Rap Sales Drop

The AP reports:

Maybe it was the umpteenth coke-dealing anthem or soft-porn music video. Perhaps it was the preening antics that some call reminiscent of Stepin Fetchit.
The turning point is hard to pinpoint. But after 30 years of growing popularity, rap music is struggling with an alarming sales decline and growing criticism from within about the culture's negative effect on society.
Rap insider Chuck Creekmur, who runs the leading Web site Allhiphop.com, says he got a message from a friend recently "asking me to hook her up with some Red Hot Chili Peppers because she said she's through with rap. A lot of people are sick of rap ... the negativity is just over the top now."
The rapper Nas, considered one of the greats, challenged the condition of the art form when he titled his latest album "Hip-Hop Is Dead." It's at least ailing, according to recent statistics: Though music sales are down overall, rap sales slid an alarming 21 percent from 2005 to 2006, and for the first time in 12 years no rap album was among the top 10 sellers of the year.

Good luck to the record companies if they think rap fans want to buy a re-mastered version of any rap record.