They're a thinking person's rock band.

It's hard to say how much activity there is [today], or whether the music promotion game will merely morph again as it did over the last few years to acknowledge the letter, if not the spirit, of the law.

That's the difference between hip-hop and other genres.

Program directors have to go earlier and earlier to keep the competitive advantage.

As for how far it stretches, it's too soon to tell yet. So far, what we know is that it transcends national heritage among Hispanics.

Now we're starting to see artists like R. Kelly work with Looney Tunes on his recent album, and we'll probably see a lot more of that in the future.

The irony is Santana used outside vocalists before, but now older artists need certain celebrities to increase their chances to get on radio. Stunt casting is the only way you'd expect Herbie Hancock to get on rock radio now.

In general music has become more topical over the last few years even on albums that are mostly battle rhymes, you still hear references to the Iraq war and to government priorities, but it's often just in passing.

As recently as a year ago, most U.S. broadcasters viewed it as a fringe sound in the continental U.S ... not something you could base a format around.