> In my view, (c)rap is to music what Schwarzenegger and Stallone are to
> film - both are cases of an art form in the service of machismo.
Lighten up, Woj. In the first place, it's called hip hop -- rap per se is just the vocal lyrics, but the hip hop culture includes turntablists, DJs, dancers, fashion artists, taggers, graphic artists, poetry slams, and many other fine things.
Hip hop, a.k.a. multinational music, has produced some musical masterpieces: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation of Millions", "Cypress Hill", "Dr. Octagon". Hip hop is a deeply multinational and deeply subversive art-form (hint: the names Morpheus, Neo and Trinity are actually derived from the brand names of music synthesizers).
-- DRR