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Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru
The trick is to look beyond mainstream rap. Look for underground or indie hip-hop, and you'll find artistry, both in sampling, layering, rhyming, rhythm, and lyrics....the latter of which is often political, speaking about Black culture (i.e. diaspora, poverty, racism, violence, community, slavery, education, post-colonialism, etc, etc, etc.).
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The correct answer.
In fact, I would go beyond it being about black culture. Hiphop and rap is now a global lingua franca for the dispossed and disenfranchised youth. Barring the monied superstars pushed by the big record labels, naturally. There is some excellent hiphop coming out of China and Siberia, for example. Ghana has some hot stuff too, and even Indonesia has a fledgling scene.
There is also very much an underground, DIY ethic, which some fans of punk will no doubt appreciate. Most new tracks and artists in rap spreads by word and taking part in rap battles and the like, not by being groomed by record execs.
A couple of decent English speaking examples of decent rap would be Jedi Mind Tricks, Black Twang, Roots Manuva, El-P (whose last album dispels any myths about rubbish backing music. Unless you hate Mars Volta), Sage Francis and Saul Williams.
In fact, I better stop there, before I get carried away.