Only read the first post, but the biggest problem with my generation (I say my generation cause even tho I grew up on 90's hip hop I'm the same age as these artists) is that we have no identity. Call it a product or Reagan or whatever, but we have no sense of self. So regardless of whatever intrinsic artistic talent we might have, we're cool with painting withing the lines that our predecessors put in place. That's why a dude like Schoolboy Q (one of my current faves) will be quoting WTT on his album a couple months after release. Why Cudi thinks saying my version of The Chronic 2001 is a good thing. We're not concerned with making the next great American anything, but with just getting shine for improving on a wheel that's been working rolling for decades.
I'm drunk, believe it or not, so excuse me if any of that didn't make sense.