rap song and speak the words, inflecting differently than the rapper. It doesn't sound like the same song, does it? Arnold Schoenberg did something like this (much, much, much different, but related in a fundamental way), and he called it "Sprechtstimme", or "sing-speech". The melody is not something you could go bang out on the piano or notate, but there is a melody there. As far as the instrumentation, there really are some interesting things going on in a lot of rap songs, and should not be written off as simply a beat track. If you believe rhythmic instruments don't make "music", then we may as well eliminate all native and historical African (or, for that matter, any tribal) music, and disband all drum lines and drum corps from colleges and high schools across the nation. Of course, this music is extremely repetitive, but so is rock n' roll (and all the music by a guy named Philip Glass or any other minimalist composer). I'm not sure how to defend the whole sampling aspect, except for a baroque musical form called the "quodlibet".

very good point jbokie...the big thing that bothers me about most rap is that the "lyrics" relate to violence, drugs, cop killing, etc....

I don't mind some of the milder stuff, like some of Will Smith's, and even (heaven forbid) Eminem - on his recent CD there's a tribute to his daughter (where he actually SINGS!)...but on the same CD there's a hate song to his ex.

We have to realize that many of these "artists" are writing the words to these works as a result of things important to them or things that have happened in their lives.

As I said in a previous post, most of it isn't worth listening to in my opinion, however, our constitution calls for free speech...

So if I don't like it, I simply change the station!

Because it is music. My father
listens to country, to him my
favorite music, heavy metal,
is just noise. Does that mean he
is right, of course not. To say it
is not music because it is not
suited to your taste is just
narrow minded. I do not listen to
it because it does not do it for
me, but I also understand that the
true beauty of music lies in its
variety, there is something for just
about every taste. I would rue the
day everbody has the same taste in
music, for it would spell the end
of originality. Rap music has its
fans and afficionados, and I say
more power to them.