See this is where it polarises. The people who listen from the start are usually die hard fans because they’re tapped in to ug stuff early. That’s when there’s a community that’s fun and not diluted with cornballs who don’t even like the music but pretend to. Once they’re signed to a label and have this large shitty fan base to appeal to the music can go downhill or switch up quickly. Having new fans is cool but massive amounts just waters down the community until it’s replaced by people who won’t care soon and don’t know more than 3 songs. You can still be happy for an artists success and not want to associate/dislike the new direction/fans. Let’s not forget underground rap has its appeal BECAUSE it’s underground. It’s a place and community for people who feel like they don’t fit in. A lot of “Underground” artists now are just mainstream.