John Denver, an American songwriter, once said, "Music does bring people together. It allows us to experience the same emotions. People everywhere are the same in heart and spirit. No matter what language we speak, what color we are, the form of our politics or the expression of our love and our faith, music proves: We are the same.” Folk and rap music are both very popular genres and each has a considerable amount of fans. Folk and rap music have been very popular for years and are both loved and respected all types of people. Music lovers everywhere find similarities and differences between their favorite genres, which help listeners everywhere realize that all types of music have the same motive: to express opinions about certain topics, proclaim their emotion, and entertain their listeners. Both rap and folk genres create a catchy rhythm to draw their listeners in and to keep them interested. Folk and raps are spoken word pieces and poetry set to a certain rhythm that makes a song exciting, likeable, and memorable. Catchy beats in a song help for the lyrics to flow smoothly, the fans to fall in love with and remember, and newcomers to become interested and involved. Raps and folk songs without rhythm or a beat wouldn’t be a piece of art at all, but a mess of words thrown together with no groove. Although the beats within rap and folk songs are very different, being that raps include beats made by a computer program, and folk beats are typically made with drums or guitars, each genre require a beat to set the mood for their songs. Folk and rap genres are similar in the fact that although their styles of music considered very different, they both need background music to complete a song. Music from the rap genre, as previously mentioned, use different computer programs and drum machines to create electronic beats for the basis of their songs; when rap artists record their songs, they are usually in the recording booth alone and sing and rhyme to pre-recorded beats. Folk music, on the other hand, includes music from real instruments like fiddles, acoustic guitars, bass guitars, drums, washboards, and many others. The folk recording process is different from rap’s because the artists have to play their own music to set their songs to. Artists of the folk genre can either be in the studio with their band mates or alone while playing their instruments. The two genres require background music to consider a song whole. The writing process of both rap and folk are similar, as they both start with lyrics derived from an artist’s poetry, intimate thoughts, opinions, or from ideas formed with the help of skilled writers. The two genre’s lyrics are essentially thoughts put to music or to a beat and make it easy for the writers to speak their minds. Both music genre’s lyrics are the artists’ gateways to voicing their certain opinions regarding social, political, or environmental issues. Rap and folk genres alike are considered protest music. Protest music brings a focus on to any type of issue that the artist deems necessary to dispute, and both genres have been known to have lyrics that freely express themselves and they have the potential to raise issues within the music, political, or environmental world. Phil Ochs once stated, “A protest song is a song that's so specific that you cannot mistake it for sh*t.” Pete Seeger and Phil Ochs are two folk artists that use protest music to express their issues with any political or environmental issues. In the early 1960s, Pete Seeger was a member of a popular group called The Weavers. Seeger freely expressed his political opinion and was immediately placed on the unofficial “black list” of radio, film, and TV, but Pete Seeger kept moving despite what others thought of him and his beliefs. Motivated by Seeger, young fans around the world began to pick up banjos and acoustic guitars, and many of them migrated to New York City, spreading his word and making him a legend in folk music. Phil Ochs was known for writing songs about civil rights and the Vietnam War. Ochs is known for motivating Bob Dylan to write freely about his political opinion. Music, in general, is a gateway of expressing an opinion and many use it to express themselves. Rap music is also known for contributing the strong opinions of artists like Public Enemy and Ice Cube. Public Enemy’s songs such as “Burn Hollywood Burn,” and “911 Is a Joke,” have raised controversy throughout the music industry, but still allow the artist to express themselves and let their listeners know their views on certain subject, as well as allowing them to get in tune with the political world. Ice Cube’s “Everythang’s Corrupt” raises awareness of the issues he sees within the United States government, which is a perfect example of artists shedding light on the issues that the artists deem important and worth sharing. Rap and folk music are helpful gateways for allowing fans to become educated in world issues through their songs. One major difference between rap and folk music is that rap music contains foul language and degradations toward different types of people. It’s common to see a vulgar word in a rap song and rare to see it in a folk song. The style of music, too, is obviously different, considering that folk is slower and rap is more fast-paced. Although there may be songs in the folk genre that aren’t the most polite, rap music I would say that the presence of vulgarities and degradations in rap music is one of the main and major differences between folk and rap. Raps are usually atonal, while folk songs are sang and contain different tones and notes that are controlled by the lead and backup singers. The atonal sound of rap is a factor in the difference between the fans of the two genres; folk fans are more drawn to the tune of a song, and rap fans find use of one or two tones appealing. Rap and folk music have several important similarities regarding their beat, rhythm, and some content of songs, and differences in the recording process, presence of vulgarities, and styles. The two genres are used to entertain fans and is a gateway for artists to grow and thrive within their careers. There are both similarities and differences between folk and rap music, but both genres use music as a way of expressing themselves and to differentiate their songs from other artists.