There's more to Rap music than just gangster lyrics. You know that. But your parents hate it. If Rap music is getting a bad rap from your parents, here's what you can tell them:

"Rap is all about real, talented and creative people who have something to say about society's problems. They say it loud and clear, but when we listen to it, it sometimes breaks our hearts, sometimes opens our minds, and always makes us want to move."

"It came out of the black urban ghettos in the 8O's as a new way to express anger and grief and injustice. It's hard not to get caught up in the rhymed poetry and heavy repetitive beat of rap music. It can really blow you away. Some of the kings of the rap world like Jay Z, P. Diddy, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dog helped push rap into the mainstream by being masters of production. As the lyrics shifted from the mean streets and violence, to acquiring power and money, rap became the nation's 2nd most popular music genre after rock and roll. When Eminem, the first truly talented mainstream white rapper hit the scene, he pushed the art form up a notch. Sure, some of the lyrics are obscene, but they're really an honest expression of a generation's slang."

It may not be too easy to start TALKING to your parent about RAP, but give it a try. Offer to sit down with him/her sometime and LISTEN TOGETHER to one or two of your favorite performers. Ask him/her to please LISTEN…without judging, because there's a message in the music. Maybe the message won't be liked. Maybe, you too don't agree with everything the rappers say. And you surely don't plan on using some of the kind of language they use but, like it or not, RAP is the music of the 21st century and its where it's at.

If your parents are in a very good mood when you talk about RAP, remind them that when Jazz and rock and roll took over their lives, their parents hated that kind of music, too.