This thread is hilarious..... I swear rap fans under 25 are dead clueless about the culture....you were still watching Nickelodeon when hip-hop actually mattered and had values. Your earliest memories of hip-hop are probably Nelly or Mase. In your eyes hip-hop is about beefing, jewelry, and violence....LMAO!! Cats over 25 knew rap before the fake beefs...when gangster rappers only populated 10% of the game....we had mostly character rappers instead udes like Slick Rick, PE, Kid n Play, Kwame, Special Ed, Lyte, De LA, Black Sheep, Cypress Hill, Dana Dane, King Sun, EPMD, Kane, Rakim, Leaders of the NEw, Onyx, Wu, Tribe, Gangstarr, Nice n Smooth, 3rd Base....it was about the music and vibing.....there were beefs but they were kept low and quiet...and not exploited, and they were not the main event either. The music was your merit....not your sales, jewels, house, car, gang affiliations, criminal record....and back then some of the most humble rappers were on the lowet street thugs like Dres from Blacksheep...straight up dope dealer...but he didnt portray that image.... Freddy Foxx...Showbiz from Showbiz and AG is one of the Bronx biggest dope dealers even today...but he never spoke about it once on record. These rappers today are fuckin fugazi, and the new generation of kids are being used and fooled. Until rap has more alternative characters outside of tough guys it will never get back to its former glory...there are just too many trappers, and goons....just too many losers for the artform to be take seriously. Niggas like The Game, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne....are just jokes in the large scope of hip-hop...pollutants stinking and clogging up the pipes.