Is rap music?

my friends have been fighting over this and I thought ill ask you...

I said its not music cause the "artists" dont play instruments and half the time they dont even sing.

and my buddy said since there are beats and people call them "songs" its...

music

What do you think?

I suppose I would consider it more of a form of poetry

Bob Dylan doesn't sing half the time and it's still music.
If it was just rapping - the speaking voice alone then it'd be more poetry.
(because technically a "beat" is from some percussion ""instrument"" thus making it "musical"

xox
Sika

sikashimer- they beats they make are made by computers not insruments

a computer is a instrument

you can't be so closed minded about music..
creating good beats on a computer is just as complicated as composing something on a guitar.

I personally don't like rap, but I would never consider it not music. it's true, a lot of the mainstream rap is pretty bad, but guess what, so is almost all of the mainstream rock. try opening your eyes and ears to some old school rap and hip hop, or classic funk and soul music and maybe you'll think differently.. but, maybe you won't it's your opinion.

I consider a song something that takes talent from the actual performer to..well...perform. Rap is music, which really isn't all that bad. Now, what I DON'T consider music, is today's hip hop crap that they play on the radio, where every song that is played is played like 500 times before the end of each day(Ex. Souja Boy, A Bay Bay, etc.). Because of THESE people, along with the poser supposed rock and punk and emo bands(which really aren't the genre they suggest they are) that only use power chords for the guitars, simple beats for drums, and bass that isn't even audible, and vocalists that sound like they are JUST hitting puberty, are what ruined today's music scene. As one dude said, the Music scene today is so talentless, so artificially refined that its hard to call any of it real music.

the actual beat is music. the people talking really fast is just people talking really fast to music.

I think it is not a genre!RAP SUX!