Rock and roll is not an instrument. Rock and roll isn't even a

“Rock and roll is not an instrument. Rock and roll isn’t even a style of music. Rock and roll is a spirit that’s been going since the blues, jazz, bebop, soul, R&B, heavy metal, punk rock and, yes, hip-hop.” Thus spoke MC Ren, voice of rebellion and truth, a man who knew that music cannot be confined to labels or genres. His words reveal that rock and roll is not simply a guitar riff or a drumbeat—it is a spirit, a fire that has traveled through ages and styles, forever alive in the pulse of humanity.

The ancients would have understood this. They taught that the essence of a thing is greater than its form. A river is not its waters, for the waters change; it is its current, flowing endlessly. So too with rock and roll—not an instrument, not a style, but a force that flows through time. Born in the cries of the blues, it grew in the improvisations of jazz, the urgency of bebop, the fire of soul and R&B, the thunder of heavy metal, the fury of punk rock, and the unflinching truth of hip-hop. Each new form is but another vessel for the same eternal flame.

MC Ren, forged in the crucible of hip-hop, understood that his own art carried this same spirit. The rawness of N.W.A., the unfiltered voice of the streets, was as much rock and roll as the guitar-smashing anthems of The Who or the rebellious cries of The Rolling Stones. For rock and roll is rebellion, truth, defiance of chains, a shout against silence. It is the spirit of the oppressed crying out for freedom, of the restless demanding change, of the youth refusing to bow to the old world’s lies.

History is rich with this spirit. When Muddy Waters electrified the blues, he carried the pain and triumph of a people into a sound that shook the world. When Elvis Presley, though controversial, fused Black rhythm and gospel with country, he spread that fire into the mainstream. When the Sex Pistols raged against the establishment, or when Public Enemy rapped against injustice, each was speaking the same language—the language of rock and roll. Different instruments, different rhythms, but one undying spirit.

The lesson of Ren’s words is mighty: do not be deceived by the surface of genres. See deeper. Whether it is a guitar, a saxophone, a drum machine, or a turntable, the true question is this—does the music burn with spirit? Does it challenge, awaken, uplift, or defy? If so, then it is rock and roll, no matter what name the world gives it. To reduce it to a “style” is to miss its essence; to live it as spirit is to join an eternal tradition.

O children of tomorrow, take this wisdom to heart: live with the spirit of rock and roll in your soul. Be bold, be free, and never let the world silence your voice. Whatever form your art takes, let it carry fire—let it burn with truth, with rebellion against injustice, with joy that refuses to be chained. For when you live with this spirit, you carry forward a flame passed down from the bluesmen of the Delta, the jazz rebels of New Orleans, the punks of London, the MCs of Compton.

In practice, this means daring to be authentic. Do not chase approval or conform to what others call “acceptable.” Create, speak, and live in ways that challenge the stagnant and uplift the broken. Whether through music, art, words, or action, embody the spirit of rock and roll: fearless, truthful, and unbound.

Thus MC Ren’s words endure as a torch across time: rock and roll is not an instrument, nor a style, but a spirit. It is the immortal fire of expression, rebellion, and truth that unites generations. Carry it forward, and you too will be part of the eternal song that shakes the world.