Here's my view of the South. For me, it traces back to Master P. Here was a dude who repped the South, had no lyrical skills. All he had was the hustle mentality, some paper & a dream to get legit $$. He puts out his work, and becomes regional, and then national. What this did was open the floodgates for anybody who wanted to get legit paper. You can point to him and say, "I don't need lyrics to be a rapper and get piles of paper". "I could just spit anything, as long as the hook is catchy, and the beat is halfway decent, I got a hit". The problem is that people didn't let Master P have this lane. Most Southern rappers (and a few East Coast cats as well) jumped on P's wagon, and in turn lowered the standard of what it takes to be a rapper. If you don't need lyrics to be a rapper nowadays, what does it take? This is why everybody is/wants to be a rapper. It don't take much. It's hard to create a real lyrical piece of work that everybody likes, gets fans attention, and can sell records, all at the same time. This is why some of the greatest lyricists (Nas, Rakim, G. Rap) don't sell like true hip hop fans would like. Although they can run circles around any "new" southern rapper lyrically, the bar has been lowered, and these type of rappers are regarded as the best to ever do it, but at the same time, too deep for fans. Or in some cases, they're garbage, has-beens, or "ol-heads", because their songs aren't spun all day long on your local "Urban Contemporary" radio station.
Also the generational gap. Today's youth is a cookie cutter generation. Give it to me now, I don't wanna have to think about it, and I'm done with it within the next minute. Like disposable douches. Use it, throw it away. I think of it as Vinyl (Rakim) vs MP3 (Gucci Mane). SP1200/MPC60/S950 (G. Rap) vs Fruity Loops (Soulja Boy). Conventional Ovens (Nas) vs Microwaves (Waka). The newer technology gets the job done faster with imperfections, while the older ones are more rich with tradition. The older ways of doing things will always be around, while the newer technology is obsolete within a year or two.