>Exile being considered instrumental hip-hop. Nosaj Thing not
>being considered hip-hop. Both fall under the influence of
>Dilla. Doing distinctly different things. And yet agreement
>about how they should be classified is iffy.


Well I can see why Nosaj Thing is not considered Hip Hop. From what I have heard, there are way too many electronica elements, sounds and production techniques employed to classify that music as Hip Hop. The sound is just way too trippy and not in a soulful way at all.

As far as Exile goes, though I like some of what I have heard, I'm not hearing anything too different from what Dilla was doing when he was alive. Unfortunately, that is the case with alot of these cats who proudly claim they were influenced by Dilla. They don't seem to be building on his legacy at all. To my ears, many of them are only imitating and copying...often times in a very bad and mediocre way. I'm not hearing the progression within the Hip Hop context at all.