not STARTED by me.

first of all to answer your question...
2001 was the best year for rap music in the 00's, by a huge disparity.
look at the sheer volume of memorable, quality material that was released and rotated.
the vibrant conditions that having CHOICE in the mainstream created is what existed in every golden era in music.
2000 would be a 2nd imo.
3rd, could go a few ways...

anyway... what happened?

rap music sales were blistering hot from 1996 to the beginning of the 00's with a more specific focus on 1998/1999/2000...

those 3 years, everything that had an ad in the source and a video in rotation on bet bascially went gold.

because white demographics were buying in huge numbers.

1996 was the year rap music turned a corner for the white consumer...
starting with 2pac, bone thugs n harmony, westside connection... moving to biggie, puffy, mase, dmx, big pun, etc...

the above names are like reading the most popular rap acts with white casual/dedicated rap fans.
but that's how it went down, there was HUGE traction and that's what lead to that late 90's run being the banner years for sales and in turn rap music clout within the entertainment industry.

1999 was probably the biggest year for rap sales.
everybodies music charter and sold big without anybody having to do top 40 records.


so with that preface out of the way...

enter the viacom purchase of bet and robert johnson being out of daily operations for the first time.

stephen hill & a motley crew of people way too old to ever be involved in the hip-hop movement take control of programming and they take any autonomy away that the producers of individual shows used to enjoy in the late 90's up til about 2000 in favor of dictating what videos will be rotated and never deviated from.

what this created was the homogenous conditions of the early-mid 00's and the east coast "backpacker-shaming" conditions that would follow...

acts that used to have a home at bet a few short years earlier just because they were dope to the programming producers, no longer had a home anywhere except on the internet.

major labels scaled back what they released to a few archtypes.
the concept behind what became "prototypical 00 singles" was usually defined by it's relevancy to the club because label heads decided that this would diminish risk and capture as much white dollar$ as possible because all the music was essentially "party music".

major miscalculation...
white people liked rap because it was a risk-free hood tour guide.
not because they wanted safe music by Black rappers dictated by corporations.
they really wanted all the worst that Black culture had to offer...
the NWAs, the onyxs, the DMX's... the whoever else.
when rap music became solely about wearing a mitchell and ness with an oversized fitted, rapping about liquor and women over big kicks, korg triton presets and clap snares...
white people, or a large portion of white people that were consumers a few short years earlier - tuned out.
rap's sales dropped dramatically from 2000 -> 2009 and still are dropping.

this was the white flight from rap music that was mostly fostered by stephen hill & friends changing the style and programming at BET.
but also at major labels for whittling down the TYPES of commercialize mainstream rotated singles to try to diminish risk and capture as much of the market share as possible without calculating what was actually the driver of rap's popularity with it's biggest consuming demographics (YT).

late 02... benzino destroys the source - boom there is another anchor of rap music's massive success in the late 90's/early 00's down the toilet.
suddenly with the stakes superhigh to execs because the flight in sales hasn't been recognized - there is really no gate-keepers to filter content.

now, forgetting the effects this has on the sales of rap with white demographics... let's focus on the influence it has on up and coming Black aspiring rappers and producers.

with a slender rotation list compared to a few years prior, the mainstream shaming of east coast sampled drums based music outside of a few acts, no national competition, and only a few different "types" of songs getting coverage.
things become so by the numbers for up and coming Black music acts that it sort of is sophomoric.
rap becomes the ultimate hustle...
"JUST BLAZE DRUMS - $10.99"
"neptune style beat #14 - $399 to lease"
"say bruh, you like hip-hop? come listen to my mixtape..."

they saw the sales rush and how rich people were getting with how little work from 96-01 and said "ME TOO!"

rap becomes less about people saying "let me see how far i can take THIS" to "hey he's rich, my shit almost sounds like his. so pay me, too!"

the status quo route to millions of dollars.

really just small spikes to keep ppl's attentions while chunks of people tune out year by year...
-04 lil jon and "crunk music", dipset/kanye chipmunk knock-off beats
-06 snap music, hyphy
-07 simplistic ringtone rap songs
-08 hipster hop
other little bs spikes that really were just blips to try to keep peoples attention...

the neptunes and timberland, share their sounds with white pop acts yearning for Black credibility, crossing a line that had been drawn in the 90s or earlier...

many elements of Black music, now for sale, wind u showing up on white acts songs/albums.

all the while white fans fleeing a sinking ship, going to youtube, going to file sharing blogs, discovering rap from before they were fans (80s, 90s) bemoaning rap's present unraveling conditions...

anyway, i'm getting tired writing.
but this reply is basically a retread of various threads/replies i've made since 2010.

end game:
the cruddy, gloomy portrait of Black culture was what sold rap music and made it have value to corporations.
and secondly, and most importantly, SAMPLES AND LO-FI!
old crackly records with incredible musicians playing on them spliced up and manipulated to make new songs...
you take out both of those things and you have a massive white flight from the genre beginning in 2002 and leading up til today.

and secondly, you get a whole bunch of get rich quick scheme music that succeeded based on the fact it was new and rap was still coming down from a really hot period.
the influence of stephen hill/corporations vision of rap music rearing itself in the actual music produced by people trying to "get on" like somebody eating feces and then having a bowel movement from it.

this isn't as concise and articulate as it could be but whatever...
this is what i want to contribute to this conversation.

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“Change is inevitable. Progress is optional.” – Tony Robbins