Now look back over the description above. That was a description of 1990 not 2000. The 1990 white rapper was none other than Vanilla Ice whose 2000 counterpart was Eminem. So it appears the more things change, the more they stay the same. The Grunge and alternative rock revolution came and went and we are right back where we started.
Music is cyclical.
It all comes back again and some times again and again and again. We thought we would never hear another Disco song escape the 70 s, but that style made a brief reappearance in the mid 90 s. About every 10 years we hear the people in the know pronounce that rock is dead and the current trend at the time had killed it. But low and behold rock returns to the mainstream of popularity and never seemed stronger. While styles like the current brand of pop come and go, rock never really goes totally out of style.