Is hip hop dead? 13 years ago, Nas asked the same question. Personally, I think the producers of hip hop have been pushing rappers from poverty almost exclusively. While that may be noble, most middle and upper class audiences can't RELATE to the raps being created and are being mutually alienated by the lyrics. The infrastructure is working against them so only the independent artists are able to maintain their own hype. What we need is to weigh artist by social interest instead of their urban authenticity.
