it's a consequence of the "style over substance" generation of music....

in recent times a person can have a certain so-called swag, or image or style...and THAT becomes the determinating factor of whether they are considered good or talented....not the fact they could sing....not the fact that they made funky music...or could rock a stage.... but do the fit the suit so to speak.... Do they fit the Johnny Bravo suit..and if they do..that's more important than anything else..

I'll also add that the lack of strong male figures in the home and the Black communities plays a part in this too. You mentioned Rick James and Bootsy .....they didn't have to carry the mantle for Black manhood because there was a concept of Black manhood within the Black community that was accepted whether coming from a 2 parent home or not.... You had single mothers, but you stil had the concept of manhood that was defined and accpeted by the masses...

now today you don't have that. So any clown that has an album or a video can be promoted as the current example of Black manhood, and the youth don't have another frame of reference...so these guys take on a larger roll in their lives than they really should. That's why they ride so hard for these guys...beyond just their music. Plus add the media genereration of the internet where now the line between reality and fantasy is blurred.... there is no distinction between truth and falsehood....so a guy could go on tv or make records saying anything they like...pretend it's true..and the youth just accept it as reality.

like you said...you could accept that from a 15 year old, but grown men doing it?? that's straight backwards.... It's the lack of Black manhood really...the youth isn't supposed to lead...you got grown men following this backwards youth culture like their children themselves.....