Still, as a lifelong representative of hip-hop, I really am bothered whenever the drum gets treated like melody’s stepchild.

My major beef is that when this anti-drum bigotry rears its ugly head…it usually stems from an assumption that melody is the prime determinant of musicality, the core element of music to which rhythm is always secondary.

And it’s largely due to this perception of rhythm as subordinate to melody that hip-hop has so often faced an uphill battle to earn respect as a legitimate musical form.

I’m sure you can all recite the hater’s anthem by heart: “How is that music? It’s all just drum beats and talking, they don’t even sing!”

And this bias infects heads inside the culture too, as reflected by Continue reading →