The Evolution of Rap Music

Rap will always exist in some form or another. Whether its attitude and styles are co-opted by music to come or there remains people who hold on to that traditional sound.

I do think it will still be diluted as time progresses. That's just the nature of subcultures expanding until they become dominant within culture. You had punk, which started as a super insular counter-culture movement, slowly be co-opted until we got shit like Green Day in the Transformers movie and make-up brands selling faux punk aesthetics. This is why gatekeeping, though often annoying, has a very vital function. Gatekeepers can stall progress within a subculture but they also ensure that people who don't respect the culture they are engaging with have limited influence. In hip-hop, gatekeeping is dead. Nobody gives a shit what these oldheads have to say. It's a double edged sword.