Rap music is very much alive. In my country, we have a lot of artists who battle it out with each song they produce. Of late, there was a competition on who is the real rap king. It is encouraging since it shows that we still have got artists doing rap. It also motivates the upcoming ones. On the international scene, I think 2017 has been quite a bad year. We have not yet heard international rap artists release tracks. Only a few. I believe that consistency is vital if at all rap music is to remain relevant.
Its to loud and to thug for me but thats the way it is for all genres of music(everybody has different tastes in music),but I can see that this music is a very natural thing in its evolution from the urban jungle,and its really very important for those people to express themselves. The music though to some people lacks talent as far as the musical instruments go,and the lyrics are not to interesting either.
It's certainly not as alive as it once was, though that has a lot to do with the fanbase as much as it does with the rappers we have today. As much as I believe Lil Wayne and Drake have killed hip hop, it's the people out buying their records that help supply that 'death'.