It would be interesting if hip-hop moved away from its origins in sampling to accept the primacy of lyrics. I don't actually think that's going to happen. But I was talking to a friend today about the origins of Dr. Dre's bitterness today, and I do think a lot of it can be traced to the fact that being a brilliant beatmaker doesn't really enshrine you in the ranks of the greats these days. It doesn't surprise me at all that Kanye West has worked on improving his skills as an MC, and throws himself onto any track that will let him toss out a guest verse (and of course, there are a lot of opportunities). He was never going to be part of anybody's pantheon, much less able to consider himself the leading light in one, if he was defined as a producer.