I just finished watching a great concert at this link:
Sandip Burman
It is not hip-hop. The reason I am posting it is because I am noticing that there is an overwhelming lack of rhythmic awareness in this thread from those who are saying rap is "all lyrics and no music." For those brought up on music which stems out of the west (classical, folk, rock and pop), rhythmic training and hearing is
very underdeveloped.
While rap rhythmically isn't quite at the level of Indian classical music, the best examples hold a lot of rhythmic interest. If you think rap is all lyrics, think again. Listen to how the artist lays back on the time, speeds up, displaces accents, changes rhythmic groupings to go against the main pulse...that's why I like it. The wordplay ain't too shabby either.