This article drew me to register and write a post on this subject. I'm no "expert" in the genre or whatever inflated title some people give themselves. I'm just a 35-year-old Chicago native who has listened to the best and worst of hip-hop since '85.

I have nothing to say to the obvious racist trolls on this forum who take every chance to rip on a genre of music they know nothing about. These people are beyond reason and should be dismissed with little effort. I also have no desire to argue with the oh-so-urbane hipster crowd for too long as they are too wrapped up in keeping up their appearances of looking "cool and authentic" to make a case for both mainstream and underground hip-hop being able to coexist.

On the subject at hand, I really believe hip-hop doesn't need to be saved at all. This is a false argument made by self-righteous hipsters ("hip-hopists" is too awkward a noun for me to use) who don't care to acknowledge popular hip-hop artists who HAVE broken the trend of clubbin', hustlin', and blingin' AND became successful in the process. Hip-hop, as a genre and culture, is in a state of perpetual evolution. As its influence has expanded across the globe, no one with a trace of integrity can claim to know "authentic" hip-hop. What is authentic to a person in NYC may not be so to a person living in London, South Africa, or even anywhere else in the US.

I've yet to listen to Lil' Wayne's music, but this particular article and the buzz surrounding the current release does arouse my curiosity enough to take a chance.

But will someone PLEASE jam a pacifier into some of these whiny leftists?

I like to consider myself quite liberal and tolerant of many ideas, but some of the posts in this thread test my patience to the very limit. I can appreciate and respect the justifiable outrage over this bill. What I don't appreciate are some self-righteous people who feel they can hold the future of my country hostage in the name of ideological purity.

You people want to throw a temper tantrum in the voting booth? Go right ahead. But you'd better damn well be ready to take your share of responsibility if things turn out wrong in November. Unless you're willing to support an instant runoff voting system, you're not proving anything to me by running your mouths about how you hate the Democratic Party.

and other men's movement retro-caveman wanna-be's:

If you want to set humanity back several centuries, do us real men a favor. Find a remote island to infest and don't bother coming back.

why certain groups feel the need to claim a genre of music as their own?

I harbor no ill will toward the LGBT comminity (one of my cousins is a lesbian, so I'd be rather foolish to do so), but claiming dance, new wave, etc. as their own makes no more sense to me than African-Americans claiming hip-hop as their own or Caucasian suburbanites claiming rock as their own.

If any one of you looked in my iPod, by the logic of the subtitle, you would probably have a lot of trouble figuring out whether I was gay, straight, or just confused. My inclination towards various genres of music, including those the LGBT community would like to have exclusive claim to, is a result of me growing up in an urban environment in the 80's. An environment that did not allow for me to listen to one and only one genre of music. Nor did it allow any one group of people to claim it for themselves alone.

I suppose the 90's saw things shift towards a form of "rhythmic segregation" as radio stations started formatting variety out of the playlists. I suppose, in turn, that the associations of certain genres with certain demographics started to take root again.

I would like to hear this speech if it was broadcast.

I really hope that those of us on the left understand this speech clearly and recognize that there are good things about the United States amid the flaws. We get so caught up in protesting every little thing and fantasizing about revolution that we never take time to think about the things that make the U.S. good despite all the wrongs done in our name.

I definitely hope that people on the right understand this speech and, at long last, recognize that waving a (made in China) flag in someone's face or in front of a camera, putting a bumper sticker on their SUV, and tying a yellow ribbon on a tree doesn't make them any more patriotic than anyone else. I also hope they realize that whitewashing history a la Lynne Cheney and planning wars of aggression a la Dick Cheney are the least patriotic things that can possibly be done.

I begin to think a lot of the posters here talk so cavalierly about staying home or voting for some fly-by-night "3rd party" candidate because they can just up and become expatriates if McCain somehow steals this election. What would they care if Obama loses as long as they still have their principles intact? Just get a work permit in Canada or the UK and everything will be just fine.

That would be nice except for the poor people they leave behind to absorb the impact of such a catastrophic result. The ones who cannot leave the country because they have a hard enough time paying for the basics to stay alive.

Are some of those on the left so self-absorbed and petulant that they let one single issue--as important as it may be--cause a very good candidate to take a fall? I won't wait for an answer to that. I fear I alreaddy know.