Artist rarely exist in the tiny bubbles that a lot of fans try and limit them to. Underground. Gangsta. Political. Most artists don't listen to music that way. If you were into Hip Hop and you're in your late 30's to early 40's you listened to most of the same artists. There weren't as many people putting out rap records and they're weren't 50 new mixtapes a week like nowadays so when a new album came out pretty much everyone listened to a lot of the same shit.