It's always weird when people who listen to hip hop don't know the old artists. You would think hip hop fans would be the most knowledgeable when it comes to music
I don’t think the average Hip Hop listener looks up sample sources or reads credits. I remember years ago some goofy ass internet nerd wanted to argue with me about Illmatic vs Reasonable Doubt by saying Nas didn’t sample any popular songs.
He didn’t even realize that Life’s A bytch sampled Gap Band’s Yearning and It Ain’t Hard to Tell sampled MJ’s Human Nature.
You’re giving the average listener too much credit.