Sorry guys...I'm gonna rant for a bit.
The definition of art form is, "Any activity regarded as a medium of imaginative or creative self-expression." This could be a ballad, a novel, a poem, a painting, etc. This also includes rap. Rap is used to express ones self. It is imaginative and it is creative. True, a lot of the rap that is well-known has content involving fucking every girl you see and killing cops, but that is not all there is! Rap gets a bad...rap. That can be blamed a lot by the money bags in the media. And they have corrupted every art form at one time or another. It's called greed. It's a part of the world. Sorry. Rappers write about their pain, their joy, their desire. These individuals create straight from the soul. How dare you deny someone, who has put their heart into their creative work, the title of "Artist". That just pisses me off.
He also kept making the argument that art must "endure". That rap has not done this, like opera or theatre. It has not "withstood the test of time". First of all, rap is MUCH younger than opera or theatre (both of which have been around a couple hundred years). Rap is a very young art form in that respect. It has only just begun if you look at it that way. And in its time, it has endured. It's still being produced, isn't it? It is still evolving. Popular modern rap has negative connotations? Umm...have you heard of some of the earlier forms of theatre? Morality plays. Black face. Both were extremely degrading and just plain wrong. Your argument is invalid, sir.
Now, I get it. This guy has been in the opera/music world for longer than I have been alive, but that doesn't mean he should have a closed mind. Opera is a very intricate, beautiful genre of art. So is rap. It takes talent and passion to create rap. Just because you don't understand something or like it, does not mean its value is decreased. It's simply not your thing. But don't bring it down. Don't degrade it. And do not degrade the individuals who are a part of it. That goes for anything. Whether it be in the arts, religions, politics. Respect and appreciate it as a part of humanity.
Sorry guys. I've just been all fired up ever since and had to let it out somewhere.