SFGate has a very good article exploring the coming of age of hip-hop’s second generation. This pretty much sums it up for me:
In fact, the current class of hip-hop intellectuals is largely fed up with what hip-hop has become — sick of rap’s minute attention span, disorganization, violence, misogyny, cynicism, self-obsession, arrogance, machismo, homophobia and materialism. 50 Cent’s hedonistic club anthems, Nelly’s odes to his Nike Air Force Ones and Missy Elliot’s goofy expressions of sexual bravado might be worldwide hits, but they sound hollow to a generation reared on KRS-One’s “You Must Learn,” Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” and the Jungle Brothers’ “Acknowledge Your History” — righteous directives that passed as song titles in the late ’80s.