in the past five years via the young generation now that the money is almost gone from it (similar to before the big money came into it during the 88/89 era).

Then you've had the creme de la creme of the vets who have now been permitted to age a bit more gracefully like the late-60s/early-70s classic-rock artists rather than the marginalized founding fathers (late-50s/early-60s founding fathers of rock & roll, 80s 'old-school' earlier rap royalty).

Also, the dedication to the live element is growing again (the mid-90s was like the hip-hop live music nadir and continued into 50 Cent doing arena shows in '04 when he never learned how to even rock a club) because that's the era where loot & longevity now stem from.

Regardless of whatever happens for the rest of 2015, 2011-2015 easily outpaces the five-year block of 2006-2010 and/or 2001-2005.

Will it ever be like the prime 'Golden Era's that we think of as old-heads in '88 or '94 explosions?

Nah, prolly not.....however I loved Prodigy's album he put out last year than anything Mobb Deep had made in 10-15 years.

I love Kendrick as a rap artist more than anyone who debuted since the late 90's.

So for that, I'm thankful that as a lifelong (or at least since hearing 'Jam On It' or 'The Show' as a 6-8 year-old) fan of rap music, I'm glad it's still producing relevant songs/albums/artists/movements because as also a lifelong aficianado of rock music I can tell you that rock is deadeder than a motherfucka.......I cannot for the life of me think of anything resembling a Kendrick Lamar in rock music.