Everyone has that one genre of music or even multiple genres and songs that make them absolutely soar. Personally, music is my way of expressing myself; it’s my safe place and my favorite thing in the world. However, there is one genre in music that I can’t stand: rap. I like to think of rap as the “dark, shadowy place” that we never go…like the elephant graveyard in the “Lion King.” Rap, especially when you’re talking about the genre from 2010 and forward, is incredibly provocative to me and I realize I probably just made many enemies saying that but it’s true.

In fact, I recently just became even a little tolerant of the rap or hip-hop genre when I listened to the soundtrack for Broadway’s “Hamilton” and fell in love with it. After listening to this musical, I thought that rap might have taken a turn for the better. I looked it up and was sad to see that it was still the provocative and intolerable noise that I’ve always known it to be. As I said before, music is my safe place, and I can’t even call rap music because I don’t want that horrible genre in the same category as the uplifting and inspiring songs that I like to listen to when I’m upset, anxious, or just need a good cry.

In all honesty, I really can’t imagine someone listening to a rap song and thinking it was good enough to download to their phone and listen to again and again. If I hear just a few seconds of a new rap song, once is more than enough for me.