As far as the music industry hip hop is not dead...maybe you won't see any evidence of that on the mainstream level. But think of the classics that dropped this year...P.E,DMC,Lupe,Rhymefest...like 5 Wu-Tang affiliated albums,Kenn Starr,Roots,some of the stuff on X's album, some stuff on Jay's abum,Snoop's new album is crazy...and I could honestly keep going.