I can agree to you at some point, the entertainment industry realized what a market they could create off of Hip-Hop and blew it up. Now I'm not a pac nutrider but he definately wasn't just a rapper with hot beats. He had a versatile delivery and was one of the most political mainstream rappers ever (I know, not saying much), the same can be said for a number of mainstream cats. Recently nobody is bringing raw lyricism to the mainstream though IMO. I think Nas is up there, although he is falling off to a degree he can still spit better lyrics than half the scene right now.