I can't hate on Stoute, he gives rappers what they want. It's the rapper's fault, Stoute provides services that are in demand, he's not forcing anyone to fukk with Coca-cola, tour with R&B stars, perform on 'what used to be' rock festivals, have their music played in big movies and on. Dame seems mad cause today Puff, Stoute, Nas and Jay have formed some sort of deeper friendship and left him in the bushes.
Hiphop was dead far before that, the problem with hiphop is not rappers selling out or whatever, the problem with hiphop is that cats are not making good music.
Kendrick Lamar is all up in the machine and that dude is the 'most hiphop' out, same with Cole, Drake, Ye, Nas and all the best rappers today. Back in 04-05 when we had all these super wack rappers moving units like D4L, Franchise Boyz, Mike Jones etc.. They were not in the machine, they were just wack rappers making an underground buzz that spread through the underground, so the "commercialization" of hiphop had nothing to do with it.
The commercialization was what allowed Dame Dash to become rich as fukk of world wide tours and Roc-a-wear and it would never happen without people like Steve Stoute. While you might not have to work with white people, it could be smart to reach the white audience. So ju like white people or jewish people fukk with everyone who has access in the different communities to reach them. It just happens to be so that white people are the by far biggest consumers in total numbers. The difference is that when we do it, it's selling out. When the white people do it, it's good business.