The last half of this in particular is brilliant.
A fascinating essay. I think Questlove has identified something elusive, and yet obvious once he points it out. When he says that black culture has been reduced to all being called hip-hop, it also reduced black culture to being a single-minded and simple thing, instead of being a multi-faceted and complex tapestry. Perhaps the media has finally found a way to easily pidgeonhole, and by extension dismiss, the totality of black culture?
I dont understand how it was a failure, I think it is so much more of a success than a failure. Mainstream hip-hop obviously is meaningless but that's just how mainstream music is normally. I think hip hop was a success in that it brought different cultures together under common struggles.
. Same thing with electronic music, but without the struggle and more drugs. ;)