Extremes

Hip-hop may be a powerful cultural phenomenon and an understandable and necessary expression of alienation, but, please; it's not music. The fact that it's taught as such in universities is a sign of, well, I don't know what:

They have discussed the evolution of hip-hop comedy, and how events of the day seep in the edgy routines of performers such as Dave Chappelle.

"There's a parallel between what's happening musically and politically and what comedians are reflecting in their rants," Akintunde said.

For the final exam, students will have to put on what Akintunde called "an original hip-hop performance."

For what it's worth, I don't care much for opera, either, but I like a lot of everything between those two extremes. If hip-hop is the anti-music, opera is the uber, so over the top that it loses touch with the real human condition. I know someone who passionately likes both hip-hop and opera but nothing in between. Weird.