Music is a huge part of my life,so much that we've built a dedicated audiophile/studio quality listening room in our home & invested heavily in a top of the line Mcintosh high powered quad system,the room doubles as our smoking lounge.
I spend between 4 to 12 hours a day in casual listening with a few hours a week in critical listening.
My tastes are mainly modern jazz,fusion jazz & modern classical,i grew up in the 60's & was fortunate enough to see all the great monster groups from the 60's & 70's in person so i still have a fondness for music of that era but i strongly prefer music that requires extreme technical proficiency.
For me most mainstream music has no soul,no real value other than quick entertainment,for me music is supposed to spark emotion & stir the soul,make one reflect as well as rejoice,the one & only current "bands" i have any respect for are the Dave Mathews band,those guys write some seriously beautiful music.
The other current band is Zappa plays Zappa,Dweezil Zappa put together a band of young musicians with extreme technical skill,its awe inspiring to watch those kids go from playing a Zappa classic like Dirty Love & go directly into Brahms ,Bach or a Behtoven symphony peice.
For me modern music has done serious damage to what being a musician is all about,its not based on creative writing,skilled musicianship or vocal ability anymore,music has become all about image vs skill.
Rapp music has done serious damage to an entire generations ability to scrutinize what they are listening to ( critical listening),most rap stars cant read or write music or even play a musical instrument at much more than beginner levels at best,its became all about tough guy ghetto thug image & foul tough language that the public wants to hear & no account for the lack of musical content within the music.
If we are being literal most rapp does not fit the definition of music,most rapp is spoken word not music in the standard sense of definition.
To each his own though,if you enjoy rapp & it makes you happy hearing it than it has done its job,i just dont want to be forced to hear others droning 2-4 beat rumbeling the trunk lid from bass at serious levels of distortion,this alone is what makes non rap fans disrespect the genre,most who listen have no respect for others right to relaxation.