Reply #75: I am a musician who plays 5+ instruments, and I say rap IS music

[no name no slogan]

Are they "classically" trained, like your Berklee grad? No. But do they make music? YES.

I am a self-taught musician, who learned to play several instruments by ear. I have been playing for over twenty years, and have recorded CDs for indy record labels. However, I do not sight-read charts for my primary instrument (guitar), but I do have perfect pitch. I also have a three-octave singing voice and practice nearly every day, in addition to my day job in the IT field.

Am I not a musician because I don't read music? Am I not a musician because I've never attended Berklee or some other hoity-toity pretentious conservatory (where technique is taught at the expense of expression)?

Or, better yet, is the classically-trained symphony musician (who has never written an original score in his/her entire life) an "artist"? Or just a highly-trained stenographer?