I liked Yeezus plenty. It's a confrontational album from every sociological and pop-culture angle, but not so difficult that it's a chore to listen to in search of whatever deeper messages West might be embedding beneath its supposedly contradictory new-money class-war surface. It felt like one logical conclusion that follows the stretch where, "If you grew up with holes in your zapatos/ You celebrate the minute that you're havin' dough" – to quote Yeezy's patron/cohort/peer Jay Z, whose own settling-down process has similarly skirted his own take on pop-art consumerism. It's a very specific and personal form of power and recognition of one's own ascendance to name-check all the Basquiats you've got, especially a dozen years after the album that started both Kanye and Hova on their paths to MOMA-set cred saw Jay Z itching to avenge another exploited icon of early '80s hip-hop culture in the Cold Crush Brothers.

But it's also a pretty loud statement of defiance that fellow pushing-40 NYC rapper J-Zone — who, after a disillusioned hiatus, unretired with the masterpiece of aging-head wiseassery Peter Pan Syndrome — cut a track where he pondered making money by stealing all those fine-art pieces from rich rappers. After all, living in poverty while somebody else makes millions off your work is the end result of Industry Rule #1, and being on the other end of that equation for once doesn't make things any easier for everyone.

So with the continuing erosion of across-the-board "event" music, the rampant watering down of media support for less-established rap artists, and the independent internet's tightening monopoly on the ability to break new acts, it's starting to feel a lot like 1988 again. Not just like '88 on some of Nas's "Made You Look" business, but in the sense that most of the best hip-hop seems aimed at something much smaller and more loyal than a mass-cult audience.

That's one way to make sure the up-and-coming eccentrics, rebels, and innovators maintain their identities. Last year's big breakthrough from that field, Kendrick Lamar, had his spotlight shine brightest when he stepped up on Big Sean's "Control (HOF)" and called out the old guard, the same group that some people thought he'd joined.