Rock vs Rap

On an email list I'm on, a discussion came up where members were trying to pinpoint rap's roots/precursors. Statements were bandied about like: "I like to point out Jefferson Airplane's Plastic Fantastic Lover as an early rap song," "Dylan's Subterranaen homesick Blues is the first rap song," "Isn't Blondie's rapture the first rap song?"

I found it very weird that they were trying to point rap's roots to white rock-n-roll.

The other faction was of course rap sucks, I call it crap etc.

My response to the group was (italics were added to this post as i think more about it):

"I found the postings odd trying to point rap to Dylan, Blondie or the Airplane-- all of whom I love. But its unlikely that the folks in the rap/hip hop movement heard these folks beyond the Top 40 hits. Also Blondie's Rapture is a tribute to the culture that Fab 5 Freddy introduced them to.

What I do find interesting is pointing out Dylan's song, because in retrospect I can see it as a pre-cursor to rap, a sort of proto-rap. It has the heavy rhyming scheme that drives the song as opposed to verse chorus verse. But I wouldn't point it to the development of rap music as we know it today.

I also find it sad that folks still use that "(c)rap" line from George [Harrison].
It just smacks of fuddy duddiness or a tad racist like the anti-disco movement.
There are some amazing rap artists out there, its too bad the record companies only
like to push the gangster bling-bling artists like 50 cent. (Kanye is a great producer, but a mediocre rapper in my book.)"