Why Don't I Recognize Many Artisits on Wikipedia's List of Conscious Hip Hop Artists?

In light of the Don Imus controversy many discussions have taken place about the hip hop community. Oprah even featured a two episode long discussion about Imus and the hip hop community. I found myself getting very upset while watching the two episodes as I felt a real issue was being ignored. While hip hop may give a voice to young artists who say things that we aren't all comfortable hearing (e.g. sexist, homophobic, and racist terms) the words of these hip hop artists are only a symptom of the problem. Many hip hop artist speak about living in squalid conditions, the groupies they encounter as hip hop stars, and other such controversial issues while littering these speeches with the n-word, derogatory terms for women, and other such low-blow words for those they perceive to be against them. But I felt that the discussion on Oprah ignored the fact that many white artists have been doing much of the same in their own way for years. Anyone who has listened to an 80s rock band album can attest to the fact that their way of speaking about women isn't exactly flattering. They often only feature women in their songs when speaking about sexual acts and while "bitch" and "ho" may not be their words of choice, their message is just as demeaning. But given all of this, I can't ignore my lack of recognition when it comes to socially conscious hip hop artists. In light of the Oprah episodes and the Imus controversy as a whole I decided to do a Wikipedia search, as I usually do when I am curious about something. So, when I searched for Conscious hip hop Wikipedia provided me with a VERY long list of conscious hip hop artists, and sadly I only recognize a small portion of the list and am only familiar with an even smaller portion of the music of these artists.

The List

2pac A Tribe Called Quest Aceyalone Aesop Rock Afrika Bambaataa Akrobatik Andre Nickatina Arrested Development Atmosphere
Bahamadia Blackalicious Black Sheep Black Star Blitz The Ambassador Blue Scholars Brand Nubian Brother Ali Canibus Chubb Rock Common Common Market Common Unity The Coup Cunninlynguists Dälek Danny! dead prez De La Soul DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
The Dope Poet Society Deep Puddle Dynamics Del tha Funkee Homosapien Deltron 3030 Dilated Peoples Dose One Eyedea El-P Ecks Emcee Lynx Eric B & Rakim Fort Minor Fugees Gang Starr GRITS Guerilla Maab The Grouch Heather B. Heavy D & The Boyz Hieroglyphics Ice Cube Illogic Immortal Technique Jean Grae Jedi Mind Tricks Jeru The Damaja Jurassic 5 K-os K'Naan Kanye West Kev Brown KRS-One KMD Last Poets Lauryn Hill LA Symphony Little Brother Living Legends Looptroop Lootpack Lord Jamar Ludacris Lupe Fiasco Madlib
Mars ILL MC Lyte MC Supernatural Michael Franti & Spearhead Mike Shinoda Mr. Lif Monie Love Mos Def Ms. Melodie Murs Nas
Native Guns Organized Konfusion Outkast Paris Pharoahe Monch Pigeon John Poor Righteous Teachers Public Enemy Qualo Queen Latifah
The Procussions Rakim Rage Against the Machine The Cross Movement The Roots Sage Francis Saul Williams Strange Fruit Project Sol.iLLaquists of Sound T-Bone The Cross Movement The Roots Talib Kweli Trae Will Smith Wu-Tang Clan Wyclef Jean X-Clan Youth '06
Zion I Z-Ro

This list includes the names of 115 socially conscious hip hop artists. When I looked at the list I recognized 31 of these artists, and I could actually name songs by far less than 31 of these artists. Then, when asking myself what one of their socially conscious songs would be I found myself at even more of a loss. So, why don't I recognize more of these artists? And of the artists I do recognize, why am I not more familiar with their socially conscious work?

I've been listening to hip hop since I was in 7th grade, circa 1997, and there hasn't been a time since I started listening that I completely stopped. While I don't invest a whole lot of time in investigating hip hop artists, I do occasionally browse others' favorite artists lists on websites like facebook and myspace and will listen to a couple of songs from a list here and there. So, while I don't do a whole lot of digging, I am also no hiding. So, why is it that I can sit back and do nothing and become instantly familiar with young geezy, young joc, nelly, chris brown, lil jon, etc. But I actually have to perform a search on Wikipedia to find a list of socially conscious hip hop artists, over 66% of which I am completely unfamiliar with?

I have to admit I am frustrated. While I often find myself battling for a lack of censorship when it comes to individual expression, I am getting tired of having to search for something unique. And an artists conscious views are unique when held up against the slew of songs discussing sex, fast women, and rivalries. Why don't I know more of these artists, radio stations? Why can't I readily identify their conscious songs, television stations? Don't you think you play a role media? While I won't go as far as to say that we need to completely silence the non-conscious songs and replace them completely with conscious songs, I will say that I would like to at least see equal air time shared between the two.

While it is easy to call Don Imus a racist because he put it out there for all of us to see, we have to ask ourselves: If the media grants far more air time to those hip hop artists who music many find offensive, then are they any better? If the media is allowing those artists who many believe to be perpetuating stereotypes in their music the larger stage, should they not be held responsible? And finally, as a consumer, at least with my ears and eyes, I need to hold myself responsible. After all it is all a matter of supply and demand.