text=I imagine somewhere along the line (I'm guessing late 80s) Hip Hop got really bloated and stupid. The MCs, traditionally just meant to hype up a party and enhance the music (but being really clever at it, especially when they freestyle), suddenly started becoming legitimate rockstars for doing nothing more than stringing preset words together. Their DJs, doing far more competent work in the background, received little to no recognition no matter how many shoutouts the MCs gave them, because as is the case in the pop world, the image of the artist is more important than the music. This maybe set the DJs out to strike for their own fame, and since turntablism is an avant-garde form of music that will never gain popular appeal, a pop sensibility needed to be applied to it, which is where Abstract Hip Hop (and, by proxy, the Ninja Tune label) comes from. At least, that's my theory.
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