what?

i've come to the conclusion (or maybe just at peace) that there are approximately two types of music listeners in the world. not so surprisingly, they are generic counterparts to one another.

first, there is the latent racist.

this person is usually at odds with their own conflicting desire to, at once, appear "cultured" (i.e. not liking country music) and still express their general distaste for anything related to black people (i.e. rap).

they can often be heard saying something like: "well, i listen to just about everything. you know? well, except for rap and country. i hate rap."

this is usually followed up with what they believe to be an incredibly insightful and profound quip on the devolvement of contemporary music: "you know, they should put a 'c' in front of 'rap.' then it would be 'crap.' and that's what rap sounds like: 'crap.'"

har har har.

they have no idea that this is actually a stock answer and that, furthermore, it stopped being funny seconds before it was first uttered. ok, i take that back. it was never funny.

bands this person typically gravitates towards, ironically, display hints of being vaguely rap and country at the same time, with a dash of white-boy aggression. these bands include: linkin park, kid rock, limp bizkit...basically, if you can imagine a scene in a movie where domestic violence is being glorified, one of these bands is probably responsible for providing the soundtrack.

the second type of generic music listener may seem to many to be the exact opposite of the "crap" guy. but don't be fooled. because he is the "crap" guy. only, he's more honest. he knows he's not cultured and has no wish to pass himself off as such. i guess, in that sense, he's more respectable. basically, though, he's the "crap" guy before he took that big leap laterally towards even more retarded artists (note: i'm not saying that rap and country music are retarded genres of music. i actually like several artists from either field. what i am saying is that--this guy used to listen to billy ray cyrus...in earnest).

this, of course, is the "i-only-listen-to-rap-and-country-exclusively" guy.

popular catchphrase: "i only listen to rap and country."

i have no beef with this guy. he's not putting on any front. he knows what he likes--bad country and bad rap. to him, johnny cash is "old" and, therefore, can't even touch the artistic bravura of a more recent (read: undeniably trendy) artist like --whoever-the-fuck recorded that song "honky tonk badonka donk" (this guy's anthem).

public enemy, jay z?

"did they do the 'can't touch this' song?"

i'll type more later.