If you take the "shock factor" out of pop music what have you got left? Very little, I say--you wouldn't be able to sell that crap.
I'm not into hip hop/rap per se I'm more into guitar based music, being a guitar player and all, but there is a lot of very cool hh/rap music out there. I can totally get into someone rapping over a cool beat but I cannot deal with the attitude or the subject matter, which seems to populate 95% of the popular rap. Of course, I don't seek it out so all I hear is the popular stuff.