There's no denying - at least not on my part - that there is real, viable talent in the community of rap & hip-hop artists. Creating and performing lyrics, regardless of their rhyming, requires a certain level of talent and ability that some have and some don't. True, there is talent that never gets recognized for one reason or another, just as with all genres. I won't be able to discern that much as I am decidedly not a fan of these genres, but I freely accept that talent does exist.
Neeka, you make a good point about how sampling got started. I don't see that as being complete justification anymore for what I consider to be the overuse of sampling, but it's still interesting and I'm glad to know better now.
exodus, that's a slippery slope to be perched upon when evaluating who has talent. I am certainly no fan of Roth's but he's in the Hall because he was and is a member of one of rock's most successful and more influential bands in history. Individually, well there's talent needed to be a front-man but perhaps that talent is more common and so not thought as highly of. As for Madonna, while I tend to think she's as much "Satan in drag"

, she has definitely influenced pop music culturally, so if rap artists are recognized for such influence... she seems to have as much merit.