Did The Net KILL Hip-Hop?

We were living in a hip-hop nation. What happened? The Internet. Hip-hop evolved into a marketing juggernaut. The sound of the people made by performers who would endorse any product, tie in with anybody willing to pay them. And the marketers paid them. And the mainstream media covered the shenanigans. And then suddenly nobody wanted rap records anymore. Of course rap became a caricature of itself. Then again, if you were cutting edge, you got no airplay. And with no touring business to speak of, and with disc sales declining, you needed that airplay. So ever more bland hip-hop was foisted upon the public on MTV and radio andâ