> All of a sudden, they were recycling the shitty 80's
>shit I grew up with *and* hated. Oh yeah, the recycling of
>previously proved samples in *hip-hop* is another issue...

Ennh, I can still rock to anything with a Funky Drummer sample. One of my all time fave drum breaks, but point taken.


>
>basically, the idea that hip-hop beats was this magic thing
>that were NOT just dope on it's *own* terms but also gave you
>a reason to go digging and finding out stuff was ruined here,
>replaced with 80's pop (and rap) nostalgia and rap recycling
>that struck me as every bit as airhead as the "Grease"/"happy
>dyas" nostalgia I grew up with.


exactly. ((insert)) was a hit, so let's sample that for the main groove. Selling memories, basically.



>
>And btw, whiteys infatuation with the underground in this
>*exact* era is quite teling... Seriously, someone should write
>a story...

Agreed.

Word Salad over crazy beats became in vogue for no reason other than "it's underground, not that jiggy shit."