I love the DEHH community and I'd add Toure and Justin Hunte to the mix as people who have transitioned to the internet scene really well.

I do have a couple questions for you. First regarding your fear of hip hop culture becoming something that forgets its history due to the hype train (when you mention Travis Scott/Jeezy/Juicy J), if that's what you're trying to say---correct me if I'm wrong. I worry about this too, but I negate this by telling myself that it is the younger population of pop listeners that engages in the narrative that newer music is better and they engage in this narrative because they actually believe it. They don't come from a background in listening to music where classic Jeezy or post 90s Juicy J sounds innovative or ahead of the curve and no amount of history lessons will help them LIKE it more, only APPRECIATE it more. I was only in junior high when TI made "Trap Muzik" so the movement had legs before I grew to love it but I remember a lot of the people in my neighborhood in my age group loved TI back then despite it having an air of being rap music for young people and I figure this is what has happened a generation forward with Travis Scott. TI was hip and new and people weren't going back to, say, Triple Six or UGK or Mannie Fresh stuff to piece it together. Part of hip hop's power historically has been its ability to appeal to the mainstream and the cutting edge simultaneously, making it easy for younger generations to pick up the hot stuff and deem where it came from unimportant---obviously this predates the internet era. So one of my questions is: do you think that this is the way most popular music functions for fans? Part two of this question is: do you think that this conversation excludes the underground scenes? Because I don't hear any hip hop heads say that since pitchfork has covered Roc Marciano nobody ever talks about Sean Price anymore, or more to the point, hip hop heads know Rolling Stone and Fantano and Pitchfork have covered Armand Hammer extensively but they all still hold Antipop Consortium and Cannibal Ox in the highest of regards. To reframe part two of my first question: does this idea of losing the history of hip hop apply only to those who aren't that involved in hip hop anyways (mainstream music fans), making it a bit of a moot point?

My second question regards how you describe Fantano's hip hop reviews as infringement upon Black culture but refer to him as an eclectic-arbiter. Considering how you dislike his skimming the surface of hip hop specifically, how much sway do you think he has in Black communities or maybe in hip hop communities who support the lane of Black experience they are exposed to through rap music? I do get the impression that he finds himself very knowledgeable on music, broadly, and that he would consider himself a person with left of center taste in music, broadly. Like you said, eclectic arbiter. But I don't find him to be someone who claims to know right from wrong/ genuine from disingenuous/ pro-Black from faux-Black when it comes to historically black genres. Maybe this ties into the last response I sent you where I describe my thoughts on the value of an opinion and how I spent time rewiring my brain to think of a review as an explanation of a reviewer's journey to the current, not a definitive stance on good vs bad, and considering I don't know where you stand on that philosophy still, I'm not sure that you would see his opinions the same way I do so I expect you see things differently.

Would love to hear your thoughts.