Now I’ve passed the halfway point in my listen through of the top 100 albums on Apple Music, I was reflecting on the types of music I like and why.

I don’t like hip-hop. I never really have. And I think that’s because for me, good music captures emotion. That’s partially through the lyrics, but also in the way the music is played, or the key, or the chords used… I’m not a musician so I’m butchering the description there.

But it seems to me that the appreciation of hip-hop comes from recognising how quickly rappers spit out lots of words in rapid succession. It’s not about the music, or even the lyrics, but about how well someone can talk quickly to a beat (and often around it)

There’s a definite skill involved with that, no question. But for me, practically every hip-hop album I’ve listened to have wasted that skill on puerile lyrics that typically degrade women, glamourise violence or try and talk up the size of the rapper’s genitalia (and you have to wonder why they feel the need to do that).

In any case, I do appreciate that everyone has different musical taste, and if nothing else this exercise has widened my appreciation.

But I still don’t like hip-hop. And I feel it’s over-represented within this list by a large percentage. I might break those stats down once I’m done listening through, too.