By that I don't just mean politics. I mean jokes, fashion, slang, things of that nature. There was nowhere for that sensibility to be broadcast. It remains the only medium where particularly young black males have access to a mass audience. So whatever they're doing is political.
Light remains optimistic.
I think we'll start to see alot more sophisticated plays between musics. Hip-hop mutates, and though there is an urge to preserve it in its most pure state, the music is really about sampling, about exploring, about discovery and possibility. Ten years ago, hip-hop was still oppositional, still fighting. Of course hip-hop will always be fighting because of the voice that it represents. But it's won so many of those fights, for better or for worse.