From rappers to singers to your favorite rock band, music can be expressed in many forms and genres.

A person’s musical taste can express who they are and the type of “crowd” they are in. The type of crowds people are often put into, though, come with their generalized stereotypes.

If you are into common rappers like YG, 2 Chainz and Migos, you run into those who would dismiss you for liking “ignorant” or “ratchet” music, due to its subject matter and repetitive lyrics.

This often comes from the people that listen to other genres, such as rock and jazz. It could also come from listeners within the same genre, where they’ll penalize it for not being “lyrical” or not telling stories like rappers such as Kendrick Lamar, Eminem and MF DOOM.

Another common genre that is often looked down upon is rock.

Modern rock bands are often looked at as “emo” or “satanic,” when they aren’t even close to being related to either of those at all. Also, the whole music genre overall, from the viewpoints of others, are considered “too noisy” as well.

Despite the stereotypes put on these genres, they all have their good purposes. Listening to YG and 2 Chainz is great when you’re with friends or at a party because the music is more hype and brightens up the mood.

Same goes for listening to bands like Chelsea Grin, Attila and Breathe Carolina, where they could all fall into the category of music where it’s more about the feel of the music than the lyrics.

One time, I ran into the stereotype for listening to a band I liked at the time. Someone came up to me asking what I was listening to. Of course I told them what it was and they responded with, “Are you emo?”

I ran into a similar conflict not that long ago, too. This time, I was listening to one of my favorite rappers, Chief Keef. I was playing his music freely from my phone after school when a girl came up asking why I was playing it. She defined the music as “ghetto” and “uneducated” and said that I was ignorant.

Senior Anthony Guerrero has a different approach towards music choice. “Just because they are not used to it, they believe it (a person’s preferred music preference) is weird.”

For Guerrero, his favorite artist is Tyler the Creator, who is still viewed as a satanist over one song. When in reality, Tyler is nothing close to worshipping or getting involved in satanism.

People’s music preferences, overall, shouldn’t be put down because the artist you think is not good might be the next person’s favorite artist.

Music should let people express themselves and not put them into a defined box. Music lets us enjoy ourselves and makes us happy. Even if the lyrics are bad and demeaning, or the guitar is too noisy, music is music and should be expressed.