I think the internet is allowing us to really see the great generational-gap in rap now
Some ears are trained to appreciate the sounds of the old...the samples of musicians that did it all from scratch...sometimes Im amazed a lot of these classic vinyl records even got pressed up. There was a relative market for it back then I guess. Hip-Hop has never been resourceful enough to re-create sounds like that....and why bother, when you have dudes like ALC who can masterfully chop and loop so that 1) we get those same sounds in the music we love....and 2) we can revisit those vinyls ourselves and see how drastically music has changed, the craft itself
Not all minds are inquisitive however, and I sense even that those so quick to disregard the craft of an Alchemist, a DJ Premier or Pete Rock....are afraid of what they might discover if they challenge their taste....they might see how much their ears have been robbed, and they might ashamed of how low their standards truly are...... and just how scary it is to be a non-critical music listener in 2014