Yes.  We are all flawed.  But the difference between many of us and “conscious” rappers is that they know what the problem is and still choose to be a part of it.  When your decisions have an adverse affect on someone else, you need to change.  You can’t claim to love women while being a womanizer.  You can’t claim to want positivity in the community when perpetuating materialism and violence in your music.  You can’t boost the self-esteem of young women while sleeping with other women’s husbands.  Be who you say you are, or shut up.

Black Thought also has children months apart by different women, rolling stones is nothing new and judging people based on how they live privately certainly doesn’t help…life is never black and white!

2pac had his moments, but was damn conflicted for sure!  common, “poker face.”  talib and mos are a little too mainstream for me like all of them for that matter, but talib does come through w/far more SOLID material than mos.  however, talib didn’t say shit in response to busta’s homophobia in “hip hop:  beyond beats and rhymes.”  black thought, “what they do.”  david banner?  ludacris?  maybe just ludacris’ character in “crash,” where he referred to mainstream hip hop as “music of the oppressor.”  lauryn hill, she’s cool.  lupe, obama is a terrorist when you consider his foreign policy (i.e. backing israel, school of americas, afghanistan, etc.) and voting doesn’t work so i’m in agreement with him and talib on that one!  a better example of a conscious (way more radical) and yes conflicted artist would be immortal technique.  dead prez belonged in this mix, but if you want artists who are just as thorough and not caught up by the mainstream madness:  lowkey, akala, silent knight, jasari x, seven star, collective efforts, invincible, akua naru, sa-roc, rebel diaz, gabriel teodros, mr. lif, akrobatik, boog brown, and countless other emcees we need to know about!