There are still problems in American inner cities. But we're looking at an affluent peace-time economy. We're looking at a time when there's no viable, oppositional counterculture. So, naturally, artists are going to write about what they see and hear. According to rapper Ja Rule, that's money, sex, murder and pimping.
Many artists seem to think so.
The new trend today is depravity. Others, however, like Light, simply acknowledge this vein of rap as one among various manifestations of the music. Plus, he said, there isn't necessarily an obligation for people in the hip-hop community to be politically progressive. Naturally, then, implications of the music maintaining a political conversation are assumed. Light has a different interpretation of his statement.