when does the audience/consumer take some blame for the death of conscious hip hop?

I made a post when i first joined okayplayer about will smith and dead prez (at the time neither of them were signed to record labels). both rappers are clearly alternatives to the pimp/gangsta/denigrating hip hop that has flooded the market, and both of them are dangling off both opposite ends of the spectrum of hip hop. but are black folks checking for them? nope. will smith is too soft, dead prez is too political/deep. in the middle of that you have your basic non-complicated lyrics rapping gangster (this mentallity and acceptance of the pimp trick gangster thug and rejection of both the black nationalist militant negro and the 'white' talking non-threatening soft negro, is a reflection of our mentallity but i will get in2 that some other time) which the community can relate to, he doesnt make them think too deep and he doesnt make them feel "white" when they listen to him.

i'm not mad @ the industry for capitalizing on this. if christian hip hop became the big thing, thug/gangster rap would be gone tomorrow.