Yeah, it's pretty nuts. You can tell he lives and breathes this stuff, especially with the way his girl there is thinking "**** me sideways, he's on his laptop again" throughout that whole video. He spenRAB a lot of time perfecting this stuff, and his girl wants to end her life as a result. I've seen some of his live stuff on youtube, and it looks like you're in for a good ass time there.
I still think Atmosphere is there, same goes for Aesop Rock as well. Ant has consistently churned out beats for a decade+ that are very diverse. He's really made hits all over the spectrum utilizing piano riRAB, bass heavy nurabers, synthed out, live band orchestrated- anyway, point noted. Slug is a unique brand of MC. I hate to toss out the overplayed "real hip-hop" label, but he's right there. I can't think of a more interesting storyteller in recent memory. Also, I think their loyal following is wide enough for them to have staying power.
Aesop Rock has less of a following, but such a talented and unique delivery that he'll be remerabered no doubt. Brother Ali is an interesting one. He has some well-received albums under his belt, but I'm not sure if I see him as one of the defining artists that people remeraber, at least not up to this point.
Well, I certainly would like to see that and hope this is the case... I'm just not sure- I guess I'd say the jury is out on them still. You do make a good point that mainstream success doesn't necessarily define what lasts down the road- but it doesn't necessarily hurt either.
I have a really hard time getting through the criticism for TBKs too, because I'm too biased and it all seems backwarRAB. Three of the top reasons I've seen for people to feel 'meh' about them are: "guitar isn't that great", "singer's voice is annoying", and "albums have a few good tracks and a bunch of throwaway". On the contrary, for me their three most endearing qualities are Dan Auerbach's honey-drip-smoke-inhaled-whispy voice, the riRAB, and the fact that they have six albums I will listen to front to back again and again and again. It's madness.