When rap came out 30 years ago I thought it was just a fad

"Racial over/undertones?  Absolutely."

Trust me, I've been around genuine racism and tater's anti-rap statements are benign in effect and possibly in intent as well. You have no way of knowing his racial views from what he is saying about rap music.  You are way off base here.

I agree tosta, but racism is one of those sins where the omission is often greater than the commission .

I saw a short segment on Rachel Maddows show recently (I think it was), wherein an activist was promoting the idea that non-racist is not the same as anti-racist.

Right, seems obvious to me .If you vote for a party that racists support heavily you just joined the club . Or if you let an N-word pass etc etc

But that's not the issue here--the issue here is whether it's proper to call someone a racist based on comments made about music.  That's some pretty heavy extrapolation.