Quote Originally Posted by UserName_22
I blame part of it on the fact that clearing samples is next to impossible nowadays. Back then, hiphop was a lot more sample driven. And it was better, because hiphop is about taking things from your enviornment and decontextualizing it to something else. Now, it seems to be about making that paper.

Check out Dead Prez, fuckin, Ghostface, DJ Shadow, Living Legends, etc...there's plenty of cats that still capture the essence, however, they're not going to get radio play because they don't necessarily appeal to the popular culture.
Nahhh, Kanye West uses smaples in pretty much all of his songs as does Ghostface on his newer recordings. Bad rap has always been on the radio. Just look at Ice Ice Baby.