Something else just occurred to me, and that is that(and I've mentioned this before in other threads) "Gangsta Rap" which is a super-commercial "product', appeared rather late in the game--it sells a lot CDs, and mostly to suburban white kids--

I think that "Gangsta Rap" was created by the music industry, because it was a gimmick that sold a lot of product, and, although I did say that it was a vehicle for "venting", I think that when Rap was just something that happened in urban dance clubs, the extreme stuff was only a small element in the mix--unfortunately, now that big money is involved, as in many areas, the lurid, the shocking, and the extreme dominate, because they deliver the big sales--