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I retired from producing in 2007, and every single time I consider getting back into it, I say "damn.....how the f'k do you even make a beat in 2012?"
As always, there's not just one specific style that defines this era...it's probably 5-6 dominant ones. I've always seen it like this...there's a sound that defines each of these....
Down South clubs on a more dark/crunk tip (Three Six, Lil Jon, now Lex Luger) where it's 70BPM type shit....
There's always whatever the modern Boom Bap sounds like, which is probably Black Milk n them right now, but has been Kanye, 9th Wonder, Dilla, Just, Madlib, and others before. "Otis" "All I want is you"
The West Coast sound, which is actually split a few ways now...The Post-Jerkin ("Rack city", DJ Mustard), the Bay's sound (which is post-Hyphy but still a bit of mob, such as E-40's album, "Function", Bobby Brackins "Earthquake," Iamsu/Loverance "Up"), the commercial trendy but West Coast sound (Nipsey "Feelin myself" Mann "Buzzin" and Terrace Martin "In the sheets", Bobby Brackins "143")...and now, the slight Boom bap throwback feel that you hear Kendrick n them on. The evolved G-Funk is still there as well (Snoop "Wonder what it do" and Nipsey "Hussle in the house")
There's always the upbeat Down South club tracks...which was the Bass/Booty music in the 90's, but then New Orleans Bounce influence took over ("Back that ass up"), and influenced music like Soulja Boy "Donk" and all the Ying Yang music...and now, Travis Porter ("Ayy ladies" and "Bring it back")
There's always the more laid back South sound, which K.R.I.T. is taking a hold of. This was how T.I.'s album cuts tended to sound, while his singles had more of the first South hype style I mentioned.
There's always the "generic" commercial sound that's used everywhere, and usually identifies more with the East Coast, but still used everywhere...this may have started with the Timbaland and Neptunes era, where their production didn't really have a specific Region. Now, this would probably be the Drake sound, the real ambiance sounding music that R&B and Rap artists are using. I'd also say it's that Lil Wayne style, which I'd even say Kanye uses on "Thera flu"...and speaking of Kanye, I see "Niggas in Paris" and "Can't stop now" bringing Dubstep influence in as a commercial Hip Hop sound.
There's usually a more commercial East Coast sound that's used, and I'd say this started around 96 with Bad Boy, as they branched away from Boom Bap and used samples in a different way. In 2003, this sounded more like G-Unit's music, while Dipset still used a more Boom Bap influence. Now, there isn't much of a sound like this, but I'd say that the Webstar/Ron Browz "Get lite" type music represents this..."Keep bouncin" and Nicki "I get crazy" rep that, while Fab "Killin em" has a slight Boom Bap yet commercial feel to it.
Thing is...some songs from 2007-2009 still sound modern and as if they can drop today, while some sound more dated. For sure, the Lil Jon, Scott Storch, Jazze Pha, 2003 Dre sounding production sounds dated, although you still hear some songs that have the sound.
As far as specific elements that you don't hear much of? You don't hear "shakers" in the beats much anymore, such as you heard on Neptunes "Shake that ass" or the beginning of Snoop "Ghetto symphony". On the 70 BPM beats, even though double time flows came back, you rarely hear the triple cadence in the drums and hi hats...so the bounce feels different on a "Hard in the paint" or "Niggas in Paris" compared to "Jigga what" and "Notorious thugs" in the 90's when that flow first got hot.
The 95-102 BPM club tracks, especially from L.A., have a LOT of drum break downs in them...some change every 8 bars, and even every 4 bars. "Cat daddy" is a great example...and that beat sounds AMAZING when you just listen to the drum patterns and sounds he puts in there on the instrumental.
I could go on and on and on about it, but off the top...yeah, there's not one specific sound, and never has been to me...but there's always a few different sounds that everything tends to sound like. Also, a lot of what I mentioned applies to R&B, since it's had a lot of parallels in production, and shit, really the same production commercially, since NJS. ------------------------------
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