In rap music's formative years of the 1980s and early '90s, being a fan of hip-hop was often an all-or-nothing affair. Two decades ago, it wasn't unusual for a rap fan to listen to gangsta rap pioneers N.W.A. or Ice-T one minute, then throw in a cassette by conscious rappers like Poor Righteous Teachers or De La Soul the next. As hip-hop has grown, however, deep fissures have developed among its subgenres. Nowadays, fans of underground hip-hop turn up their noses at mainstream rap's glorification of materialism, while fans of commercial rap roll their eyes at the hippie-dippy, can't-we-all-just-get-along vibe... More >>>