rap is an element of hip hop which means he took part in the hip hop community. why make it more difficult going to the image and blahzay?.
now if Vanilla Ice were some big time DJ back then and had as much credibility as he did when he was rapping would u say he wasnt hip hop because he created an image and sold it through his scratching abilities? no matter how you look at it....Rapping=taking part in the hip hop culture. reguardless.