>I used to be that guy - trying to parse out "real" hip-hop
>vs. "rap," and it was as arbitrary and stupid then as it is
>now.

I was especially egregious with it during the late 90s, post-Puffy era. What it essentially boiled down to was, the shit I liked was hip-hop, and the shit I didn't like was rap. There was no clear distinction or concrete criteria with which I could defend the classifications, so I deaded it. If we're strictly talking about music, and not culture, I use the terms interchangeably.