like where was camplo from 1998-2001?
where was rakim 93-96?
where was the pharcyde 1996-1999?
where was large pro from 1997-2000?
sauce money... the lady of rage...
i would even say buckshot...
and i'm just naming well-known rappers. i mean there's so many fly-by-night dudes who just dropped a few verses or 12" or ep or something and disappeared until the days of myspace.

the reason why aftertrhought, bench warmer rappers like talib kweli & common were still signed and around in the late 00's is because they never stopped releasing music despite the indifference and blandness of their contributions to the material...
they just kept going. despite the odds.
and as rap recessed down to near nothingness on a national mainstream scale - they somehow were in the fold filling a illusionary "niche" to some clueless record exec.

it's a shame so many actually DOPE rappers don't have more material from the most important years of their career.

weed and residuals are a helluva a pacifier.