They were viewed more as a tangible threat, Kanye says some strong stuff, but not on the level of what Cube PE and Tupac were doing. Someone needs to explain why white people loved these artists so much. I can't see 90's Cube or Prof. Griff glad handing with white people. Ice Cube was talking about jews so bad I could've swore he was walking around with a copy of "mein kampf" in his car.
It's true that image is everything, you can't really walk around in pink polos and skinny jeans and be thought of as a pro Black revolutionary, pseudo or otherwise. I actually appreciate the fact that Kanye speaks his mind and has no real idea or fear of the consequences, he's essentially "reverse Ice Cubing". But there's also the element of once you've been shunned by a group that you want to be a part of, you come to resent that group.
He comes across as needing to validate his talent to anyone willing to listen, instead of letting the work speak for itself, he seems compelled to tell everyone how great he is. The dude that got picked last for the basketball team and goes out on the court and outscores everybody, by a lot. But instead of letting the proof tell the narrative, he has to tell everyone, "I outscored everybody on this fukking court!, you guys didn't even want me on your team and look what I did!"