It happened with hip-hop, too. Slowly it turned into this huge bloated rap beast, sluggish with immense sales and rich, rich, rich. Able to afford big technology street turned slick, gritty turned gross, prurient turned porno, and sample turned full-on cover, and then came Puffy. This album in many ways acts as a primer for a possible re-centering of hip hop. And they have to folks because the vast majority of the rap audience is clueless about their hip-hop heritage.
Arsonists understand their history.
They echo the timbre of Ultramagnetic MC's, the intensity of BDP, and the speed of Poor Righteous Teachers. And it's still tight. Rap music is heading for implosion unless somebody cuts off Puffy's co-writer budget or blows up his 808. When it happens old-school will survive because it always does. Arsonists will be there to rebuild it, and they'll bring the right folks to paint it real nice too.