Editor's Note: In last month's OffBeat, Delfeayo Marsalis authored an essay about whether rap has replaced jazz at the cutting edge of musical art. In his article, Marsalis asserted that rap is not an art form. This month, Kenneth Adams, one of the participants in the discussion that sparked Delfeayo's essay (he is also the hip-hop music buyer for the local Tower Records), responds.

Unlike Delfeayo Marsalis and his talented brothers, I did not learn music under the tutelag...