Well that's how it started. With the Last Poets doing their spoken word poetry over bare beats (African drums usually...)...

I agree, there's many out there who combine poetry and hip-hop to good effect. It's all about your definition of poetry. And what kind impresses you and what not.

Do you like to dig? Or is the more simple the most effective? Are finding the different layers over time what hits hard? Or the blunt emotionally driven bare lines what catch your ear?

Also, the apparent simplicity of certain things can hide a lot of depth. And be subtely abstract. Now that's masterful. And also the most complex can be so simple and elementary..

Poetry varies so much. But yeah, it's nice to see the 'Aesop Rock type' pushing forward.