Modern rap music is descended from the patois of '70s Caribbean street party DJs. They kept the crowds dancing with segues, sampling, scratching, and a stream of rhythmic rhyming patter. They brought their unique style to NYC, where a long-haired redneck lookin' white boy and his multi-racial brown-skinned partner began to record it and give it a wider audience. Musicians began to incorporate elements of it into their performances. This was called hip-hop at the time. Street kids bereft of anything began to adlib rhyming patois of there own over basic vocal beats of compatriots. Rap was born and hasn't stopped mutating since [sidebar: arguably, beatboxing was another offshoot.].
So, my friends, you can like the sound of a steel band, you can like reggae, you can dig street parties near the beaches of Aruba, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas and care not for rap. Alternately, you could've been raised on NWA, mourn the early deaths of Tupac and Biggie Smalls, and think that reggae s**t is for pot head beach bums... But, it's all interconnected.
Can you dig it?
I knew that you could.