It really depend on the piece. For example, Pavane by Gabriel Fauré should be enjoyed softly-it is a tender composition. OTOH, Sinfonia to Cantata by J. S. Bach pratically begs to be played at great volume. Ditto for some of the Brandenburg concerti. Could you get the proper effect of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture if played quietly? Of course not-it sounds best when cranked up, as Boston Pops legendary conductor Arthur Fiedler knew. 
I have to laugh at the 08:00 or 08:30 is “too early” comments here. Guess what, people - for some of us, life starts before you feel like getting out of bed.
After getting up, having breakfast, getting to the gym, swimming laps, going home, having a shower and getting prepped for work or classes, making a little noise well after the sun has come up does not seem to be such a huge injustice.
Having said that, I do think that you need to be respectful with regard to the amount of noise you make.
I was wondering if the OP would have had a problem with it if it was loud classical music.
Perhaps it was redundant to say rap music. Because in reality, rap music is the only stuff I hear people playing at extremely loud volumes. What’s wrong with using headphones instead of a friggin megaphone strapped to her back? All she was doing was subjecting other people to loud music they were not interested in hearing- a nuisance. Even the coffee shop, which plays jazz music, doesn’t blast it at 100 decibels.
To suggest the notion that a person might blast classical music is a amusing at best- like I said before, rap is the only thing I hear being played from speakers 3 blocks away. Perhaps people are blasting classical music, its just all the rap music that is getting blasted is blotting out the classical music. 
The Rap that those who blast music, blast, isn’t usually the “good kind” of rap. Not to mention that whatever rap there is in the rap that they are playing usually can’t be heard over the bass they’ve got turned all the way up and enhanced with the “bouncin” systems that they have.
Generally, it’s not that it’s rap that bugs me, it’s the intense house-shaking vibrations. It’s like being under assault from large construction equipment. I do find the must-roll-down-my-windows-and-play-my-bass-at-top-volume drivers pretty funny though. It’s like they’re little boys saying “see how cool I am? See how cool my music is, I MUST share it with everyone so they too can bask in my dubious coolness”.
I saw a large window decoration on some kid’s SUV, it said “Don’t hate me cuz I’m loud”. Oh honey, you don’t merit more than annoyance, and it’s not that you’re loud, it’s that you seem to think it’s desireable to force your taste on everyone around you without their consent.
Those who play their music loudest in-car or on-street always have the crappest taste in music. It’s a universal law. The louder the music the more mass-produced, zero imagination, one dimensional, simplistic pap it is.
It’s nature’s way of labelling with tin eared dullards so that those with musical taste can avoid them.
Reminds me of a guy I worked with doing training. He was already established at his site and had started working before I arrived, so he had his CD player and CDs there. I left to get some coffee and in the middle of the pharmacy I hear “SMACK MY BITCH UP!” Um, no. We had to have a little talk about appropriate music volume (not 11) and appropriate music for work. I basically said “Look, you can smack your bitch up at home all you want- at work stick to stuff with no curse words in it or use headphones.” Man, the fact that you even have to tell an adult this is boggling to me.
Why does it have to be Rap Music? I hear rock being blasted all the time. Good songs too. Does that mean, it’s not the “good kind” of rock?
It’s loud, so it’s not the “good kind”. lol at this shit.
Look, there is great music… and then there is U2. Just because some idiot is blasting something, doesn’t make it bad.
Would you be so annoyed if they were playing Incubus?
Someone had to ask
It doesn’t. My comment was in answer to those saying “well you haven’t listened to ‘the roots’ etc”. My statement means that those who are going around blasting Rap are not playing that sort, commented upon as the “good kind” by defenders. They play the crappy kind.
Generally those blasting rock (though of COURSE as in everything there are exceptions), don’t have those electronically enhanced bass systems in their vehicles. So the reasont that “rap” gets picked on is because it, the bad kind is what is most prevelant among those blasting loud too much bass music from their vehicles.
In NO way did my comments mean that other people didn’t blast other types of music good or bad.
Ok, I see your point.
Couple of things though.
That’s my point, how do you distinguish what is crappy, and what is not?
I do. However, I respect residential roads. I blast my music on the highway, where most of my driving time is spent.
The “too much bass” is really coming from big speakers and amps, as well as bass settings. This really has nothing to do with the songs themselves. Sure, some rap has more bass then others, but this is really up to the person listening to the music, as well as speaker setups and equilization settings. So to say that certain rap is “bad” because the bass is loud is rediculous. So for instance, if you say that Lil Jon is bad because 9 out of 10 punks play it with loud with heavy bass. Blame the punks, not the music. Now if you wanna debate their music style and lyrical content, that’s another debate. But to say that it’s bad outright because of kids blasting it at intersections, well, I just don’t buy it.
*Equalization
*Ridiculous
I generally like rap music, but I cannot listen to Dr. Dre to this day because of the neighbors who used to blast it at 8 in the morning, daily. That Casio-tronic sound is like a dentist’s drill to my brain to this day. However, I feel the same way about lawnmowers, dogs barking, and the revving of race cars due to the insensitivity of other neighbors’ noise, so let’s not single out rap music here. Loud noise in the early morning is just inexcusably rude.
Consider yourself lucky. I have my sleep disturbed every Sunday morning around 6 a.m. by the BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM of the bass coming from the rave music my neighbours play at their weekly parties :mad:
ruadh, thank you for putting my perspective into perspective for me. While it’s fairly annoying to be assaulted by hip-hop every weekday morning, there is little that could be more irritating than the unwanted basslines of rave music. I used to live with a guy who listened to nothing but house music, ever. Even way off in another part of the house, the monotonous bass could drive me berzonkers.
My sympathies.