There are two types of people who make music, artists and musicians.
Musicians like to make something that sounds appealing to the ear. Artists want to make something that means something.
I don't know where most rap falls because they don't usually make the sounds themselves a computer does, so if you consider playing with knobs on a sound board making music then they can be called musicians, and usually it's the producer who does the soundboard stuff. I feel you should need to be play an traditional instrument to be considered a musician. And i'm not sure if you can call most rap art because its most of it has no real important message. Rap seems to be just about poor black people making money, even though in grand scheme of things they don't make alot compared to big corporate tycoons.
I like to listen to more of the classic rock. Beatles, Stones, The Doors. But i also like the more mellow stuff, Pink Floyd. There is also good heavy metal stuff like Iron Maiden. Hate all the screamo stuff, especially when its done bad. There used to be a time when musicians were respected and their thoughts were important. In the 60's if you were a musician and you said something, half of America believed you. Now though, if Simple Plan voices an opinion every one looks at them and says "who cares what the retarded high school drop out has to say, how about you just go back and strum your poor tunes". It all went down hill around the grunge era when people started to look back and realize that the hair bands of the 80s really only knew how to get wasted. I think that's when people stopped looking up to musicians. I make good points, good topic.
RAP = Retards Attempting Poetry