I definitely don't know many that choose *rapping* specifically. I thought you were speaking more figuratively of genre change, and particularly shifting from trad forms (jazz) to more popular forms...
And *that* happens a lot, or at least I could think of a lot of examples.
There are also folks like Kassa Overall who seem intent on making rapping a part of their repertoire, even though he started as an improvisational drummer.
I guess I'm not sure what your point is, so I'll stop there, lol.