this really doesn't make any sense. at least the people who are standing against your "aesthetic bias" have some knowledge of the artists whose superiority you are espousing.
i've *listened to method man album*, i know about and love ghostface and the rest of the wu, i own records by all the people you "automatically assume" are better than the music i'm really feeling, and in many cases love them.
however, you're saying that a record by trae (and probably by extension, the likes of lil keke, z-ro - who are great talents and incredibly important to the development and continuation of southern rap) can't possibly be even in the same ballpark of validity as this strange little rigid canon you've built for yourself *without even listening to it*. this is several steps beyond being flat-out dumb, it's flagrant ignorance and a real disappointment, considering that you're obviously someone who has quite a bit of knowledge.
the weird and completely arbitrary divide you've built up between what you view as "hip-hop" and "rap" is pretty destructive and silly, too. hip-hop is not just one thing, is not strictly the four pillars, and its interpretation differs from state to state, country to country. that's the beauty of hip-hop. when there's freedom to move and reimagine what hip-hop is, great things can happen. when there isn't, things like UK hip-hop happen!
the reason british hip-hop is so bad is because, for the most part, it rigidly toes the traditionalist line you seem to advocate and does very little to innovate and really assert its own identity (i know plenty of artists use british accents, but when these are welded to weakass, primo-rehash beats, BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT REAL HIP-HOP IS, what's the point? you're not making the music your own, so why bother pretending that you are).
look at this and then tell me, where would the interest be in a nation as massive and diverse as the USA, where hip-hop is the dominant cultural force, adhering to ONE TRUE WAY and not allowing different people to bring their own lives, experiences and cultures to the table? hip-hop would be homogenous, stuck in the past, governed by one overarching aethetic and utterly irrelevant to millions of people – and you'd never have had outkast, either (whose new album is NOT very good, btw, unfortunately).
as it stands, for all the criticisms you can level against crunk, snap, hyphy, screw etc (many of them valid - i too would like more real lyrical content and more positive messages in hip-hop, trust me), at least they exist.
all these different styles are precisely what makes hip-hop (if you choose to listen to hip-hop across the board and don't just limit yourself to one regional scene/aesthetic position) remain a diverse and exciting world decades after it began. they *enrich* the music, allowing it to develop sonically and, perhaps most importantly, giving people in the areas they come from something that's their own, something to throw their hands up to and be proud of. they are absolutely what hip-hop is all about, not sacreligious abberations of the "right", orthodox take on the genre.
saying people like E-40 are great artists, but that you wouldn't buy or listen to their music is all well and good and absolutely your right. no one is presuming to tell you what you should buy and what you should listen to, but if it's your position ignore a certain style of music, then maybe it's best to make that decision quietly and not try to denigrate the choices of people who have a somewhat broader view of what this music is and can be.
props for bigging up k-rino tho. he's a great artist, frequently overlooked and a lovely dude, too.
seven hundred and twenty three.